Man Booker Prize

The longlist has been announced for this years Man Booker - can't wait to start reading them.

Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in America (Faber and Faber)
Emma Donoghue Room (Pan MacMillan - Picador)
Helen Dunmore The Betrayal (Penguin - Fig Tree)
Damon Galgut In a Strange Room (Grove Atlantic - Atlantic Books)
Howard Jacobson The Finkler Question (Bloomsbury)
Andrea Levy The Long Song (Headline Publishing Group - Headline Review)
Tom McCarthy C (Random House - Jonathan Cape)
David Mitchell The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet  (Hodder & Stoughton - Sceptre)
Lisa Moore February (Random House - Chatto & Windus)
Paul Murray Skippy Dies (Penguin - Hamish Hamilton)
Rose Tremain Trespass (Random House - Chatto & Windus)
Christos Tsiolkas The Slap (Grove Atlantic - Tuskar Rock)
Alan Warner The Stars in the Bright Sky  (Random House - Jonathan Cape)

John Irving

I didn't really enjoy Wide Sargasso Sea. Maybe I should have read Jane Eyre before hand to prepare for the prequal as I couldn't relate the two books (story or characters). I found the book dark, vague and it was very short. I guess any book about madness and family tragedy will be dark but I wasn't able to empathise with or understand the characters.

So now I am back to a long favourite author - John Irving. He is the author of Hotel New Hampshire, The World According to Garp and many other great books. Set in New Hampshire in the US the books have the most interesting and bizarre stories and characters.

I borrowed this book off my mum earlier in the year when I was ill. Last night in twisted river is what I expect from Irving and I am finding it difficult to put away at night.