Last year's Man Booker

'As chair of the committee one felt like Evel Knievel, preparing for his jump across the Grand Canyon. It is, of course, possible to loathe a novel and admire aspects of it. It is possible to think a novel a superb work of art but pass it over for the Man Booker prize. One can argue critically from entrenched positions with an open mind. One can compromise. One can agree, gracefully, to go with majority opinion. So it was.'

John Sutherland, on chairing the 2005 Man Booker judging panel, in the Guardian