Naturally I’m excited to see what will be on this year’s Man Booker Prize longlist, but I wasn’t going to post my predictions until Frances at NonSuch Book prompted me to on twitter. So what the hay? Here’s my wish list. It’s fun to guess! We discussed whether Mike McCormack’s exceptionally beautiful novel “Solar Bones” was eligible for this year’s prize since it (controversially) wasn’t last year when it was first published by Irish publisher Tramp Press. Librarian Robert Pisani chimed in on twitter writing that it is eligible this year because it’s now been published by Canongate Books in the UK. I’m hoping it can make the list because even though it scooped up the Goldsmiths Prize I think it still deserves wider recognition.
I should have more free time this summer so I’m hoping to read the entire longlist. I’m still long-faced about Beatty’s fascinating-but-flawed “The Sellout” winning last year over Thien’s “Do Not Say We Have Nothing” but I have high hopes for one of the exceptional novels listed below winning this year’s coveted award. Books eligible this year must have been written in English and published in the UK between October 1st 2016 and September 30th 2017. The longlist will be announced on July 27th at 0:01 BST, the shortlist on September 13th and the winner on October 17th.
The longlist can include 12 or 13 novels – I’ve gone with 14 which I know is cheating but I couldn’t whittle it down anymore. The judges have a hard decision on their hands! I’ve not read “American War” yet but heard such high praise I’m making it my wild card. I have a feeling the choices this year will be centred more heavily around politics. But what do you think? What novels do you want to see on this year’s Booker Prize list?
A State of Freedom by Neel Mukherjee
A Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert
The End We Start From by Megan Hunter
One of the Boys by Daniel Magariel
The Dark Circle by Linda Grant
Days Without End by Sebastian Barry
A Book of American Martyrs by Joyce Carol Oates
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
The Power by Naomi Alderman
Autumn by Ali Smith
Solar Bones by Mike McCormack
American War by Omar El Akkad
