The longlist for this year’s Man Booker Prize has been announced.

It’s interesting to see Christos Tsiolkas’ book The Slap on there; I’ve seen that book mentioned in so many places by so many people and prizes that I’m really just going to have to give in and read it. Perhaps I’ll suggest it for book club.

I tend to really like the Booker-winners, and every year I try to read at least a couple of the selections that interest me from the lists.

The list is:

1. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
2. Parrot & Olivier in America by Peter Carey
3. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
4. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
5. The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore
6. Room by Emma Donoghue
7. The Long Song by Andrea Levy
8. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
9. In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
10. Trespass by Rose Tremain
11. C by Tom McCarthy
12. February by Lisa Moore
13. The Stars in the Bright Sky by Alan Warner

I haven’t read a single one! But I am definitely wanting to read the David Mitchell (I loved Cloud Atlas and Black Swan Green), the Peter Carey, the Emma Donoghue and the Christos Tsiolkas. My vote for best cover would be for Paul Murray’s book (pictured above).

Shortlist of six finalists will be announced on September 7th, and the 2010 Booker Prize winner will be announced on October 12th.