The Booker Prize recently announced its shortlist. Among the 6 titles are Douglas Stuart’s John of Johnand Marlon James’ The Disappearers, two gay novels published this year. They are both very good. Of The Disappearers, The New York Times critic Dwight Garner said that “James has written a masterpiece, the novel of the decade and possibly of the century thus far.” He compares it with Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom, “the greatest American novel”. It even gets the favor of Bret Stephens in a humorous piece The Literary World’s D.E.I. Checklist that criticizes national literary prizes in the US for focusing too much on minority themes and writers. The Disappearers is one of the books he mentions among the long list for fiction of National Book Foundation. Then he adds: “One needn’t get into an argument about the quality of many of these works — at least a few of which, like James’s “The Disappearers,” are first-rate works of literature.”
Let’s wait for the winner announcement on November 9th. To me The Disappearers and John of Johnalready qualify as best books of 2026.