Man - That's a Lot of Books

There are two times a year when I am guaranteed a good case of eye strain - in the spring when I start my bracket for the Morning News Tournament of Books, and again through late summer and early fall with the Man Booker Prize nominees.
And today is the big day! They announced the longlist of nominees for the Man Booker early this morning in London, and it's a great baker's dozen of reads.
This year will be a tough one for me because I've only read one of the selections, The Sellout, which was part of the Tournament of Books. So that leaves me 12 books to get through before the short list of books is announced on Sept. 13, and the winner is named in October.
Spoiler alert - I never finish all 13 before the short list, and there's usually a great gnashing of teeth when I realize that I've read some that didn't make the short list. But I'm never disappointed that I've read them all. Some of my most favorite books of all time have come from the Man Booker lists, books that I probably would not have discovered otherwise. Like the one that still haunts me today: Pigeon English.
If you'd like to follow along this summer, below is the current list of nominees. Or you can watch this space for my reviews and predictions. Now I'm off to buy the 13 - it's like Christmas in July!

Man Booker Nominees

The Sellout, Paul Beatty (U.S.)
The Schooldays of Jesus, J.M. Coetzee (South Africa-Australia)
Serious Sweet, A.L. Kennedy (U.K.)
Hot Milk, Deborah Levy (U.K.)
His Bloody Project, Graeme Macrae Burnet (U.K.)
The North Water, Ian McGuire (U.K.)
Hystopia, David Means (U.S.)
The Many, Wyl Menmuir (U.K.)
Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh (U.S.)
Work Like Any Other, Virginia Reeves, (U.S.)
My Name Is Lucy Barton, Elizabeth Strout (U.S.)
All That Man Is, David Szalay (Canada)
Do Not Say We Have Nothing, Madeleine Thien (Canada)