I totally agree with you on the ‘South Africa’ point too. Such a shame not to see the ‘lesser’ African countires represented more fully, and indeed fairly.
Warmest
Rob

I’m was also surprised to see Rowan Somerville’s The End Of Sleep listed there, probably because I always thought I was the only person to heave read it and, being a first book, I would probably have placed it in the Best First Book category. But, a quick check on the site shows that it is in the Best First Book category. More power to it: I gave up on both Submarine (one of those novels where a precocious child narrator affords the author an easy ride) and A Case Of Exploding Mangoes (boring, just boring!).

It’s rather hilarious to see Aravind Adiga’s Between The Assassinations listed as Best Book, while his Booker winning The White Tiger sits in the Best First Book category, especially when the former was probably sitting in a drawer gathering dust until the Booker interest created an opportunity for it.

Sad, though, is the Africa category. You’d think South African writers were head and shoulders above other African Commonwealth nations given that list. And of that list, the only book I have is that of Uwem Akpan, the token Nigerian among a plethora of Springboks.

When I was compiling this post I checked out the synopsis for all of the novels, and I must admit that the one for ‘ The Spare Room’ struck me as being hugely powerful.
Warmest
Rob

I’m delighted to see Helen Garner’s The Spare Room has made the cut for South East Asia and the Pacific region because it was one of my favourite reads from last year. I’ve not read The Slap but heard lots and lots of good things about it.

As you know, Ive just finished On the Other Hand by Chris Cleave but wasn’t particularly impressed by it.