First things first - the list comprises sixteen works of translated fiction, as chosen by the undoubtedly wise judges, and the list is as follows:
Gerbrand Bakker: The Detour (translated by David Colmer) - Harvill Secker
Chris Barnard: Bundu (Michiel Heyns) - Alma Books
Laurent Binet: HHhH (Sam Taylor) - Harvill Secker
Dasa Drndic: Trieste (Ellen Elias-Bursac) - MacLehose Press
Pawel Huelle: Cold Sea Stories (Antonia Lloyd-Jones) - Comma Press
Pia Juul: The Murder of Halland (Martin Aitken) - Peirene Press
Ismail Kadare: The Fall of the Stone City (John Hodgson) - Canongate
Khaled Khalifa: In Praise of Hatred (Leri Price) - Doubleday
Karl Ove Knausgaard: A Death in the Family (Don Bartlett) - Harvill Secker
Laszlo Krasznahorkai: Satantango (George Szirtes) - Tuskar Rock
Alain Mabanckou: Black Bazaar (Sarah Ardizzone) - Serpent's Tail
Diego Marani: The Last of the Vostyachs (Judith Landry) - Dedalus
Andrés Neuman: Traveller of the Century (Nick Caistor & Lorenza Garcia) - Pushkin Press
Orhan Pamuk: Silent House (Robert Finn) - Faber
Juan Gabriel Vásquez: The Sound of Things Falling (Anne McLean) - Bloomsbury
Enrique Vila-Matas: Dublinesque (Rosalind Harvey & Anne McLean) - Harvill Secker
It is a great list of books, but I have a lot of work to do if I plan to get through them all any time soon. Last year, I had only read three of the fifteen selections when the longlist was announced, but with my increased focus on translated fiction, I was confident that I would have knocked more off this time around. Alas, in reality I have read just four of the sixteen chosen works, leaving me with twelve to complete - the same number as last year :(
Any surprise omissions here? Well, I would have had a little flutter on Jérome Ferrari's Where I Left My Soul, and most people would have had Sjón pencilled in for The Whispering Muse. I also had a sneaking feeling that Peter Stamm's Seven Years or possibly Hiromi Kawakami's The Briefcase might be an outside chance. Of books I haven't read, Stu has been raving about Where Tigers are at Home by Jean-Marie Blas de Roblès, and Mark over at Eleutherophobia was convinced that Youssef Ziedan's Azazeel was an instant classic. Of course, we have no idea whether these books were entered (or eligible...), but still...
Anyway - upwards and onwards :) I will be starting my coverage next week with a recap of the four I have already read, and with a bit of luck regular reviews will begin flowing the week after. I can honestly say that I can't wait to get stuck in...
...how I'll be feeling in a couple of months' time is another matter entirely ;)
