Power of prose

The Man Booker shortlist was announced and "includes two debut novels, three small independent publishers, two former shortlisted authors and one previous winner. Of the six writers three are men and three are women, four are British and one Indian and one Malaysian." Here are the titles that make up that mix:

The Garden of Evening Mists by Twan Eng Tan
Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
Umbrella by Will Self
Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil

The Chair of judges, Peter Stothard said "After re-reading an extraordinary longlist of twelve, it was the pure power of prose that settled most debates." I'm interested in hearing from you. Are there any titles you're surprised didn't make the cut from the Longlist? Personally I'll be interested to see if Hilary Mantel can win again. Anyone know if an author has ever won both for a book and its sequel? Maybe I should ask a librarian.