Media debates Booker longlist
The newspapers have offered differing reactions to the Man Booker longlist announcement
Most hailed bookies' favourite Alan Hollinghurst, and the
Daily Telegraph detecting a "more populist" selection.
The Independent chose to focus on the inclusion of Scottish indie Sandstone Press' The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers with the headline "Booker Prize pits tiny Highlands publisher against literary giants".
The paper described the 13-strong list as "headed" by Hollinghurst's The Stranger's Child
(Picador) and listed "notable omissions" Justin Cartwright, Ali Smith, A
L Kennedy, Andrew Miller, Anne Enright and Aravind Adiga.
The Daily Mail reported the Daily Telegraph's angle on the story,
which was chair of judges Stella Rimington's fear that, although a
market for fiction would exist in 100 years, electronic gadgets were
distracting young people from cultivating a love of reading novels. She
said" "I think much of the Twittering and emailing and texting and all
that sort of stuff that children go in for now may be taking their eyes
off reading fiction. When I was young we read more than the average
child reads now." However she said that devices like the Kindle could
"help turn the tide".
For the full article
The Independent