Do they really mean us? Authors rail at bizarre choice of 'English' books

Just how strange and troubled do we think we are? Very, if the five finalists in a new poll of the reading public is anything to go by. James Morrison tries to reconcile a self-image that encompasses Orwell and Zadie Smith

They are the five books that most accurately sum up the essence of life in England today. Or at least that's what the organisers of a nationwide survey to find the country's ultimate "zeitgeist" read would have us believe.

A dystopian vision of a world of mind control and doublespeak penned in 1948 and a satire about a writer who aspires to be an axe murderer are among titles shortlisted in a poll of 6,000 book-buyers and library-goers.

Competing with them are an acerbic portrait of the quirks of English "culture", a comedy about race set in suburban north London, and an affectionate portrait of Britain by an American Anglophile.

Last night, the shortlist met a bemused reaction from Bill Bryson, whose Notes from a Small Island lines up alongside Zadie Smith's White Teeth, Jonathan Coe's What a Carve Up!, Jeremy Paxman's The English and ­ perhaps strangest of all ­ George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Describing the "nominations" as "bizarre", Mr Bryson said the poll, whose winner will be announced on World Book Day this Thursday, was more a reflection of the state of contemporary English writing than of England itself. So few authors now write books that "capture the moment", he said, that there is no longer any true zeitgeist writing for people to choose from.

"At the height of Thatcher's Britain, you had lots of books being written which really questioned the way society was going," he said. "The biggest surprise is the fact that there's nothing on here by Jamie Oliver ­ if anything's changed in Britain since then, it's the celebrity obsession."

If the English shortlist strikes people as curious, look at those for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Those who expect the likes of Irvine Welsh or Colin Bateman are in for a shock: they'll be lucky to find more than a single name they recognise. Titles on the Scottish list include the tour guide Mountain Days and Bothy Nights.

The Welsh list at least boasts the poet RS Thomas, whose posthumous collection, Residues, is included. But others are less well known, though Work, Sex and Rugby ­ a novel billed as "an absorbing four-day odyssey through the pubs, bedrooms and building sites of a smouldering town" ­ purports to be about modern Wales. As for Northern Ireland, there is a biography of Catholic iconoclast Sister Genevieve by John Rae, and The Wasted Years, a novel set in wartime Belfast.

Commenting on the English selections, Mr Bryson began: "Who would go for Nineteen Eighty-Four? It's surreal.

"Jonathan Coe's book surprises me too. I don't remember it having any real relevance to modern England, which isn't a criticism ­ I don't think he intended it to have.

"I haven't read Zadie Smith, but The English is an odd candidate. Perhaps people went for it because of its title.

"My book wasn't really about England ­ it was supposed to be about Britain. Maybe the best thing is if they make me winner of England, Scotland and Wales."

Others see significance in the inclusion of Orwell, who once described the English as like "a rather stuffy Victorian family, with not many black sheep but with all its cupboards bursting with skeletons". His biographer, Sir Bernard Crick, who is also the Government's adviser on citizenship, said people may have voted for Nineteen Eighty-Four because of their fears about imminent war.

"Nineteen Eighty-Four is about power out of control," said Sir Bernard. "Maybe people are feeling a sense of horror about two 'Big Brothers' who cannot be controlled ­ or perhaps three. We must throw in Saddam alongside Bush and Blair."

JG Ballard, whose recent novel Super Cannes explores the idea that multinationals and mass consumerism are fostering new dictatorships, said the truth is bleaker.

"To me, Nineteen Eighty-Four is the only real book on the list," he said. "I've always said that the totalitarian system of the future will be ingratiating and subservient, rather than using the jackboot.

"It will be the simpering smile of Ken Livingstone, with his Congestion Charge zone and its hundreds of cameras watching everything you do. The whole thing is Orwellian and no one protests ­ there seems to be passive strain in the English psyche."

Zadie Smith, who has once said she wanted White Teeth to reflect "a sadness for the way tradition is fading away" among England's immigrant communities, was "delighted", her agent said, to be on the shortlist. Often shortlisted, this may be White Teeth's first major prize.

It was Mr Coe who took the contest in the healthiest vein. "I'm delighted," he said. "I'm just cheesed off it's only publishers who've been invited to the party when the winner is announced."