The prestigious prize is open to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth who write full-length novels in the English language. The longlist of nominees this year includes seven women, three debut novels, and a multimedia e-book series.
Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw
In 10 words: Five characters bring their dreams for the future to Shanghai.
Quote:“Time — how it expands to fill the spaces you create; how it makes meagre experiences seem never-ending. Whenever he heard people talk about the ravages of time, about how it robbed and deprived, Justin always smiled; because for him, time was an accomplice, plugging the gaps and fleshing out morsels of memory so he would have something substantial to hang on to. That way, however little he had seen or felt, he would always feel as if he had more: a life far richer than the truth.”
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
In 10 words: Darling, age 10, moves from Zimbabwe to America… Detroit, Michigan.
Quote:“Look at them leaving in droves, the children of the land, just look at them leaving in droves. Those with nothing are crossing borders. Those with strength are crossing borders. Those with ambitions are crossing borders. Those with hopes are crossing borders. Those in pain are crossing borders. Moving, running, emigrating, going, deserting, walking, quitting, flying, fleeing – to all over, to countries near and far, to countries unheard of, to countries whose names they cannot pronounce. They are leaving in droves.”
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
In 10 words: The story of brothers with opposite futures spans three generations.
Quote:“Amid the gray, an incongruous band of daytime blue asserts itself. To the west, a pink sun already begins its descent. The effect is of three isolated aspects, distinct phases of the day. All of it, strewn across the horizon, is contained in his vision.”
A Tale For The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
In 10 words: A suicidal Japanese teenager’s diary discovered by an American novelist.
Quote:“Sometimes when grown-ups are talking to you, and you stare back at them, they start to like they’re inside one of those old-fashioned TV sets, the kind with the thick dark glass, and you can see their mouths moving, only the exact words get drowned out into a lot of staticky white noise so you can barely understand them, which didn’t matter because I wasn’t listening anyway. Mom was talking on and on like a breakfast TV show host, and Muji was burping and trilling like a drunken sparrow, and Jiko was pretending to sleep, Dad was exhaling clouds of cigarette smoke into my clean underpants that were still hanging on the laundry line because in all the excitement Id forgotten to take them down,but none of this mattered because I was deep inside my mind, which is where I go when things get too intense.”
The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin
In 10 words: An intimate biography of Mary, years after her son’s crucifixion.
Quote: I like it that they feed me and pay for my clothes and protect me. And in return I will do for them what I can, but no more than that. Just as I cannot breathe the breath of another or help the heart of someone else to beat or their bones not to weaken or their flesh not to shrivel, I cannot say more than I can say. And I know how deeply this disturbs them, and it would make me smile, this earnest need for foolish anecdote or sharp simple patterns in the story of what happened to us all, except that I have forgotten how to smile.”
The rest of the 2013 Man Booker Prize longlist nominees can be found at the ( SOURCE ).
Book recommendations post!
Has anyone read Robert Gailbraith's J.K. Rowling's "The Cuckoo's Calling" yet? Is it really as good as the critics said it was? If it is, I may have to buy a copy at the end of the month when I get my next paycheck.