Completed:

Will Self, "The Umbrella"

Shortlisted for the Booker in 2012. Read it January 6-8, getting only to page 60 and then abandoning it because I was getting nothing out of it.

Elizabeth Taylor, "Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont"

Shortlisted for the Booker in 1971. Read it January 8-14. An engrossing and clear-eyed look at old age and loneliness.

Alison Moore, "The Lighthouse"

Shortlisted for the 2012 Booker prize. Read it February 4-8. A short creepy book that has an interesting philosophical aura to it. Without likeable characters, it fails to hook the reader.

Kingsley Amis, "The Old Devils"

Booker winner from 1986. Read it February 18-28. Not a bad book, but not so good either. The clear eyed looks at the problems of aging were great, but the long rants against the Welsh were wasted on me.

Deborah Levy, "Swimming Home"

Shortlisted for the Booker in 2012. Read it April 15-17. A quick read. The main character was an accurate portrayal of a female teenager. The rest of the characters were not that well drawn. A slam-bang ending saves the book.

Fay Weldon, "Praxis"

Shortlisted for the Booker in 1979, the year won by Penelope Fitzgerald's delightful "offshore." Read it May 05-13. This angry story of one woman's unhappy life was made bearable by some very clever writing.

D.M. Thomas, "The White Hotel"

Nominated for the Booker in 1981. Read it June 9-12. A somewhat amazing book. D. M. Thomas manages to write in so many styles that it makes one breathless trying to keep up.

Mick Jackson, "The Underground Man"

Shortlisgted for the Booker in 1997. Also recommended by Cliff. Read it July 11-20. This was readable but a fairly weak entry into the books of the short list. Or maybe it's just my distaste for books about rich people. I find it hard to pity them when they have problems.

Ali Smith, "Hotel World"

Nominated for the Booker in 2001. Read it August 6-16. An unexpected pleasure. Wonderfully lyrical writing. There's a tiny, fragile plot that is perfectly enunciated. A young woman dies in an accident and various characters twine around the event like ivy on a wall. Highly recommended.

Colm Toibin, "The Testament of Mary"

On the 2013 Booker short list. From the library. Read it September 10-13. Mercifully short. This is the second book I read by Toibin and I just don't care for his style which to me resembles someone who is only semiconsicous and or someone who is being purposefully vague while trying to get a point across. The essence of this book is easily boiled down to the information printed on the flyleaf of the dust jacket. The 80 pages of the "novel" add nothing.

NoViolet Bulawayo, "We Need New Names"

On the 2013 Booker short list. From the library. Read it September 13-17. A riveting and depressing account of poverty in Zimbabwe and emigration to the United States.

Ruth Ozeki, "A Tale for the Time Being"

On the 2013 Booker short list. From the Library. Read it September 18 - October 5. A well written, thoughtful book. A little slow going, but the interesting characters kept my interest.

Jim Crace, "Harvest"

On the 2013 Booker short list. From the Library. Read it October 7-11. A deeply depressing tale that is perhaps a morality story of modern times set in the middle ages. Foreigners punished with scant evidence for a crime they probably did not commit exact revenge on a village already suffering for other reasons.

Jhumpa Lahiri, "The Lowland"

On the 2013 Booker short list. From the Library. Read it October 14-19. A very enjoyable read. The lives of one family in a generation affected by Maoist revolution movements in Calcutta are played out in America. Well written and moving, as we care about the characters as they age over the course of the book.

Salman Rushdie, "The Moor's Last Sigh"

Nominated for the Booker in 1995. Read it November 3-17. I never really got emotionally engaged with this book. I couldn't get to a point where I cared about the characters and the terrible things that happened to them. Rushdie's style was very showy, at times dazzling but more often irritating.

Eleanor Catton, "The Luminaries"

Winner of the 2013 Booker prize. From the Library. Read it December 17-29. A good editor probably could have whittled this book down to half its size. Bjut it was a fascinating story of life in the wild mid 19th century in New Zealand.

P.G. Wodehouse, "The Purloined Paperweight"

The master's 1967 novel. The next year he would enter the final phase of his long career: a novel a year until he died at age 94. This book was quite funny and as light as a feather. Read it December 30th through January 1st.

P.G. Wodehouse, "The Globe by the Way Book"

A gift from Charles. Originally printed in 1908, it was a sample of the master's early newspaper humor from his earliest attempts at professional writing. Read it February 11-16. Some of the humor holds up, but most of it was very much a part of the daily news of the day, long lost to us in the mists of time.

P.G. Wodehouse, "Do Butlers Burgle Banks?"

The total output from the master in 1968. Well he was 86 years old! Read it March 2-4. a pleasantly amusing tale.

P.G. Wodehouse, "No Nudes is Good Nudes"

The master was now 88 years old and starting to lose his powers of narrative. Read it April 1-13. A welcome addition to the Blandings saga, if not a very noteworthy one.

P.G. Wodehouse, "The Girl in Blue"

Wodehouse's 1971 novel.Read it May 1-4. Quite good compared to his past several efforts. Must have been getting a second wind on the turn towards 90 years of age.

P.G. Wodehouse, "Jeeves & the Tie That Binds"

Published on Wodehouse's 90th birthday in 1971. Read it June 1-6. The Jeeves stories are always a treat, and this one was no exception, notiwithstanding the master's weakening capabilities to generate belly laughs.

P.G. Wodehouse, "Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin"

Wodehouse is now over 90 and yet continues to write about young love. Read it July 3-10. Surprisingly good, being as it is one of his last novels and Wodehouse was over 90 years old when he wrote it!

P.G. Wodehouse, "Bachelors Anonymous"

Nearing the end of the Wodehouse canon. He only completed one more after this one from 1973. Read it August 1-4. A mellow but fun book.

P.G. Wodehouse, "Aunts aren't Gentlemen"

The last novel that Wodehouse completed. He was 93 yeears old and still funny! Read it September 1-7. I don't know what manner of mental viagara Wodehouse took but I want some of it if I am blessed to live into my 90s. This book was a real pleasure that had me laughing out loud several times. What a gift!

P.G. Wodehouse, "Sunset at Blandings

The final novel from the master, incomplete at his death. The book is completed by a Wodehouse scholar and includes lots of notes and other fan materials. Read it October 23rd - November 2nd. Charming even though incomplete. The critic/fan Richard Usboerne provides plenty of insight into how Wodehouse would have finished the book. I have now reached the end of my Wodehouse readings but I still have several books about Wodehosue to read.

Lawrence Osborne, "The Forgiven"

Recommended by Cliff. From the library. Read it January 15-19. A very interesting novel written by an obviously talented writer. The subject matter was rather creepy and not wholly to my taste.

Paul Auster, "City of Glass"

His first novel and the first in his "New York Trilogy." read it March 6-11. Very entertaining piece of post-modernism. Definitely a first novel, but one which shows much promise.

Paul Auster, "Ghosts"

His second in his "New York Trilogy." read it March 18-23. Another very entertaining piece of post-modernism. Very short andvery heavy on the nature of reality and existence.

Paul Auster, "The Locked Room"

The finL Bbook in his "New York Trilogy." read it April 24-28. Probably the best book in the trilogy. I'm not sure what it all adds up to, but entertaining nonetheless.

Fiona Maazel, "Last Last chance"

Reccomended by Cliff. From the Library. Read it May 14-23. A very entertaining book concerning drug addiction and rehab. I fail to see what made it so special to Cliff. Nonetheless, I am happy that I have read it.

Grant Overton "Great Modern Short Stories"

A Modern Library collection published in 1930 with the first third devoted to Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." The rest of the book has short stories by Hemmingway, Fitzgerald, Maugham, Joyce and others. Read it June 23rd thru July 2nd. A very depressing lot of stories. By far the best was the last one, by Somerset Maugham: a corker of a murder mystery set in Malaysia on a British rubber plantation.

J.F. Powers, Morte d'Urban"

From my Modern Library collection. Read it August 17-24. What an unexpected delight this book was! I didn't care much for the downbeat ending, but the sunshine that pervaded most of the book made me feel very good. To my mind Powers is the sunniest writer this side of P. G. Wodehouse.

Thomas Pynchon, "Bleeding Edge"

Newly released from the greate4st living author in the world. Started reading it September 17th through October 27th at one chapter a day. The beauty of Pynchon's prose makes this a much better book than Inherant Vice, but still not in a league with his earlier masterpieces. The dark views of 21st century culture really hit home.

David Vann, "Goat Mountain"

Recommended by Cliff. From the library. Read it November 22-25. Well written but extremely depressing and disturbing. I wouldn't even recommend it to hunters, whom I assume is the book's intended audience.

Jacques Bonnet "Phantoms on the Bookshelves"

Recommended by Madaline. A book by a French journalist concerning book collecting and reading. From the library. Read it January 20- 24. A complete delight. It was funny and informative. Highly recommended.

Ed Arnow, "Rogue Reporter"

A downloaded audiobook. I listened to it January 1-31. The story of my Uncle Ed in a series of interviews with his daughter, my cousin Doe. I knew many of the stories already, but there was plenty of new stuff, such as his interview with Martin Luther King Jr.

Garrison Keillor, "A Prairie Home Companion Commonplace Book: 25 years on the air"

A Christmas present from Jeanne. Read it January 27th - February 4th. Lots of interesting "inside baseball" stuff for Prairie Home Companion fans, and some fine writing. The book includes Garrison Keillor's 1974 New Yorker essay concerning the closing of the Ryman Theater in Nashville, which first gave him the idea for creating A Prairie Home Companion.

Harvey Penick, "The Wisdom of Harvey Penick"

A Christmas Present from Kathy. Read it March 11 - May 27th. Great golf advice and memoirs. Penick was the only golf writer that my father enjoyed reading.

Charles Sharr murray, "Boogie Man: The adventures of John Lee Hooker in the American Twentieth Century"

A burthday present from Rob. Read it March 24 - June 7th. A fascinating book, but the turgid style of writing made it very slow going despite my avid interest in the subject. I did learn a lot from the book, but it could have been a lot more entertaining if the author were a better writer!

David Byrne, "How Music Works"

A present from Rob. Read it June 14-22. Fascinating look at all aspects of music ranging from the philosophical to the finanacial. I really enjoyed this look inside one of the most interesting minds in the world of popluar music.

Alistair Cooke, "Golf"

A present from Jeanne. Read it July 16-27. A few interesting things kept popping up. Mainly golf reporting from the 60s and 70s.

Robert Sullivan, "Forver Young"

An anniversary ptresent from Kathy. A Life magazine book celebrating Bob Dylan. Read it August 18-27. Great pictures and some interesting reading too.

Steve Franz, "The Amazing Secret History of Elmore James"

Franz is the host of the amazing blues podcast Blues Unlimited . Read it November 21st thru December 12th. An absolutely fascinating book that would delight any blues fan. Elmore James was a cryptic figure: never gave an in depth interview, didn't even talk much to other musicians! He lived a hard fast short life. Franz makes the book even more invaluable by going into detail about the many other musicians who played in the James style.

Raymond Chandler "Farewell, My Lovely"

Chandler's second novel, published in 1940. Read it January 2-6. A total delight, filled with over the top similes and a paper-thin plot surrounded by Philip Marlowe's drinking and detecting.

Raymond Chandler "The High Window"

Chandler's third novel, published in 1942. Read it February 16-17. Very close to a perfect detective novel. Wonderfully written, with lots of clever humor and mayhem.

Donald Westlake, "The Dame"

Second in Westlake's Alan Grofield mystery series. Read it March 11-16. Taut and entertaining. A classic whodunnit.

Donald Westlake, "Help I am Being Held Prisoner"

A 1974 humorous crime novel. Read it June 13-16. Very satisfying, amusing crime novel.

Donald Westlake, "Jimmy the Kid"

The third in the Dortmunder series of comic crime capers. From the library. Read it July 27-29. Very brief and amusing.

Raymond Chandler, "The Lady in the Lake"

Chandler's third novel, published in 1943. Read it July 30 - August 5. A totally satisfying mystery with lots of great characters and wonderful Chandleresque phrases.

Calvin Trillin, "Feeding a Yen"

Found at a church white elephant sale and purchased as a gift for Angela. I read it August 27-28 while we went to visit her. The book is a barrell of laughs and ghreat information on little know food.

Duncan Lennard, "Extreme Golf"

An anniversary ptresent from Kathy. Nice photos showing off the toughest golf courses on the planet plus a shot of an astronaut playing on the moon. Read it August 28-29.

Thomas H. Green, "Rock Shrines"

An anniversary ptresent from Kathy. Informative picture book giving all the grisley inforation concerning rock stars that ahve passed on. Read it all ont he ride home from Angela's house on August 29th.