Will Coetzee Make it a Hatrick?

The Man Booker Prize shortlist has just been announced and here 'tis :

A S Byatt - The Children's Book
J M Coetzee - Summertime
Adam Foulds - The Quickening Maze
Hilary Mantel - Wolf Hall
Simon Mawer - The Glass Room
Sarah Waters - The Little Stranger

Says Chair of Judges James Naughtie :

We're thrilled to be able to announce such a strong shortlist, so enticing that it will certainly give us a headache when we come to select the winner. The choice will be a difficult one. There is thundering narrative, great inventiveness, poetry and sharp human insight in abundance. ... These are six writers on the top of their form. They've given us great enjoyment already, and it's a measure of our confidence in their books that all of us are looking forward to reading them yet again before we decide on the prizewinner. What more could we ask?

What more indeed? It's a formidable list. Coetzee has won twice before for Life & Times of Michael K in 1982, and Disgrace in 1999. Sarah Waters has been shortlisted twice and Hilary mantel previously long-listed,

The winner will be announced on Tuesday 6 October 2009.

Full details and information about all the novels on the award website. Let the fisticuffs begin!