When the judges of the Man Booker prize announce their long and short lists, you can bet there will be some surprise omissions. This year was no exception. Donna Tartt had been considered a certainty for her long awaited novel The Goldfinch which had already gained her the Pullitzer Prize. But she didn’t even make it to the long list.
That was a big mistake according to readers of The Guardian who have been taking part in the newspaper’s Not The Booker Prize “award”. Tartt has made it to the shortlist of six novels, chosen by readers although interestingly she didn’t get the hugest number of votes.
Here is the shortlist in full. I haven’t heard of any of these books before – have any of you read them? Did the Booker judges miss a trick in not including them on their award contender list? Are they more worthy winners of a literary prize than any on the current Booker long list?
Simon Sylvester – The Visitors (Quercus) with 63 votes
Donna Tartt – The Goldfinch (Little, Brown) with 39 votes
Tony Black – The Last Tiger (Cargo) with 39 votes
Louis Armand – Cairo (Equus) with 39 votes
Iain Maloney – First Time Solo (Freight books) with 37 votes
Mahesh Rao – The Smoke Is Rising (Daunt) – with 36 votes
Yiu can follow the Guardian prize selection at
http://www.theguardian.com/books/series/not-the-booker-prize