More detailed appraisal once I have left the land that the Internet forgot, aka Morocco, but I have managed to read my way through all but 2 of the Man Booker prize long list.
My favourites, so far are The Chimes and A Little Life.
Still to read are The Year of the Runaway (half way through) and A Short History of Seven Killings.
OK, so there are three I haven't read (I have now finished The Year of the Runaways and have started A Short History of Seven Killings) as The Fishermen is not, currently, available as an ebook and I still haven't been able to find a copy of Did You Ever Have a Family.
Here are my brief notes:
Anne Enright - The Green Road A story of an Irish family, from County Clare, spread over 3 decades. Mother, father, 2 sons, 2 daughters. Well written, not over long and interesting.
Laila Lalami - The Moor's Account A (sort of) re-telling of Don Quixote, but the main character is (unsurprisingly) a Moor and a slave, and it is set, mainly, in North America. Even though the book is quite long, I didn't, ever, feel like "I wish this book would just end so I can get on with the next one".
Tom McCarthy - Satin Island Basically it is a book about writer's block. Sounds like a bundle of fun, doesn't it? Well it is better than you might expect.
Andrew O'Hagan - The Illuminations This is an interesting one, as it appears to be two seperate stories, but they merge about half way through the book and make an interesting story of love, scandal and loss.
Manilynne Robinson - Lila I hates this book, really really hated it. Imagine a "Misery Memoir" made into fiction (so you can, instead of telling the truth, just make shit up) and you pretty much have it.
Anuradha Roy - Sleeping on Jupiter Interesting, funny and insightful, I really enjoyed this one. It's a story of two people, basically, a young girl who ends up in an Ashram after all her family are killed and the woman who took her in when she first escaped the ashram.
Sunjeev Sahota - The Year of the Runaways A story of two people who escaped India and came to England, separately and the stories of the people around them, family, friends and love interest. Another insightful book and quite enjoyable.
Anna Small - The Chimes I LOVED this book, set in a post-apocolyptic England, the populace is controlled by The Chimes and memories re physical objects. The hero, Simon, and his friend Lucien, set out learn the truth and to change the world.
Anne Tyler - A Spool of Blue Thread An enjoyable book but I don't think it has a chance of making it past the long list (some argue it shouldn't have made it this far!)
Hanya Yanagihara - A Little Life I haven't read a book this good, either in story, or in writing style in a long, long time. An author that can mix first and third person so effortlessly that you don't really notice it has to be REALLY good at what they do. I laughed, I cried and I felt a certain emptiness once I had finished it.
The one thing all the books have in common, this year, is that they really are all very well written. There is no pretentious carp (no Will Self! YAY!) I am willing to go out on a limb and predict that "A Little Life" will win. Then again I am ALWAYS wrong with my prediction. Even if it doesn't win I would, if asked to recommend one book out of the long list, recommend that one.
