Best of the Booker Short List Announced

The Best of the Booker is described on the Man Booker Prize website as "a one-off celebratory award to mark the 40th anniversary of the Booker Prize." Translation: The Best of the Booker is a publicity stunt to grab some Booker press during the prize off-season. Nevertheless, I'm a Booker junkie, so I'm interested in the short list that was just announced for this one-off Booker. The following six titles were chosen out of the 41 past Booker winners:

• Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee (1999)
• The Ghost Road by Pat Barker (1995)
• Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (1988)
• Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (1981, winner of the Booker of the Bookers in 1993)
• The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer (1974)
• The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell (1973)

The final winner is chosen based on a public vote. I just voted here, and after I voted, the site asked me for a bit of personal information. For location, I was asked to choose from a drop-down list including puzzling choices like West Midlands, East of England, and South West.