booker prize 2007 - who will win?

It better not be Nicola Barker. I've read 2 of her books and tried 2 others, and they were all very annoying.

I'm halfway through 'Mister Pip' and (despite not having read the others) I'd love it to win. Although everyone seems to think it will be McEwan.

Huh, all the hype I've seen has been for Mister Pip. I've not read it yet, but The Complete Review made it sound wonderful. The Booker doesn't seem like a very prestigious prize to me anymore - I think that Life of Pi rubbish really ruined it for me.

Winner: The Gathering by Anne Enright.
Have to admit that this is the one I don't really know anything about. I did start reading Mister Pip today though, and it is as wonderful as I'd hoped so far.

again, an umpredictable winner for the booker

According to the Booker site linked above, it was praised by critics as 'distinctive' for its 'exhilarating bleakness'. This is the sort of critic-speak that practically lampoons itself, although the book itself might possibly live this down by being rather good. I don't know.

However, just by associating itself with such drivel as 'exhilarating bleakness', the Booker prize demeans its own worth and importance. Someone ought to tell them.

Agreed. Last year's shortlist was so boring (not least Desai's winner, worthy in all the wrong senses of the word) that I've decided for the first time is years not to bother reading the shortlist. The conviction that "bleakness" is a desirable quality in a novel sums up all that is wrong with the Booker.