My Man Booker 2009 Reading List

The Man Booker 2009 shortlist was announced on 8th September, so this post is a little outdated. But for those who haven’t been following it, here is the list of nominated books:

• The Children’s Book – AS Byatt
• Summertime – JM Coetzee
• The Quickening Maze – Adam Foulds
• Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel
• The Glass Room – Simon Mawel
• The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters

I read the synopsis for these books at the Man Booker site, and am really looking forward to sinking my teeth into Wolf Hall and The Little Stranger.

Wolf Hall is set in England in the 1520s during the time of Henry VIII and tells the story of Cromwell who was one of the king’s advisors. He has always been portrayed as a manipulative and cunning person who trusted and was trusted by nobody. However, in most of the books I have read dealing with this time period, he has very rarely been the central character (those were mostly books on Anne Boleyn); Wolf Hall is probably the first book that is devoted entirely to him. So, as a former history student, I would love to read a book about the events of that time through his eyes.

The Little Stranger is set in the 1940s and seems to be the story of a grand old house and its inhabitants traumatized by some shocking event in the past. Not too much information is provided in the synopsis, but it was just enough to catch my attention and make me want to read the book.

I should ideally also plan to read AS Byatt and JM Coetzee – two rather shocking gaps in my reading. I have never read any book by these authors, and I do think The Children’s Book and Summertime might be a good place to start.

So, which of the Man Booker 2009 nominees are you planning to read? and why?