Reader's Notes: Novel of the Century

Here's a sure conversation-starter among readers: the six books on the shortlist for the "Novel of the Century."  The University of Edinburgh, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the study of English Literature at that institution, will award the James Tait Black Prize for the "best of the best" English language books of the past 100 years.  A fair article about the award can be found at The Independent's website, but if you want to see the list, it's as follows:

Nights At The Circus by Angela Carter
The Heart Of The Matter by Graham Greene
 A Disaffection by James Kelman
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Crossing The River by Caryl Phillips
The Mandlebaum Gate by Muriel Spark

Have read them all -- and, in my civilian job, having taught two of them --it would be unfair to say which is the definitive best, but I know I have my favorite.  I don't suppose my personal choice would be too obvious?

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