AS usual, the Booker Prize jury is guilty of sins of commission as well as sins of omission. Commission because they have included in their shortlist books that were yawningly obvious to everyone; omission because they did not include certain favourites.
The current top tip for the final honours is Irish author Roddy Doyle with Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha . But he will not be banking on it - he was shortlisted once before in 1991.
A wild card is Tibor Fischer, born in Stockport, England of Hungarian parents, both professional basketball players.
Under the Frog is his first novel and is set in post-war Hungary in the years leading up to the revolution of October 1956. The book traces the adventures of two young men, part of a travelling basketball team who not only survive the chaos of Communism but are followed as they avoid working and dream of eventual escape.
The title is short for a Hungarian expression ''under the frog's arse down a coal mine'' which means living at the lowest point of existence.
He has already won the Betty Trask Award for Under the Frog and this year was chosen as one of Granta's 20 Best of Young British Novelists.