Clearly I have lost my Miles mojo.
Contrary to my prediction here the other day, the shortlist does indeed again contain six books (the length has varied over the last decade or so, usually from four to six), rather than my predicted five. I only picked two and a half of the six: Brian Castro's The Bath Fugues, Sonya Hartnett's Butterfly, and a two-way punt on Alex Miller's Lovesong. And my predicted winner, David Foster's Sons of the Rumour, hasn't even made the shortlist.
I'm glad to see Truth there. As I said, the five I picked were not necessarily my personal favourites -- they were predictions rather than choices.
The list:
Lovesong by Alex Miller
The Bath Fugues by Brian Castro
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
The Book of Emmett by Deborah Forster
Truth by Peter Temple
Butterfly by Sonya Hartnett
no science in this (still haven't read anything, still blushing), but I'm barracking for Sonya Hartnett for purely emotional reasons.
ReplyDeleteword verification says command
I'd love Sonya to win it.
ReplyDeleteReckon Temple oughta be recognised as the canny and accessible writer that he is. I'd happily walk a Miles Franklin in his gumshoes.
ReplyDelete(His Jack Irish stories on CD have kept us sane on many a boring car drive from point A to point Less.)
I think if he was going to win it, he would have won it for The Broken Shore, and that was published a bit too early in the process of accepting crime fiction into the mix. Not that I don't think Truth is terrific too, but The Broken Shore had that certain magical je ne sais quois.
ReplyDeleteSo exactly what do you mean when you says "je ne sais quois"?
ReplyDeleteSorry, my evil alter ego made me say that, then ran away leaving even moi perplexed.
Um, quoi.
ReplyDeleteMiss Muetzelfeldt (Adelaide Gilrs' High Matric French class 1970, all twelve of us) would have hysterics if she saw that.
Um, Girls'.
ReplyDeleteFortunately I didn't do Typing at school, or another dear-departed teacher would be joining Mitzi in hysterics in heaven.