QUICK TAKES - Oct. 3, 2009

Israeli writer Amos Oz is the favorite to be selected for the 2009 Nobel literature prize Thursday, but with the judging notoriously hard to predict, he is far from a safe bet.

Oz, who deals with life in modern Israel in his novels and reflects decades of commitment to the Israeli peace movement in his political writing, is quoted at 4-1 odds by British bookmaker Ladbrokes, meaning he has one chance in five of winning.

But Oz was also widely touted last year, when Frenchman Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio won the award.

Joint second favorites are the Algerian novelist Assia Djebar and the American writer Joyce Carol Oates, both at 5-1. Other American writers that are thought to be in the running include Philip Roth, quoted at 7-1, and Thomas Pynchon at 9-1.