Which books are missing from the list?

[Esther]

Personally I would have liked to see Jenny Offill's Dept. of Speculation and thought they might chose The Son by Phillip Meyer. Anyone not made the list that you would have championed?

[Kirat Pawar]

I really wanted Sarah Waters' The Paying Guest and Ian McEwan's The Children Act! Even surprised that Emma Donoghue's Frog music isn't there!!

[Esther]

I feel like I am the only person in the world that didn't enjoy Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Really looking forward to the new one from McEwan, you're right, I expected that one on there too!

What about the gender ratio? Also, really lacking in authors of color! Plenty of white males on the list. Maybe the rule change swayed publishers into putting forward American writers at the expense of commonwealth writers?

[Antonia]

Yes, the lack of diversity is one of the reasons why I'm not excited about the longlist (I suspect it might also be because they've changed the rules). Last year's was better and I still have a couple of books I need to read from that list.

[tony]

What do you think that Donna Tartt was not on the list? I loved the Goldfinch, however, I am happy that there was a whole range of different styles in this year's list.

[Maureen]

Antonio wrote: "What do you think that Donna Tartt was not on the list? I loved the Goldfinch, however, I am happy that there was a whole range of different styles in this year's list."

I have not read all of the long list, but Tartt's Goldfinch could have used some extra editing for it to have reached the quality I would expect to see. Just my humble opinion!