I suppose it's a sign of old age when not only have you heard of most of the books on the Booker Prize shortlist but you've actually read two of them. So here were my immediate impressions of Monica Ali's Brick Lane and Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake.

They're both impressive books but in very different ways, so I find it difficult to compare them. The bookies have them as the two front-runners, Atwood currently heads William Hills odds while Ladbrokes favour Ali. If you put a revolver to my head (not something I'm recommending just in case some crazy gun-toting mama is reading this) I have a slight preference for Oryx and Crake, but my money would be on Brick Lane to win. Make of that, what you will.