Booker longlist announced!

Here it is, the official longlist for the 2005 Man Booker Prize:

The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw

The Sea by John Banville

Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry

Slow Man by JM Coetzee

In the Fold by Rachel Cusk

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

All For Love by Dan Jacobson

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka

Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel

Saturday by Ian McEwan

The People’s Act of Love by James Meek

Shalimar The Clown by Salman Rushdie

The Accidental by Ali Smith

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

This Thing Of Darkness by Harry Thompson

This Is The Country by William Wall

I'm intrigued. It's about half the size of previous years' longlists, and it's nice to see some of the big names there - actually, they almost dominate the list this time around. There are also three debut novels. Al-Guardian weighs in:

Professor John Sutherland, chairman of this year's judging panel, described 2005 as an "exceptional year" for fiction, saying that, in the judges' opinion, the longlist ranked as "one of the strongest since the prize was founded." He went on to say that "the judges have enjoyed their judging experience enormously - so far."

Now in its 37th year, the prize is acknowledged to have the power to transform the lives of the authors who win it; at the very least, instantly soaring sales figures are guaranteed. The prize was awarded last year to Alan Hollinghurst, who pipped David Mitchell and Colm Toíbín to the post with The Line of Beauty, his devastating satire of the Conservative government of the 1980s. Following his win, his previously critically acclaimed but only modestly successful novel spent the rest of the year on the bestseller lists.

The prize, the most high profile in the UK's literary calendar, is open to fiction writers from the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. The shortlist will be unveiled on September 8, and the winner of the award, now four years into its sponsorship by the Canadian Man investment group, will be announced at a ceremony at the London's Guildhall on October 10.

Brief descriptions for each novel are available on the BBC website. I might just get around to reading one or two before the short-list is announced, depending on how far I get with my reading for uni. Sigh...