This year’s Man Booker longlist is a good one, I think. Lots of variety; big names and small ones; and an impressive geographical spread. Leans towards the experimental – and no harm in that.
I’m pleased/relieved to say that The Spectator reviewed all but three of these books when they came out (Kamila Shamsie is forthcoming) – so I’m posting links here where appropriate. We liked almost all we reviewed, though a minority report was posted on Sebastian Barry and our Caroline Moore was cooler on Arundhati Roy than others have been. Apologies to Mozley, Fridlund and McCormack. It’s a numbers game…
4321 by Paul Auster (Faber & Faber)
Days Without End by Sebastian Barry (Faber & Faber)
History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Orion Books)
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House)
Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (Canongate)
Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor (4th Estate, HarperCollins)
Elmet by Fiona Mozley (JM Originals, John Murray)
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in