Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Awards: 2014 Man Booker Long List

The Long List for the U.K.'s Man Booker Prize has been announced. This year, for the first time in its history, the prize is admitting titles from countries "around the globe" (not just Britain and the Commonwealth) as long as they're written in English. (Seems fair, right?)

Four of the books on the list are by American authors: Richard Powers (Orfeo), Siri Hustvedt (The Blazing World), Joshua Ferris (To Rise Again at a Decent Hour) and Karen Joy Fowler (We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves). Of the other nine books, six are by Britons, two by Irish writers, and one by an Australian.

Wouldn't it be nice if an American author won this time?  Most of the books on the list are new to me. I did give Siri Hustvedt's The Blazing World a go earlier this year, but after the 50-page test it just wasn't holding my interest, so I put it aside and moved on. Maybe I should pull it out and give it another look.

The shortlist of six titles is due to be rolled out on September 9, and the winning novel will be announced on October 14.

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