The Man Booker prize, which is not without its politics, controversies and critics has, nevertheless furnished me with some of my most memorable reads recently: Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries, which led me to her wonderful The Rehearsal, Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale For The Time Being, How To Be Both by Ali Smith, Niall Williams’ The History Of The Rain. Gorgeous, unique and powerful – occasionally experimental – voices.
The year’s list (the covers for which look amazing) are:
- Bill Clegg (U.S.), Did You Ever Have a Family
- Anne Enright (Ireland), The Green Road
- Marlon James (Jamaica), A Brief History of Seven Killings
- Laila Lalami (U.S.), The Moor’s Account
- Tom McCarthy (U.K.), Satin Island
- Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria), The Fishermen
- Andrew O’Hagan (U.K.), The Illuminations
- Marilynne Robinson (U.S.), Lila
- Anuradha Roy (India), Sleeping on Jupiter
- Sunjeev Sahota (U.K.), The Year of the Runaways
- Anna Smaill (New Zealand), The Chimes
- Anne Tyler (U.S.), A Spool of Blue Thread
- Hanya Yanagihara (U.S.), A Little Life