Today the Man Booker Prize announced their always much anticipated long-list for 2017. A win or a short-listing normally makes a huge difference to sales so publishers get quite excited about this prize. Readers should also pay attention, although I don’t think they always get it right.

Of the books on the list, we have reviewed Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, a cleverly constructed and beautifully written book, but one that demands a lot from its readers; The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, the Pulitzer Prize winner and one of my favourite reads last year which has received surprisingly little attention in the U.K.; and Exit West by Moshin Hamid a refugee love story which I was a bit disappointed by. I started Ali Smith’s Autumn but I’ve discovered, after having started but not finished a couple of her books, that I’m not a Ali Smith fan. I know a lot of people who swears by her writing so if you’re a fan, don’t let me turn you off this book. I’ve had my eye on Sebastian Barry’s Days Without End for a while and I’m also quite interested in Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor which one of my favourite booksellers has warmly recommended. Also on my list of summer reading is Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. What will you choose?

The Guardian – Man Booker Prize Long-list in Pictures