Both Eyes Book Blog

My Choice for the Man Booker Prize

I just launched out of bed with the sick feeling that I’d somehow missed the announcement of the Man Booker Prize for 2011.  It looks like I have about a two-hour window.  Phew!

Okay, I’ve read every book on the entire long list, and I correctly chose five of the six short-listed books, as I’ve done once before in 2009.  So I’m confident enough to put myself out there in picking a winner, although I’m torn between what I consider two very strong choices.  I mentioned as much when I reviewed them.

When I read The Sense of an Ending, I was positive it would win.  Since then, I keep having visions of Jamrach’s Menagerie.  I knew it was special the very first time I heard the title.  So that’s my pick.

See what I did there?  I hedged my bets!  Now I can also say that nothing would make me happier than to see the prize go to Pigeon English – the book rescued from a slush pile to take its rightful place among the literary elite.

That’s enough out of me.  Hopefully I can sleep now.  At any rate it’s somewhat disgraceful to be blogging in one’s underpants.