And the Man Booker prize winner of 2012 is...

Bring up the bodies by Hilary Mantel! This is something of an historic victory for Mantel as she becomes only the third person to win the prize twice (J. M. Coetzee and Peter Carey are the other two) and the first person to win with a sequel. Following on from Mantel’s Wolf Hall, Bring up the bodies continues the story of Thomas Cromwell, tracing the fall of Anne Boleyn from his perspective.

The winner and shortlisted titles are all now available in Townhill Library where they are part of our Man Booker display. You’ll find nominees from this year and selected titles from previous years on the ground floor of the library near the stairs. If you spot anything that takes your fancy, do feel free to pick it up off the table and borrow it!

Man Booker shortlist announced

Yes, it’s that time again! The 2012 Man Booker shortlist has been announced. The judges have chosen the following titles:-

Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists (Myrmidon Books)
Deborah Levy, Swimming Home (And Other Stories/Faber & Faber)
Hilary Mantel, Bring up the Bodies (Fourth Estate)
Alison Moore, The Lighthouse (Salt)
Will Self, Umbrella (Bloomsbury)
Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis (Faber & Faber)

As usual, to promote reading amongst our students and staff, Swansea Met Library will be ordering these titles and they will be available to borrow from Townhill Library once they’ve arrived. Check our catalogue for details.

The overall prize winner will be announced on the 16^th October. We’ll keep you posted, of course, but in the meantime, find out more on the official Man Booker website.

And the winner is...

The Sense of an Ending! Yes, the 2011 Man Booker prize has been awarded to Julian Barnes for his story of a man coming to terms with his past. Barnes has previously been shortlisted for Arthur and George (2005), England, England (1998) and Flaubert's Parrot (1984), but this is the first time he has won the prize. Find out more about these titles and keep up with the latest Man Booker news on the website: http://www.themanbookerprize.com.

We blogged about the 2011 shortlist back in September. The winner and runners up are now available to borrow from Townhill Library (except for Pigeon English, which we're still waiting for at the time of writing!). You'll also find the Julian Barnes titles mentioned above and winners and shortlisted books from previous years. With those autumn nights drawing in, now's the perfect time to get stuck into a good book!

2011 Man Booker shortlist

Back in July, we told you about the books that had made it on to the Man Booker longlist for 2011. The list has been whittled down even further and the shortlist of six titles has now been announced! They are:-

Julian Barnes The sense of an ending (Jonathan Cape - Random House)
Carol Birch Jamrach's menagerie (Canongate Books)
Patrick deWitt The Sisters brothers (Granta)
Esi Edugyan Half blood blues (Serpent's Tail)
Stephen Kelman Pigeon English (Bloomsbury)
A. D. Miller Snowdrops (Atlantic)

The winner will be announced on Tuesday 18th October! Find out more on the Man Booker website: http://www.themanbookerprize.com. Have you any favourites from the shortlist? Or any others you think should have got through but didn't? Let us know!

2011 Man Booker longlist announced

The 138 books under consideration for the 2011 Man Booker prize have now been whittled down to just 13 titles. They are:-

Julian Barnes The sense of an ending (Jonathan Cape - Random House)
Sebastian Barry On Canaan's side (Faber)
Carol Birch Jamrach's menagerie (Canongate Books)
Patrick deWitt The Sisters brothers (Granta)
Esi Edugyan Half blood blues (Serpent's Tail - Profile)
Yvvette Edwards A cupboard full of coats (Oneworld)
Alan Hollinghurst The stranger's child (Picador - Pan Macmillan)
Stephen Kelman Pigeon English (Bloomsbury)
Patrick McGuiness The last hundred days (Seren Books)
A. D. Miller Snowdrops (Atlantic)
Alison Pick Far to go (Headline Review)
Jane Rogers The testament of Jessie Lamb (Sandstone Press)
D. J. Taylor Derby Day (Chatto & Windus - Random House)

In September, the judges will announce a shortlist of six books from this selection, with a winner chosen in October. We'll keep you updated every step of the way, but if you'd like to find out more, take a look at the Man Booker website: http://www.themanbookerprize.com/.

We have a number of previous winners and shortlisted titles available in Townhill Library. Find titles on the Man Booker website, or just come in and browse our English fiction section at shelf mark 823 on the ground floor. Don't forget, books borrowed over the summer won't be due back until the 6th October 2011.

Has anyone out there read any of the books on the longlist? Or have you got any favourites from previous years? I know Emma Donoghue's Room from last year's shortlist was very popular with library staff. Let us know what you think!

We’ve got some great books, Man (Booker)!

Howard Jacobson won the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction with The Finkler Question. According to the Man Booker website, the novel is “funny, furious, unflinching” and “a scorching story of friendship and loss, exclusion and belonging”, so should be well worth a read! The Finkler Question, along with the other titles from the Man Booker 2010 shortlist – Parrot and Olivier in America (Peter Carey), Room (Emma Donoghue), In a Strange Room (Damon Galgut), Long Song (Andrea Levy) and C (Tom McCarthy) – can be found in Dynevor Library’s reading area this term. Why not go in and borrow one?

Next term, the books will return to the shelves of Townhill Library, where they’ll still be available for loan. You’ll also find previous Man Booker shortlisted titles and winners at Townhill Library, so we’re never short of a good book to offer you.

You can find out more about the Man Booker Prize winner here: http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/thisyear/winner. You can also find out more about the shortlisted titles and previous winners. We’d love to hear from you if some of your favourites are here, or even some books that you didn’t like so much!