The Booker Shortlist

The short list for the Booker Prize has been announced. Some of my favorite books are Booker Prize winners -- The Famished Road, The Bone People, and of course Midnight's Children. I also find it pretty fascinating that they release a long list, then a short list, and then the winner. The end result of this is that people bet on which book will win. Last year the winner Life of Pi was also the favorite with even odds. I read the first half of this year's favorite Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell yesterday and it's pretty brilliant thus far -- it reminds me distinctly of If on a winter's night a traveler... which is fine by me as that was one of my favorite books.
So here are the odds for this year's Booker prize. Place your bets. I'm going to try to read as many of them as I can. Bitter Fruit is the other member of the shortlist that interests me the most -- perhaps I'll pick it up next.
s.