The longlist for the Man Booker Prize 2013 was announced today. 151 books were submitted for consideration and the final 13 are:
Five Star Billionaire: Tash Aw We Need New Names: NoViolet Bulawayo The Luminaries: Eleanor Catton Harvest: Jim Crace The Marrying of Chani Kaufman: Eve Harris The Kills: Richard House The Lowland: Jhumpa Lahiri Unexploded: Alison MacLeod TransAtlantic: Colum McCann Almost English: Charlotte Mendelson A Tale for the Time Being: Ruth Ozeki The Spinning Heart: Donal Ryan The Testament of Mary: Colm TóibínAs usual, I have so far read none of them but I do have a copy of ‘A Tale for the Time Being’ on my e-reader. Four of the novels on the list have not been published yet which is a bit annoying but I will try and investigate some of the other authors if I can or at least their previous works. As the judges have said, it’s a pretty diverse list with a few established names and a few first-time novelists but then I would expect nothing less from the Booker, of course. ‘The Kills’ by Richard House sounds particularly intriguing.
Predictions for who will be on the shortlist or who will win the overall prize are usually pretty pointless especially as the Booker Prize is awarded to “the best novel in the opinion of the judges” which is impossible to guess. However, I would like to see ‘A Tale for the Time Being’ on the shortlist, mostly because I have heard very good things about it and partly because it is the only novel on the list that I will definitely be able to read over the next few weeks!
The shortlist will be announced on 10th September and the winner will be announced on 15th October. I have already booked my ticket for the Booker Prize Shortlist Readings event at the Southbank Centre on 13th October. I really enjoyed the Women’s Prize for Fiction event in June and hope that this one will be just as good 🙂
What do you think of the longlist? Are there any glaring omissions? Do you have any predictions?
A Little Blog of Books 
I wonder why they choose books that haven’t come out yet?
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The official rules state that eligible books must be published between 1st October 2012 and 30th September 2013 so I guess this situation happens every year.
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You are right to be intrigued by Richard House’s book. I work in the same department as him and we are so pleased for him I am just about singing this as I type. Do please read it.
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With a list that contains so many unknown names it’s pretty impressive that you know one of them for real. I bet he’s singing right now too…
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I read “Almost English” and I would have never EVER thought it would make it to the Booker Longlist. I struggle with that book as I’d never done after finishing school. The female characters were complex in that they were stereotypes of women who let men rule their world, their appearence, even their own lives! I’m surprised this one made it and Life After Life didn’t.
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Funny, I was just wondering why Life After Life wasn’t on this list. I’ve just finished it, and it’s one of the best books I’ve read in the past few years.
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It depends on what the publishers choose to submit. Only 151 books were submitted which is actually not that many considering how many novels get published each year. I guess there will always be surprises!
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O. I haven’t read any of these yet as per usual but I’m so excited! (Also feel slightly vindicated that some have yet to be released)
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Exciting! I’ve heard good things about TransAtlantic.
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I have Transatlantic on the e-reader so i’ll start with that one cos I can be very sure my library won’t have any of these available and they’re expensive in hardback
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I have read three so far. TransAtlantic is a premier read. It could be the winner. Harvest is a marvelous mood piece. Crace’s prose is like poetry. Toibin’s novella is an intriguing read, but I can’t imagine such a short work moving on to the shortlist.
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Have just two of the long list in my bedside inventory… but that inventory is so deep the 2014 long list may be published before ever I reach them. There is an extract of Colum McCann’s Transatlantic in the April 16, 2012 edition of the New Yorker that is fabulous… should win a priize all by itself.
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I tried to read Harvest and just couldn’t get it through it.
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I’ve had “A Tale for the Tune Being” on my e reader for a while too, but I finally started it last night. Too early to tell how much I’ll like it, but I have high hopes… 🙂
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Thanks for the list! The only one I’ve read is The testament Of Mary (excellent) but I began A Tale for The Time Being yesterday, and so far, its proving to be one of those books I’ve forcing myself to slow down and savour, it is sending goosebumps of pleasure and delight up and down my spine!
However, I am incredibly disappointed that the book which I found the most extraordinary, so far, this year, was Patrick Flanery’s second novel Fallen Land. I thought his first novel, last year, Absolution, was extraordinary, and so is FL. For some reason I fail to fathom, his publisher (i think its Bloomsbury) seem to be low profile on it. he is an astonishingly mature writer, and seems to have appeared from nowhere, writing these 2 amazing books
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I had my eye on TransAtlantic even before it was long listed and the early reviews suggest it is worth the hype and the longlisting. I too have A Tale for the Time Being and We need new names on the e-reader. Now only to find time to read.
Requested Unexploded on Netgalley but got rejected. 😦
Thank you for this post.
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