There were some surprises in today's announcement of the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize -- the books by betting favorites Salman Rushdie, The Enchantress of Florence, and Joseph O'Neill, Netherland, didn't make the cut.

Literary critic Joseph Sutherland was so sure Rushdie would win the Booker that he wrote, "If The Enchantress of Florence doesn't win this year’s Man Booker I'll curry my proof copy and eat it." (He backed off the promise today.)

The nominees for the prize, which will be announced Oct. 14:

• Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger
• Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture
• Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies
• Linda Grant, The Clothes on Their Backs
• Philip Hensher, The Northern Clemency
• Steve Toltz, A Fraction of the Whole

I expected Netherland, which I recently reviewed, to make the list. I'm currently reading The Secret Scripture, the only one of the shortlisted books that made it across the ocean to my local Barnes & Noble.