It's good to know that Sir Howard Davies, chair of this year's Man Booker judges, has been reading novels rather than blogging. I was excited to see that on the revamped website of the prize (themanbookerprize.com) such a thing would be available - ready for the insights it would offer. But alas, there's only one entry so far, and it doesn't go much beyond noting that the judges get asked whether they really read all the books.

I've been a judge, and the answer is that we do. It's hard work but not the kind you should complain about.

This is an interesting list - in the age of the great conglomerate, the independent publisher is alive and well, if entries from Tindal Street and Myrmidon Books (est. 2006) are anything to go by. In a list that's only 13 items long (last year's list was made up of 18 books), it's notable that four are first novels (The Welsh Girl, What Was Lost, Gifted and The Gift of Rain) - but does that mean there are any shocking omissions?

Not really, no. I would have been awfully surprised if Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach wasn't on there… but it is. Otherwise? I thought I'd see Pat Barker (Life Class), maybe Justin Cartwright (The Song Before It Is Sung), possibly Jonathan Coe (The Rain Before it Falls, no relation) - but then it's never safe to make any bets on this kind of thing. There was a rumour that we might find Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the list; that's exactly the kind of rumour I might start if I were a judge, but then I am a mischievous person and this year's bunch are all very serious, I'm sure.

There was some surprise when last year's shortlist contained few well-known names (Claire Messud, Andrew O'Hagan, David Mitchell, Peter Carey) that had appeared on the longlist; this year, at any rate, we're less likely to be in for a slew of shocks. Nor are we shocked when we learn that William Hill has made Mr McEwan the favourite. Some things you can count on in the literary world…

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