Now is not the time to express surprise at this list. No Pat Barker, no Jonathan Coe, no Coetzee – we’ve been there before at the longlist stage. Then, the judges produced a vibrant, unusual list. Maybe the only surprise, given their history, is that Ian McEwan’s carefully crafted On Chesil Beach remains in the running.

Readers often prove more susceptible to books that are actually enjoyable to read than anyone gives them credit for. Animal’s People, by Indra Sinha, lands a chemical catastrophe in a place called “Khaufpur” – for which read Bhopal. If it sounds like grim reading, bear in mind that fiction is the place where the ramifications of disaster can be explored in ways that allay the distress of fact with the power of writing. Or take Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones – a book “about” political oppression, or a discourse with Great Expectations?

Nicola Barker proves just as adventurous in Darkmans as she did in Wide Open – which won the Impac prize in 2000 – and Anne Enright, a talented Irish novelist, brings a family’s saga to life in The Gathering. Mohsin Hamid is still the youngest contender with The Reluctant Fundamentalist – proving that the post9/11 novel is now an immovable feature from on the literary scene.

I’m not placing any bets with this group of judges in charge of finding a winner next month. So far they’ve chosen a durable, interesting shortlist: one in which all kinds of readers can take pride.

Explore Books

• Book Extracts

• Book Reviews

• Books Group

Times Recommends

• When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
• The Spare Room by Helen Garner
• Is Bertie Wooster the only fish-faced hero?