Saw this today:
Melvyn Bragg, Len Deighton, J.G. Farrell, Susan Hill, David Lodge, Ruth Rendell and Patrick White are just some of the authors who could win The Lost Man Booker Prize which is unveiled today, Monday 1st February. This is a one-off prize to honour books published in 1970 which missed out on the opportunity to win the Booker Prize.
The reason being that no Booker has ever been awarded for books published in 1970, as that year fell into the gap between when the prize was awarded retrospectively and when they started to award the best novel in the past yet.
This is the longlist, with 22 books. I am ashamed to say (mumble) that I haven’t read any of those. Some writers I know and enjoy, but these books? No-uh.
o Brian Aldiss, The Hand Reared Boy
o H.E.Bates, A Little Of What You Fancy?
o Nina Bawden, The Birds On The Trees
o Melvyn Bragg, A Place In England
o Christy Brown, Down All The Days
o Len Deighton, Bomber
o J.G.Farrell, Troubles
o Elaine Feinstein, The Circle
o Shirley Hazzard, The Bay Of Noon
o Reginald Hill, A Clubbable Woman
o Susan Hill, I’m The King Of The Castle
o Francis King, A Domestic Animal
o Margaret Laurence, The Fire Dwellers
o David Lodge, Out Of The Shelter
o Iris Murdoch, A Fairly Honourable Defeat
o Shiva Naipaul, Fireflies
o Patrick O’Brian, Master and Commander
o Joe Orton, Head To Toe
o Mary Renault, Fire From Heaven
o Ruth Rendell, A Guilty Thing Surprised
o Muriel Spark, The Driver’s Seat
o Patrick White, The Vivisector
Click here for the full announcement.
Of the novels listed here, I would urge attention to the underappreciated Shirley Hazzard’s BAY OF NOON.
The only one among them I’ve read is the J.G.Farrell, strongly recommended. The only one among the remainder that piques my interest is Shiva Naipaul …