Man Booker Prize Longlist

The judging panel for the 2006 Man Booker Prize for Fiction announced on August 14 the longlist of books for this year. The longlist of 19 books was chosen from 112 entries; 95 were submitted for the prize and 17 were called in by the panel of judges.

Chair of judges, Hermione Lee said: "Judging the Man Booker Prize puts you through almost as many emotions as there are in the novels. We’ve tried to be careful and critical judges as well as being passionately involved. We have many regrets about some of the novels we’ve left off, and we could easily have had a longlist of about 30 books, but we’re delighted with the variety, the originality, the drama and craft, the human interest and the strong voices in this longlist. It’s a list in which famous established novelists rub shoulders with little known newcomers. We hope that people will leap at it for their late summer reading and make up their own shortlist.”

The judging panel for the 2006 Man Booker Prize for Fiction is: Hermione Lee (Chair); Simon Armitage, poet and novelist; Candia McWilliam, award winning novelist; critic Anthony Quinn and actor Fiona Shaw.

The 2006 shortlist will be announced on Thursday 14th September at a press conference at Man Group’s London office. The winner will be announced on Tuesday 10th October at an awards ceremony at Guildhall, London.

The longlist for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2006 is as follows:

• Carey, Peter Theft: A Love Story (Faber & Faber)
• Desai, Kiran The Inheritance of Loss (Hamish Hamilton)
• Edric, Robert Gathering the Water (Doubleday)
• Gordimer, Nadine Get a Life (Bloomsbury)
• Grenville, Kate The Secret River (Canongate)
• Hyland, M.J. Carry Me Down (Canongate)
• Jacobson, Howard Kalooki Nights (Jonathan Cape)
• Lasdun, James Seven Lies (Jonathan Cape)
• Lawson, Mary The Other Side of the Bridge (Chatto & Windus)
• McGregor, Jon So Many Ways to Begin (Bloomsbury)
• Matar, Hisham In the Country of Men (Viking)
• Messud, Claire The Emperor’s Children (Picador)
• Mitchell, David Black Swan Green (Sceptre)
• Murr, Naeem The Perfect Man (William Heinemann)
• O’Hagan, Andrew Be Near Me (Faber & Faber)
• Robertson, James The Testament of Gideon Mack (Hamish Hamilton)
• St Aubyn, Edward Mother’s Milk (Picador)
• Unsworth, Barry The Ruby in her Navel (Hamish Hamilton)
• Waters, Sarah The Night Watch (Virago)

And, no, I haven't read a single one of the books on this list.