Booker Prize Final Six

The Man Booker Prize shortlist of titles was recently announced in London. This literary award has been given for 40+ years to recognize the works of contemporary fiction writers from the British Commonwealth and Ireland. Last year's winner was The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobsen. Other titles that have won in the past have been Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, and The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. When the winner is announced on October 18, the author will receive a prize of £50,000. Which one of these titles will win this award in 2011?

Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch
Recruited by a famed importer of exotic animals to capture a fabled dragon during a three-year whaling expedition, former street urchin Jaffy Brown and his friend and rival, Tim, successfully capture the beast only to find themselves targeted by superstitious sailors.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
Set against the backdrop of the great California Gold Rush, this darkly comic novel follows the misadventures of the fabled Sisters brothers, two hired guns, who, under the order of the mysterious Commodore, try to kill Hermann Kermit Warm, a man who gives them a run for their money.

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman
When a basketball-playing classmate is killed in what seems to be a senseless act of violence, eleven-year-old Ghana emigrant Harrison Opuku and his best friend, Dean, apply detective skills gleaned from popular television shows to gather clues only to stumble on the actual killer.

Snowdrops by A.D. Miller
Witnessing the progression of regional corruption in his work as a British lawyer in early 2000s Moscow, Nick Platt rescues two sisters from a purse snatcher and pursues a glamorous romantic relationship with one of the sisters before he is asked to help with a dubious family endeavor.

Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan - tentative US release date of May 6, 2012
The aftermath of the fall of Paris, 1940. Hieronymous Falk, a rising star on the cabaret scene, was arrested in a cafe and never heard from again. He was twenty years old. He was a German citizen. And he was black. Fifty years later, Sid, Hiero's bandmate and the only witness that day, is going back to Berlin.

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes - tentative US release date of January 24, 2012
Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life. Now Tony is in middle age. He's had a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce. He's certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer's letter is about to prove.