I Have Book Worries, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                              " What are you reading?" is a question I am frequently asked. The subtext to this question is "What do you recommend?" or "What are the best books you have read, this year?"

                                   As the year gradually winds down, as it will start to, in just eight days, once my birthday arrives, that question becomes more and more a matter of concern. Shortly after my natal day, The New York Times will come out with their list of "The 100 Most Notable Books Of 2015," and contained within that, is the smaller, Gold Standard list, "The New York Times Ten Best Books Of 2015," a blending of five fiction and five non-fiction books.

                                      So, by this time, I should at least be thinking about what I am going to say, and predict, about these lists, right?????????  Wrong!  Because, this year, I haven't got a clue. Oh, to be sure, I have read my way through the year, and have discovered lots of good books. But how many can I get onto a list of my own, let alone what I feel The Times will l think??????????

                                        Not this year, dolls. It is anyone's guess.

                                        I mean, we have known, however it turned out, that Harper Lee's novel "Go Set A Watchman," by virtue of her name alone, would be The Literary Event Of The Year!  It was hardly the masterwork 'Mockingbird' was and is, but it shed more light into this enigmatic writer at a period when many thought that light would never shine.

                                        Then, there was Jonathan Franzen's latest, "Purity," which I, a Franzen devotee, was convinced would be the Book Of The Year.  Interesting, but not even close.

                                         I happen, right now, to be coming down the home stretch on "At The Water's Edge," the latest work by Sara Gruen.  I will have more to say on it later, but a Ten Best-er I do not see it as being.

                                          About the only thing out here I have heard which may be a contender, is this novel by Marlon James, entitled "A Brief History Of Seven Killings."  I plan to read it shortly, and expect it to turn up on a list.

                                            But that is all I have to go on, right now! In years past, there have been fie or six volumes that have caught my attention.  I LOVE the Jane Smiley trilogy,but I do not see it as a contender.

                                                So, I am a bit worried!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                But, then, when am I not???????????????????????????