Completed:

Ali Smith, "How to be Both"

Nominated for the 2014 Booker. From the library. Read it December 29th thru January 4th. This book is truly a triumph of avant-garde fiction. It took a lot of patience, and I'm sure I missed a lot but I am very happy I stuck with it. There are two versions of the book published. Each has two parts. Some of the copies start with the story that takes place in Renaissance Italy (as my copy did) and others start with a contemporary story set in London.

Howard Jacobson, "J"

Nominated for the 2014 Booker. From the library. Read it January 5-11. A loopy dystopian novel that kept me reading because of the wonderful characters.

Jan Morris, "Last Letters from Hav"

Nominated for the Booker in 1985. R it February 7-12. One of the weaker Booker nominees. It was only mildly entertaining. A travelogue about an imaginary middle eastern city. It just didn't do anything for me.

David Mitchell, "number9dream "

A re-read of David Mitchell's second novel and his first Booker nomination, from 2001. Read it March 14-20. Some great verbal pyrotechnics. A great main character and lots of wild stories woven into the book as dreams and stories written by others. Still, he took a giant leap forward with Cloud Atlas, which I will re-read soon.

David Mitchell, "Cloud Atlas"

A re-read of the 2004 booker short-lister. Read it April 25th through May 21st. A remarkable accomplishment. This book richly deserves all the praise it has had heaped upon it over the past ten years.

Barry Unsworth, "Morality Play"

A re-read of the 1995 booker short-lister. Read it May 21-27. A great book that I liked just as much the second time as I did the first. The literary blend of medieval history and police procedural made a compelling concoction.

Penelope Fitzgerald. "The Beginning of Spring"

Nominated for the 1988 Booker. read it June 28th thru July 8th. A wonderful tale of British people who made Russia their homeland in Russia in the years before Russian revolution.

Tim Winton, "The Riders"

Nominated for the Booker in 1995. Read it August 29th thru Sept 3rd. A very well written and entertaining book but it lacked a satisfying conclusion.

Anne Tyler, "A Spool of Blue Thread"

Nominated for this year's Booker. From the library on audiop disc. Listened to it October 01-14. A pedestrian novel with characters barely interesting enough to keep me listening to the end.

Hanya Yanagihara, "A Little Life"

Nominated for this year's Booker. From the library. Read it October 5-22. A really poor novel that should never have made it to the short list. At 720 pages it was nothing but soap opera, with overindulgent repetition. I felt terrible about the main character's torturous life, but really could have felt the same way after only a couple of hundred pages.

William Boyd, "An Ice-Cream War"

Nominated for the Booker in 1982. Read it October 23rd thru November 1st. A well written account of World War One as fought in Northern Africa.

Tom McCarthy, "Satin Island"Nominated for the 2015 Booker. From the library. Read it November 2-6. I just don't care for the way McCarthy writes. Ther story was mostly uninteresting and needlessly fragmented.

Chigozie Obioma, "The Fishermen"

Nominated for the 2015 Booker. From the library. Read it November 19-28. Somewhat interesting and compelling story of a family in a small Nigerian village.

Raymond Chandler, "The Long Goodbye"

Third novel in the second (and final) Library of America volume of his collected works. Read it January 30th through February 6th. An absolute peach of a mystery. Probably Chandler's masterpiece.

Raymond Chandler, "Playback"

Fourth novel in the second (and final) Library of America volume of his collected works. Read it March 21-24. Definitely his weakest novel. He should have stopped with the Long Goodbye. He even brings back the love interest from the Long Goodbye in the last pages of Playback.

Donald Westlake, "Castle in the Air"

Read it December 1-7. Kind of a mess of a crime novel but with enough humor to carry it through.

Donald Westlake, "Why Me?"

Read it December 17-23. The next in Westlake's Dortmunder series. Very amusing.

David Mitchell, "Ghostwritten"

A re-read of Mitchell's first novel, from 1999. Read it February 12-28. A dazzling display of the elements that made David Mitchell such a bright new star on the horizon in 1999.

Henry James "The Turn of the Screw"The Modern Library edition also containing the novella "A Lesson of the Master." Read it March 25-30. I'm not crazy about James' style, but the plots were interesting enough to carry me along.

Ernest Hemingway, "The Sun Also Rises"

The Modern Library first edition from 1930, four years after it was a best seller. Read it March 30th through April 16th. His deadpan style makes this seem less than literary. But I enjoyed it. I don't understand what made it such a huge hit in the twenties, unless it was all the drinking titillated Americans in the heart of prohibition.

David Mitchell, "Black Swan Green"

Mitchell's fourth novel and most personal. Read it May 31st thru June 8th. I liked it even more the second time through. Totally unlike all his other books but the great storytelling talent shines through.

Cesar Aira, "The Musical Brain"

A birthday present from Rob. Read it April 16th through May 1st. Aira is a crazy intellectual and his stories are mental calisthenics.

David Mitchell, "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob DeZoet"

A re-read of Mitchell's 2008 novel. Read it July 9-19. Definitely his best book. Do yourself a favor and just read it! Highly recommended.

David Mitchell, "The Bone Clocks"

The final re-read of the complete works of David Mitchell. Read it July 30th through August 27th. Some wonderful writing adorns a ridiculous plot. But Mitchell is always worth reading.

John Steinbeck, "The Pastures of Heaven"

First book in the first volume of the Library of America John Steinbeck collection. Interesting collection of short stories that shared a few of the same characters and all taking place in a valley in central California.

John Steinbeck, "To a God Unknown"

Second book in the first volume of the Library of America John Steinbeck collection. Kind of a silly gothic tale of nature worship versus established religion.

John Steinbeck, "Tortilla Flat"

Third book in the first volume of the Library of America John Steinbeck collection. An outstanding description of the men in a poor California town that told the lives of the poorest of the residents.

John Steinbeck, "In Dubious Battle"

Fourth book in the first volume of the Library of America John Steinbeck collection. An excellent story of a farm worker's strike in California.

John Steinbeck, "Of Mice and Men"

Fifth book in the first volume of the Library of America John Steinbeck collection. A short but intense tale of farm hands in central California.

David Mitchell, "Slade House"

The latest from one of my favorite authors. Read it November 8-13. While it mailntains the high level of skill that always shines through Mitchells's work, the story is creepty and largely a reworking of the theme of Mitchell's last novel. I expect more from him.

Lawrence Cohn, "Nothing But the Blues"

From Thomas for Christmas. Large coffee table sized book with eleven scholarly essays on all aspects of blues music. Reading it January 19-29. Absolutely stunning in every way. Eleven essays by ten scholars, mostly unknown to me, with lots of great information and photographs. Highly recommended.

Samuel B. Charters, "The Country Blues"

The first scholarly book on the subject of Blues Music. Read it March 1-12. Some fascinating reading, especially given the time it came out, when the Blues Revival had yet to occur. The blues world is indebted to the small part this book must have played in the genesis of that revival.

James L. Dickerson, "Just For a Thrill"

A biography of Lil Hardin Armstrong, described on the cover as "First Lady of Jazz." Read it May 27-30. Extremely informative and entertaining. Lil Hardin certainly deserves a more prominent plac3e in jaZZ history.

Robert Palmer, "Deep Blues"

A classic piece of Blues history published in 1981. Reading it June 9-27. A really wonderful history of the blues from it's roots in 18th century African music through the emergence of Alligator Records in the late 1970s.Highly recommended.

Johnny Otis, "Upside Your Head!"

Autobiography of the great west coast band leader. Read it July 21-29. Interesting insights into the west coast music scene. Not a sequential autobiography. but much of his life is recalled in the various essays about musicians, race relations and other related subjects.

Albert Murray, "Stompin' the Blues"

One of the 100 books every blues lover should own. Read it September 4-10. This book had great photos and captions. The accompanying essays were not all that enjoyable.

Samuel B. Charters, "The Bluesmen"

another book by the early blues scholar. Read it November 15-19. Wonderful examination of blues from the 1920 and 1930s in Mississippi, Alabama and Texas.

John Platt, "Disraeli Gears Cream"

Read it December 8-16. A very interesting and informative study of one of the most important groups of the late 1960s.

Lee Davis, "Bolton and Wodehouse and Kern"

Subtitled "The Men Who Made Musical Comedy." Read it December 6th through January 19th. Lots of information about Wodehouse that I had never read before, including his later years that I thought had been fairly well covered.

Judith Thurman, "Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette"

A Christmas present from Rob. Read it February 12th through March 30th. Incredibly detailed look at one of the major French authors I never read. She led a fascinating contradictory life.

Scott Carrier, "Running After Antelope"

A loaner from Angela. Read it April 16-19. A book of casual essays from a person who does pieces for public radio. Very interesting thought provoking.

Ross King, "Brunelleschi's Dome"

Subtitled "how a Renaissance genius reinvented architecture." Recommended by Richard Pertz. From the library. Read it August 5-10. I suppose some background in architecture and engineering would help the appreciation of the book, but lay people such as myself get enough of the flavor of medieval Italy and the astounding accomplishment of the efforts to enjoy this book.

Donna McCrohan, "The Second City"

A history of the comedy group that spawned most of the major comic stars of the 60s and 70s. Read it December 24-31. Extremely informative and fascinating history of the place that developed some of the greatrest comedic tallent of our lives.