Man Booker longlist announced

The longlist for the Man Booker Prize for fiction was announced today. You can read a synopsis of the 17 novels on the BBC website - the list includes former winners such as J M Coetzee, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie and Kazuo Ishiguro. According to a BBC report, William Hill have made Ian McEwan favourite at 3/1, with JM Coetzee at 5/1, Kazuo Ishiguro at 6/1 and Julian Barnes 7/1. [More predictions from the Guardian]. The two I've read recently and enjoyed hugely are Marina Lewycka's A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (hilarious) and Ali Smith's The Accidental (very distinctive and compelling). We have 8 of the longlisted titles in the Wodehouse Library and are happy to order others if there is interest. The shortlist will be announced on September 8th.
Other reports & reviews: The Guardian, The Times.