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HB Squad Alert . gossip + snippets

The shortlist of Best of the Bookers award has been announced and it pits six past winners of the Booker Prize to determine which novel is the best winning one since the prize began in 1969. It is a one-off celebratory award to mark the 40th anniversary of the Booker Prize.

The books in the shortlist were chosen by a team that comprises biographer Victoria Glendinning, broadcaster Mariella Frostrup, and John Mullan, professor of English at the University of London. However, the best book will be decided by a public vote that started yesterday on The Man Booker Prize website with the winner to be announced on 10 July 2008.

The shortlist of books are as follows:

• Pat Barker’s The Ghost Road (1995) (Call No.: English BAR)
• Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda (1988) (Call No.: English CAR)
• JM Coetzee’s Disgrace (1999) (Call No.: English COE)
• JG Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur (1973) (Call No.: English FAR or here)
• Nadine Gordimer’s The Conservationist (1974) (Call No.: English GOR)
• Salman Rushdie’s Midnight Children (1981) (Call No.: English RUS or here)

Have you read these books? Do you have something else to recommend?
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