Disgrace is definitely worth reading. Only book I've read in a single day. Life of Pi was on my list for a while, then somehow just faded before I got to it, although recently someone told me it was excellent. Handmaid's Tale is gonna get read pretty soon. I remember buying The Perfect Spy at my school book fair in sixth grade, thinking... I don't know what I was thinking actually, I guess I figured it would entertain me, I was well into Stephen King at the time and I guess I thought I'd branch out a bit. But I never read it. I wonder if it's still in a box at my parents' house somewhere. I thought the Constant Gardener was a really good movie, which was the moment when I realized le Carre isn't just a pulp spy writer, but recently there was an article in the Nation by him that made me doubt his self-critical faculties a bit- like for someone so clearly post-Conrad and post-Greene, he seemed in this article to still be stuck in some of the tropes he ought to be breaking down.

Actually this dude Brian used to make fun of me in sixth grade 'cause I had a Stephen King bookmark and he thought it was funny that "Stephen King was my gay lover." Sixth graders- what the fuck?

I haven't read any of the winners, and only a few of the unranked nominees. I'm a dud. My pedestrian tastes:

The Handmaid's Tale (1985) Margaret Atwood
* True History of the Kelly Gang (2000) Peter Carey
The Life of Pi (2002) Yann Martel
His Dark Materials Trilogy (1995-2000) Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2005) JK Rowling

* This book was given to me by a Puppeteer and I only read the first chapter, so that probably doesn't count. Also, I thought I read God of Small Things, but then I realized I actually read a book called Small Gods, which is, presumably, very different.

A Fine Balance was one of the best books I have read in the last few years. It's about India and it is sad. Go read it now.

Crap. The only thing I'd read there was HP.
I am tired of these friggin lists. I just hope it won't come up at trivia.

My thought exactly, Rodenator. Not interested in trying to think like the editors at the Guardian. It's hard enough to try to think like Jared.

I've actually read Disgrace twice-- and both times I was impressed but not in love. Phenomental writing, no question, but I just did not feel that book on any level. And cool, glad to see Ian McEwan made the list for Atonement (So much better than Saturday). As for the non-ranked, Possession kicks so much ass it makes my head hurt. It's truly staggering. Life of Pi was great too, as was Hotel World. I tried to read Never Let Me Go, but the prose was weak and the plot was too much like that movie The Island. Though given that Isiguro's all over the list, maybe I'll check out one of his others...

Yes, Possession is muy good. Other than that, I've only read Harry Potter 6 (mostly terrible) and the His Dark Materials trilogy, which is some of the best children's literature I've read. (And puts Harry Potter to shame.)

Re: disgrace- it engaged me fully. As far as how it treats race issues in S. Africa, I think it pushed against my comfort level a fair bit. I haven't systematically thought that through, I just sorta let the ambiguous discomfort hang. But I found the characters truly affecting, especially the father as just a deeply flawed individual, and I admire the way Coetzee could engage me on a number of levels while employing for the most part relatively simple prose.