The astonishing fact that this year's favourite for the Booker, David Mitchell's novel Cloud Atlas (Sceptre) has the hottest bookmaker odds ever (5 to 4) highlights the way in which the Man Booker Prize now commands attention outside the book world. This year's shortlist includes at least two novelists who are better-known than Mitchelll, Alan Hollinghurst and Colm Toibin, so the Read more