The Best of Bookers - Shortlist Announced

This year is the 40th anniversary of the Booker Prize, and as I noted some time ago in a post that I not can't find, three judges have put together a shortlist of what they consider to be the six best Booker winners since the prize's inception. Said shortlist was annuonced this week. The lucky nominees are:

• The Ghost Road Pat Barker (1995)
• Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie (1981)
• Oscar and Lucinda Peter Carey (1988)
• Disgrace JM Coetzee (1999)
• The Conservationist Nadime Gordimer (1974)
• The Siege of Krishnapur JG Farrell (1973)

Now, here's the kicker. I haven't read any of them. In fact, I only own one of them (Oscar and Lucinda). Therefore, the chances of me making giving an informed opinion on any of the above are, frankly, slim to none. I can, though, give my opinion on books that aren't on the list. Pointless? Possibly. Possibly not.

Firstly, I would like to express my relief and profound thanks to the judges for not selecting Life of Pi. Rarely has a fiction book made me actually angry, but this one did. I was also angry at the judges who chose it that year over Sarah Waters's Fingersmith. Now, I am not a person particularly confident in my writing abilities; as much as I harbour the novel-writing dream (along with God knows how many other readers), I do not think my writing is yet good enough to start showing to anyone other than my boyfriend and my cats. I am not that arrogant. However, reading Life of Pi, I found myself thinking "I could do better than this. I could definitely do better than this" all the way through. And don't get me started on the ending, OK? Just. Don't.

However, I am sad not to see AS Byatt's bloody fantastic Possession on the list, which remains pretty much my favourite Booker winner, like, ever.* In fact, I must reread it soon, when I have got over the reading block. Speaking of the reading block, I have taken all the novels away from the bedside table and have stacked them in a neat pile in the corner. In their stead lies a small pile of short story and poetry collections, thus: The Book of Other People, edited by Zadie Smith, The Collected Stories of Grace Paley, The Collected Stories of Lorrie Moore, The Collected Novels and Stories of Kate Chopin, and The New Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. I must say that so far the plan is working rather well. Last night I managed to read one story from the Grace Paley, one by Lorrie Moore, and one by Kate Chopin, while this morning before I got up I read one from the Zadie Smith volume, and a few Edward Lear poems.  I think I might have cracked it.

*The "like" is ironic. I promise.