John Banville won the Booker prize for The Sea. It sounds like an intriguing book. John Sutherland, the chair of the judge's panel, remarked on the struggle to describe the novel in The Guardian today:

What, one wondered, would the epithet be? "Controversial"? "Safe"? "Eccentric"? "Grotesque"? In the event the papers next morning settled on "surprising".

But Sutherland was clear that the reason it won was because it contained more "art" than its rivals. Admittedly though, its rivals may have had "more reader appeal, more energy, more human interest, [and] more punters' cash riding on them." His explanation could, of course, just be read as more of a justification for the prize than the book. Look - my prize is more worthy than yours because it considers and values real artistry as opposed to your crappy commercial populism. Whatever, it's an interesting metric of value.

And there was also an interview with Banville himself. All very so-so. But what delighted me was his "world exclusive" disclosure of the first line of his next novel:

He explains that the book is based on a story of the gods, in which Jupiter bullies Mercury to extend the night-time so that he can seduce a girl. "And Mercury is very resentful, sitting there in the dark, not allowing the dawn to come up, and he says, 'Of all the things we gave them that they might be comforted, dawn is the one that works.' That is my first sentence."

What a glorious line and what a glorious premise for a story. I can't wait to read it. He's definitely not a contender for the Bulwer-Lytton prize. (Thanks Flambingo)