It begins: The shortlist of nominees for the 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction have been announced. It won’t add much to your reading list–only one of the books is available in the States right now.
The shortlisted titles are:

• The Children’s Book by A S Byatt (Available in the US October 6)
• Summertime by J M Coetzee (Available in the US December 24; excerpts here and here)
• The Quickening Maze by Adam Fould (No US publication date announced)
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Available in the US October 13)
• The Glass Room by Simon Mawer (No US publication date announced)
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Coetzee has already won the prize twice before; a third win would be a first for any author. Byatt has won once. The rest are first-time nominees. The winner will be announced October 6. Details are here.–David E