Booker Prize Shortlist - Actual Version

6 September 2007

I got 50% of the list, which isn’t a terribly good hit rate. (I’d have done as well with a random choice.)

The shortlist is:

  • Darkmans by Nicola Barker
  • The Gathering by Anne Enright
  • The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
  • Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
  • On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
  • Animal’s People by Indra Sinha

Part is me is quite pleased because I’ve read five out of six and so only need to read Animal’s People in the next few weeks if I want to complete the list. But I’m also disappointed that The Welsh Girl didn’t make the cut, and I really don’t see what McEwan is doing on the list apart from being “hello, I’m the most well known author” as hardly anyone who has actually read the book rather than just looked at the covers thinks it’s particularly great. (I enjoyed reading it, but there are better books here.)