Books1

Jan 4. THE SILENT WORLD OF NICHOLAS QUINN by Colin Dexter. A series of murders at the Foreign Examinations Syndicate in Oxford brings in Inspector Morse to catch the culprit. The plot is byzantine: can't imagine how any reader could figure out the murderer. Colin Dexter's deliniation of the beer-swilling Morse character is ingenious and hilarious. Great fun.
Jan 15. DOUGH by Mort Zachter. I met Mort in our writing class at the Princeton Arts Council. He wrote a series of short articles about his eccentric uncles, who ran a bakery in lower Manhattan. They lived like paupers, but on their death left the family about 6 million dollars, allowing Mort to quit his job as a cpa and buy the most elegant home on the lake in Princeton and write his book about his family, especially the uncles. I said to Marian after one of our class sessions at his home: "It was like going to heaven without dying."
Feb 6. MERTON AND FRIENDS, the latest book by Jim Harford, discussed at the Princeton Library. Jim met two friends of Merton--Robert Lax and Edward Rice--while living in Paris after the war. Merton, a Catholic who pushed for changes in Catholicism in the sixties, became famous after the publication of his book, The Seven Storey Mountain.
Feb 27. SCHOOL FOR SCUMBAGS by Danny King. An entertaining, irreverant, foul-mouthed tale by a 15 year old British criminal. He is sent to a borstal school run by hardened criminals. They plan to steal gold and other treasures from the British Museum, using the boys to help overcome the guards. Funny and vicious.
Mar 28. LETTERS BETWEEN SIX SISTERS: THE MITFORDS. Ten thousand letters written by the sisters to each other. Uncounted numbers to others. They must have spent half their waking hours writing letters, articles and books. The most surprising revelations in the book: (1) Deborah, as the Dutchess of Devonshire, knew everyone in the upper circles of Britain and America, including the Kennedy's, Harold Macmillion, Mrs Thatcher in politics, and most of the writers and artists of the times. (2)The length and depth of intimacy between Unity and Hitler. Nancy says that Hitler wanted to marry her, but was put off by her affairs with his underlings. (3)How obstinately Diana continued defending her husband Oswald Mosley, the British Fascist, for decades until she died in 2002.
Jun 9. VALLEY OF THE KINGS by John Romer, a peripethetic Egyptian archaeologist. A book about the tombs where the pharaohs of the New Kingdom (1570-1085 BC) were interred-and reinterred, and the mad Europeans who persisted in digging in the hot sands and cliffs. A great read for anyone fascinated by this episode in human history.
June 27. UPON A DARK NIGHT by Peter Lovesey. Excellent mystery writer who has mastered the art of creating great characters. In this book I especially enjoyed the dialog of Ada, a shoplifter and a friend of a woman who has lost her memory after an accident. Much of the action in the book occurs around one of the famous crescents in Bath, England.
June 30. BLOODHOUNDS by Peter Lovesey. If you love red herrings and colorful characters, you'll love this. You also get a dissertation on the history of mysteries, as given at the mystery readers group called the Bloodhounds. Two bodies are put away before the end.
July 9. The HOUSE SITTER by P Lovesey. A serial killer begins to bump off prominent people in the arts even after they have been sequestered in safe houses. Detective Diamond is run off his feet solving the case. Serial killers seem to be the answer to overpopulation. Once again, great characters. This time it's Anna, a pop singer who tweaks the famed detective with her teen speak. Recommended.
July 24. THE GREAT FIRE by Shirley Hazzard. The aftermath of WWII, told by a British war hero, Leith, the son of a famous writer who is sent by the British government through China, Japan, and Hong Kong. The narrative is held together by the love between the travelling hero and Helen, a young girl he met in Japan. The writer is highly skilled in describing emotional states, but often leaves the reader to work out for himself exactly when and where the action takes place.
July 30. ON FAMILIAR TERMS by Donald Keene, the great Japanese lit scholar from Columbia. Met him once in NY. He served as a translator in Japan after the war and fell in love with Japanese culture. Completely ignored until the Japanese economic boom in the sixties. Spent his life popularizing Japan, its literature, and its customs.
Aug 10. THE LAST DETECTIVE by P LOvesey. A woman's body is found in a lake. Insp Diamond finds the killer among a variety of colorful suspects: a former opera star, a woman who is a chauffeur to an ale baron.