Man Booker Longlist Just Announced

The Man Booker Prize is a highly coveted award which annually honors the author of an English language novel published in the United Kingdom in the current year by a citizen of the British Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. It was established in 1968. It promotes the finest in fiction by rewarding the very best book of the year. The prize is the world's most important literary award and has the power to transform the fortune of the author as well as the publisher.

The longlist is a baker's dozen - thirteen contenders for the 2015 Booker Prize for fiction. It was just announced on July 29. The shortlist will be announced on September 15. The winner will be announced on October 15. So, stay tuned. . .
What I found very interesting is that five of this year's nominees are American novels and they are here on the shelves at GPL. They are as follows:

A Spool of Blue Thread (Feb 2015) by Anne Tyler
In this book, we come to know three generations of Whitshanks--a family with secrets and memories that are sometimes different than what others observe. The book’s timeline moves back and forth with overlapping stories, just like thread on a spool. Most readers will find themselves in the story. Once again, Tyler has written an enchanting tale.

Lila (Oct 2014) by Marilynne Robinson
Abandoning her homeless existence to become a minister's wife, Lila reflects on her hardscrabble life on the run with a canny young drifter and her efforts to reconcile her painful past with her husband's gentle Christian worldview.

Did You Ever Have a Family (Sep 2015) by Bill Clegg
Lit by the clarity of understanding that true sadness brings, Did You Ever Have a Family is a story that reveals humanity at its worst and best, through loss and love, fracture and forgiveness. At the book’s heart is the idea of family – the ones we are born with and the ones we create – and the desire, in the face of everything, to go on living. This title is on order and you can place a hold.

The Moor's Account (Sep 2014) by Laila Lalami
This is a work of historical fiction following Estebanico, a Moroccan slave, who is one of four survivors of the failed Narváez expedition to colonise Spanish Florida in the sixteenth century. Of the four, his was the only testimony left off the record.

A Little Life (Mar 2015) by Hanya Yanagihara
A Little Life is a depiction of heartbreak, and a dark examination of the tyranny of memory and the limits of human endurance.



The remaining titles and author (nationality) are as follows:
The Green Road by Anne Enright (Ireland)
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (Jamaica)
Satin Island by Tom McCarthy (UK)
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria)
The Illuminations by Andrew O'Hagan (UK)
Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy (India)
The Year of the Runaways (UK)
The Chimes by Anna Smaill (New Zealand)

Read one or all and see if you can predict the winner of this prestigious award!