Booker Prize 2011 Goes To Julian Barnes

I think it is the associated prestige that goes with winning it, rather than the cash prize that makes the Booker Prize so coveted. The Booker Prize for 2011 was awarded recently to the British writer, Julian Barnes for " The Sense of an Ending", a relatively short book at a mere 150 pages.
Barnes is no stranger to these awards as he was nominated but did not get the prestigious award on as many as three previous occasions in 1984, 1998 and 2005. His prize winning book is about how fuzzy human memory can be. Apparently it took the judges, Stella Rimington, former head of Britain's MI 5, Chris Mullin MP, Susan Hill author, Gaby Wood of the Daily Telegraph and Matthew D'ancona formerly editor of The Spectator just 31 minutes to decide on the winner. It was described as being "exquisitely written".
Barnes was born in 1946 and lives in London. See details of his earlier books in his website. Barnes has also written forty seven pieces for The New Yorker since 1989. I loved his description of his stay with a lady who owned a pig!

I have not read it yet and undoubtedly "The Sense of an Ending" must be a fine book. In purely a lighter vein, considering his earlier nominations it would appear the memories of the distinguished judges were stronger than that of Tony Webster in the book.