Way off…
So, one of the literary awards that I use as a good metric is the Man Booker Award for Fiction. Every book I have read that won this award has been great. I am even subscribed to the website for the award and get e-mails as to the finalists, winners, etc.
I just got the "longlist" from which the winner will be selected and… well, it just seems wrong that I know so few of these books. In fact, I’ve read none and only heard of one (Black Swan Green by David Mitchell). Makes me wonder how well I know the world of fiction, if these are some of the best offerings and I’m all, "Huh?"
Of course, my main thing lately has been reading my sizable backlog here, filling in the gaps on some of my favorite authors, and working toward my Nabokov MFA, but again, that doesn’t excuse not having "heard" of these things… a Sunday subscription to the New York Times may be in order, just so I stay better abreast of things. We’ll see…
For those of you playing along at home, here is the shortlist of nominees for the 2006 Man Booker Prize for Fiction:
- Carey, Peter Theft: A Love Story (Faber & Faber)
- Desai, Kiran The Inheritance of Loss (Hamish Hamilton)
- Edric, Robert Gathering the Water (Doubleday)
- Gordimer, Nadine Get a Life (Bloomsbury)
- Grenville, Kate The Secret River (Canongate)
- Hyland, M.J. Carry Me Down (Canongate)
- Jacobson, Howard Kalooki Nights (Jonathan Cape)
- Lasdun, James Seven Lies (Jonathan Cape)
- Lawson, Mary The Other Side of the Bridge (Chatto & Windus)
- McGregor, Jon So Many Ways to Begin (Bloomsbury)
- Matar, Hisham In the Country of Men (Viking)
- Messud, Claire The Emperor’s Children (Picador)
- Mitchell, David Black Swan Green (Sceptre)
- Murr, Naeem The Perfect Man (William Heinemann)
- O’Hagan, Andrew Be Near Me (Faber & Faber)
- Robertson, James The Testament of Gideon Mack (Hamish Hamilton)
- St Aubyn, Edward Mother’s Milk (Picador)
- Unsworth, Barry The Ruby in her Navel (Hamish Hamilton)
- Waters, Sarah The Night Watch (Virago)
