Longlist Announced!!

I made plans to take the kids to a local amusement park today so that I wouldn't have to sit around all day hitting "refresh" on the Man Booker website.  Last year, it seemed to take FOREVER before the list was announced, and this year I wake up, check the site, and THERE IT IS!  Shit.  Now I can't start the reading until this evening because I'm going to be at Bonfante Gardens all day with the kids.  Maybe they'll understand that Mommy needs a reading day.  Hmmm....

As usual, I only recognize 3 of the 13 authors on the list (Barry, Hanif and Rushdie) and had only heard of 1 title (The Case of Exploding Mangoes).  I was thrilled to find that I could order 10 of the 13 titles from Amazon, which meant that I only had to order 3 books from the UK this year, unlike last year, when half the list was not available here yet.

Here's the list:

Aravind Adiga             The White Tiger

Gaynor Arnold            Girl in a Blue Dress

Sebastian Barry          The Secret Scripture

John Berger                 From A to X

Michelle de Krester   The Lost Dog

Amitav Ghosh             Sea of Poppies

Linda Grant                The Clothes on Their Backs

Mohammed Hanif     A Case of Exploding Mangoes

Philip Hensher           The Northern Clemency

Joseph O'Neill            Netherland

Salman Rushdie         The Enchantress of Florence

Tom Rob Smith          Child 44

Steve Tolz                    A Fraction of the Whole

I immediately went to Amazon.com and ordered 9 titles.  Then I went to Amazon.co.uk and ordered 3 titles that will not be published here until after the winner is announced in October.  I'll pick up the last book at Barnes & Noble today and that will give me something to start with before the other books arrive in two days.

After I placed my order, I checked the Man Booker's "Debate" to see what Booker freaks think about the list.  Who are these people who have read 9 of the 13 titles?  Their houses must be even messier than mine.