Finished all the shortlisted books. I wouldn't have thought of reading them if it hadn't been for this thread. For a cycling forum, yacf has a broad influence.
I enjoyed reading them all. I did struggle a bit at the begining of Half Blood Blues. I think thats about the language. Strangely I didn't find that with Pigeon English which had similar use of slang.
While I enjoyed reading them all, I couldn't say that any of them were outstanding. There were bits of both Snowdrops and Jamrach's Menagerie that thought were excellent, but only bits. The Sisters Brothers was the least involving. Silly without being funny. The descriptions of jaz in Half Blood Blues were evocative. I've never heard that much in it, but the descriptions make me think I'm missing something.
Something in The Sense of an Ending feels like its trying too hard, beautiful, but no passion. Pigeon English feels a bit like being lectured at, I can see that as a set book in future GCSEs.
I wouldn't normally have read any of these. Reading through the covers in a bookshop, I don't think any would have appealed and I would have headed back to my normal diet of SciFi/Fantasy, but its been a rewarding experience. I might do it again next year. Will it make me read more fiction in the meanwhile.... I'm not sure. I assume that since they made the shortlist, these books are some of the better writing this year. Given that none of them had the overall "wow" factor for me, how appealing will other books be that didn't make the shortlist? Or maybe the judges are clueless. Probably though, I'd be more inclined to give something different a try now. I might not think "wow", but I'll probably enjoy reading it.
Overall, I think the one I most enjoyed was Jamrach's Menagerie.
Dave