The shortlist for the 2008 Booker has been announced. Two first time novelists, Aravind Adiga and Steve Toltz, have made it to the shortlist this year. I can't even imagine how exciting it must be for a first time novelist to make it to the Booker shortlist!

Here's the list:

• The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
• The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry
• Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh
• The Clothes on Their Backs - Linda Grant
• The Northern Clemency - Philip Hensher
• A Fraction of the Whole - Steve Toltz

I'm especially looking forward to reading Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh, but I'll probably read all of the books on the shortlist and many from the longlist too because I have a strange obsession for reading the Booker lists. ;-)

Which of these books are you looking forward to reading? Or, have you read any that you'd recommend as a "Must-Read"? Tell us about it!

This is the entire 2008 longlist

• The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
• The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry
• Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh
• The Clothes on Their Backs - Linda Grant
• The Northern Clemency - Philip Hensher
• A Fraction of the Whole - Steve Toltz
• Girl in A Blue Dress - Gaynor Arnold
• From A to X - John Berger
• The Lost Dog - Michelle de Kretser
• The Case of Exploding Mangoes - Mohammed Hanif
• Netherland - Joseph O'Neill
• The Enchantress of Florence - Salman Rushdie
• Child 44 - Tom Rob Smith

I'm also looking forward to reading The Enchantress of Florence and Child 44. I already have a copy of The Enchantress of Florence. Gotta love the PBS wishlist! ;-) The Case of Exploding Mangoes sounds awfully good, too.

Actually I am not familiar with any of these books, but I love lists like this so will look for more info about them.  If a book's synopsis doesn't sound good to me I won't read it just because it's on a list like this, but if there's something that sounds interesting I'll always give it a try.     Thanks for posting this!

oohh thanks for posting this!  I haven't heard of any of these titles!   We usually will get the best sellers in at the library.  It is often very difficult to find literary award winning books in the library these days.  They will buy what patrons are asking for and people read less 'literature" every year.   Why anyone would prefer Jodi Picoult over Doris Lessing (Nobel Prize winner) is beyond me.

I was just sent Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry and am looking forward to reading it.   HIs previous novel, A Long Long Way was utterly gorgeous.

I have Child 44 on my TBR too.  Very interesting list overall.

Thanks for posting this list Valli.  I only occasionally read literary fiction, but enjoy it when I do.  And one of the best books I've ever read (Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro) was a Man Booker Prize Winner  (I think.)

I will go through and see what each book is about before I decide to read it, but I love books.

What is  the Booker List?

I got this in an email yesterday and thought someone may be interested -

The Man Booker Prize now has free audio extracts of the 2008 shortlisted titles available to download to your mobile phone.

Text MBP to 60300 - or if you are an international user type gospoken.com/a/mbp08 into your mobile web browser.

If you enjoy the extract, you will also be able to use your phone to download the full audio book or have a hard copy delivered direct to you. The cost will be added to your mobile phone bill.

Please visit our News section for more information about the Man Booker Prize and GoSpoken partnership.

Audio downloads for the Man Booker ‘Dozen' - the 2008 longlist of 13 titles - can also be downloaded from www.themanbookerprize.com/news/audio

Rose, The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known in short as the Booker Prize, is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of either the Commonwealth of Nations or Ireland.

Click the following link to learn more about the Man Booker Prize - http://www.themanbookerprize.com/

I love checking out the books on the Booker list because the books vary greatly. The books are by authors from different countries with different views of the world. Books are a great way to acquaint yourself with the rest of the world, and the Booker list helps you to find a place to start!

Interesting! Thanks, Valli.

Rose