Ailish Mcalpine-Green

Berger long-listed for the Booker Prize

It's interesting, when researching these Booker nominees, which reviews say what about each book, be it good or bad. When looking for comments on Berger's novel though, I could find very little. None, infact. Being a long-listed entrant, it is unlikely that the book is so bad no one wants to read it or review it, so I'm assuming that no one has been able to get their hands on it. Or perhaps it has been eclipsed by other novels with more hype (it is battling against Rushdie, I guess, and some debut novels). Although, Berger, like Rushdie, has won a Booker Award before, so maybe 'From A to X' will be the unlikely winner in the end, coming up from behind, (last time, he spat in the committee's face and donated half his prize loot to the Black Panthers). Another interesting fact: Berger is 81 years old. Pretty impressive to still be writing and writing well enough for a nomination!
Could Rushdie be a double Booker award winner?

'In the day
Off to Netherland with O'Neill, Booker Prize nominee

Hans van den Broek, the book's protagonist and Dutch exile, becomes adrift in a post 9/11 American society, closed off from the rest of the world and isolated from his family (who have fled back to London):
Hanif's debut novel long-listed for the Booker Prize

Mohammd Hanif
Adiga pounces at the Booker Prize with a debut novel that has bite

Balram Halwai is the White Tiger - the smartest boy in his village, but he must work in a teashop to help his family. After a rich man hires Balram as his chauffeur though, he is taken from the poorness of his home to the wealthy city. He soon realizes that there is only one way he can become part of this glamorous new India - by murdering his master. Balram looks back at this journey through a series of letters, a first-person confession, highlighting the wealth inequality of the people of India. '"The White Tiger" is as compelling for its subject matter as for the voice of its narrator - amoral, cynical, unrepentant, yet deeply endearing.'- Waterstones `Unlike almost any other Indian novel you might have read in recent years, this page-turner offers a completely bald, angry, unadorned portrait of the county...you'll read it in a trice and find yourself gripped.' -Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times Extract from the book: "In the old days there were one thousand castes and de...Balram Halwai is the White Tiger - the smartest boy in his village, but he must work in a teashop to help his family. After a rich man hires Balram as his chauffeur though, he is taken from the poorness of his home to the wealthy city. He soon realizes that there is only one way he can become part of this glamorous new India - by murdering his master. Balram looks back at this journey through a series of letters, a first-person confession, highlighting the wealth inequality of the people of India. '"The White Tiger" is as compelling for its subject matter as for the voice of its narrator - amoral, cynical, unrepentant, yet deeply endearing.'- Waterstones `Unlike almost any other Indian novel you might have read in recent years, this page-turner offers a completely bald, angry, unadorned portrait of the county...you'll read it in a trice and find yourself gripped.' -Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times Extract from the book: "In the old days there were one thousand castes and destinies in India," says Balram. "These days there are two castes: Men with Big Bellies, and Men with Small Bellies." Aravind Adiga was born in Madras (now Chennai), India, in 1974. He has worked as a journalist for the Washington, DC bureau of the Financial Times, as a financial correspondent in New York and is Time magazine's Asia correspondent. (more)
"In Stalinist Russia, there's no such thing as murder..."

Tom Rob Smith's debut novel, Long-listed for the Booker Prize, encompasses both the thrill of the murder-mystery and the horrific reality of living under a Stalinist regime. The only crime Leo Demidov believes exists is crime against the state, until a series of child murders occur and no one will admit it. "The killings are treated as the acts of 'deviants', homosexuals or mentally retarded people, never of 'normal' healthy Soviet citizens. In this and much else, Smith is elaborating on the case of Andrei Chikatilo, who murdered over 50 people in the 70s and 80s." As Demidov's belief in the system falters, the system's belief in him does so as well, and he is forced to consider the implications, not only for him, but for his wife too. "We are persuaded that a basically good man could put himself at the service of evil. The writerly skill that is required here is dexterously employed, although it is a misjudged device to render all speech in italics."- The Independant '...Tom Rob Smith's debut novel, Long-listed for the Booker Prize, encompasses both the thrill of the murder-mystery and the horrific reality of living under a Stalinist regime. The only crime Leo Demidov believes exists is crime against the state, until a series of child murders occur and no one will admit it. "The killings are treated as the acts of 'deviants', homosexuals or mentally retarded people, never of 'normal' healthy Soviet citizens. In this and much else, Smith is elaborating on the case of Andrei Chikatilo, who murdered over 50 people in the 70s and 80s." As Demidov's belief in the system falters, the system's belief in him does so as well, and he is forced to consider the implications, not only for him, but for his wife too. "We are persuaded that a basically good man could put himself at the service of evil. The writerly skill that is required here is dexterously employed, although it is a misjudged device to render all speech in italics."- The Independant 'Child 44' has been compared to Martin Cruz Smith's 'Gorky Park,' and Director Ridley Scott has already bought the movie rights. (more)