Although I have tried to read many of the acclaimed books from the Man Booker Longlist, my record gets a little sloppy and I get lazier as the Shortlist announcement approaches in September.

Last year’s winner – A Brief History of Seven Killings – never made it to my reading list, but the long list included one of my favorite authors, Anne Tyler, with A Spool of Blue Thread, and Sahota’s The Year of the Runaways.

From 2014, Karen Joy Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves surprised and enlightened me, and Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North (the winner) is still on the pile beside my bed, waiting to be read.

For some reason, I could never get through the winner of the 2013 Prize – Eleanor Canton’s The Luminaries, but I thoroughly enjoyed others on the list that year: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki and The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Another Longlist will be announced in a few days.  Readers have speculated on possibilities:

• Julian Barnes’ The Noise of Time
• Annie Proulx’s Barkskins
• Louis Erdich’s LaRose
• and maybe – Maggie O’Farrell’s This Must Be the Place.

Whether or not they make it to the prestigious finals, consider getting them on your library wait list now.