Books

BOOKS I'M READING

I fell out of the habit of recording my reading.  When people tell me they read this site they always say the book list is one of the good parts.  I can't figure out how to work the side colunmn any more and I think this is a better format, so here are my current books on top of the old ones.  

2023

The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami -- There is an historical record of a Black Arab from Morrocco enslaved in Spain who is part of the expedition to La Florida and survives with four companions after 8 years that take them through Northern Mexico, New Mexico to Culiacan and Mexico City.  Estabanico or Mustafa then leads Coronado's expedition back to the North and is murdered by the Indians or in the novel disappears.  Very readable and credible.  

Norse Mythology by Neil Graiman -- A retelling of many of the basic myths of the gods, giants, trolls and humans in the Norse sagas, early writings.  It's good and in it Thor, Oddin, Loki, become real and understandable characters in a rich mythology.  

Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie -- The novel follows the sabbaticals of two Ivy League academics on their summers in England in the 1980s.  Vinnie Miner is in her fifties, divorced and according to her plain and Fred Turner, a very handsome young professor.  They each fall in love in their own way and enjoy England with different points of view.  Two Americans in England with very different experiences and views.  A good read.  

The Day of the Locusts by Nathaniel West -- A quintessential Hollywood novel in 1939 of a small group of Hollywood people, an aspiring starlet, a studio painter, a hustler, cowboys, people on the edge with an incredible last chapter.  

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow -- A new and thorough look at Hamilton that uses a great amount of original source material, Hamilton's own writings and contemporaries to paint a very complete picture of him including his contentious relationship with Jefferson and the Republicans.  

Suspect by Scott Turow -- A Police Commission Hearing drama where Lucy Gomez the Highland Isle police chief is accused of sexual harassing officers under her.  The plot is a little stretched and so are some of the characters and plot lines.  The worst is a billionaire villain who is doing a small time drug deal.  Unexpectedly it's just a reality that isn't quite true.  

What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula -- A classic from the 1970s by a Sri Lankan monk and teacher explanation of the Buddhist teachings.  The language is clear and the Buddhism is true and classic.  It has a real authenticity to it and is a good primer for Buddhist thought.

A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe -- A full epic novel with lots of characters including bankers, real estate developers, politicians and just people trying to get by. It's from the 90's and current to Atlanta in the 1990's. Worth reading, interesting, better than John Updike's 'Witches of Eastwick.'

Opus Dei by John L. Allen Jr. -- Allen is one of the best reporters for Cathlicism and the Vatican. This is a reasoned and careful report of Opus Dei, one of my favorites for conspiracy theories. Dan Brown's use was simple but the reality is worth knowing.

An American Spy by Lauren Wilkerson -- It starts with a mother of two sons hearing a sound in her house and then fighting to the death an assassin sent to get her. The narrator, the daughter of an African American FBI agent and a Afro Caribbean mother tells the story of her involvement with a CIA operation in Burkina Faso.

Cuckoo Calling by Robert Galbraith -- Pseudonym of R.K. Rowlings. A classic whodunit mystery. Easy prose, complicated and involved and fun to read.

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout -- A novel of a writer sick in the hospital in New York City and her mother from Amgash, Illinois, who visits her there.

Heartwood by James Lee Burke -- A good Burke novel Billy Bob Holland deals with the bad guys in East Texas.

The Angel of History: A Novel by Rabih Alameddine -- The memoir of a Yemeni immigrant orphan from Lebanon and gay during the AIDS epidemic in New York written after he is the only survivor of his lover and friends.

The President is Missing: A Novel by Bill Clinton and James Patterson -- An interesting thriller about the President during a difficult time in negotiations with a mid-east terrorist group. Good insight into the White House.

The House of Trump, the House of Putin: The Untold Story by Craig Unger -- There's no question that Trump has been deeply involved with the Russians for a long long time. This gives the names and contacts of Trump Russian mafia money laundering friends.

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy -- Another very dark

book by McCarthy, Texas, Mexico, Apaches and Commanches.

Unitarian Universalism, A Narrative History -- David E. Bumbaugh -- A short and readable history of the religious thought and changes that date back to the beginning of Christianity, surface again just as the Reformation is beginning and evolve into the 20th century and eventually the merger of Universalists and Unitarians. A good book.

Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann -- Published in 1900 a novel that spans three generations of a German merchant family and the 19th century. A world unto itself but good to read.

The Power by Naomi Alderman -- An interesting concept, women have an ability to subdue men and the world turns upside down, but unfortunately poorly written, hard to slog through.

The Red Line by Walt Gragg -- Politics shifts, Russia invades Germany, the US defends it, a World War II scenario with battle scenes and heroic defenses. OK, but not great writing.

The Vatican Boys by Jack Dunn -- Opus Dei, the Vatican, plots and intrigue. Published before Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code Dunn sued for plagiarism. He lost. My favorite conspiracies are there.

Class Action The Struggle with Class in Unitarian Universalism by The Commission on Appraisal UUA - A very readable and challenging book on class within the Unitarian Universalist community, how it works and how to work to solve classism.

Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago - Death stops visiting and the whole country is thrown into chaos, administratively and politically. Changes occur and then death returns but has changed her style.

The Director by David Ignatius -- A CIA, NSA thriller involving hacking, meta-data and rogue agents.

Numero Zero by Humberto Eco -- A strange little novel about a newspaper that doesn't exist writing stories about conspiracies and intrigue.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead -- A wonderful novel part fantasy and very much the reality of slavery before the Civil War.

Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham -- A central character with a number of trials that chronicle judicial and prosecutorial abuse in the criminal justice system.

War Porn by Roy Scranton -- A chilling look at soldiers in the Iraq invasion and occupation. Fractured like pieces glued together, very well written, worth reading.

Wired Child, Reclaiming Childhood in a Digital Age by Richard Freed, PhD. -- A clinical psychologist looks at the addictive power of video gaming and social media and the entertainment industry's campaign to make screen addiction sound benign.

The Ex-Pats by Chris Pavone -- A convoluted tale of American ex-pats in Luxemborg and financial intrigue with undercover agents and bad guys.

On Beauty by Zadie Smith -- A novel of manners, interracial family, English professor father, Caribbean mother, three children in an American college town, almost ivy league, and their English counterparts.

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance -- A memoir of growing up in Ohio with an addicted and alcoholic mother, a series of stepfathers and boyfriends, grandparents nearby. This story of the Kentucy emigrants who went across the Ohio River to work is an interesting glimpse into poor alienated white culture. Vance escapes and goes to Yale Law School and uncomfortably adjusts.

Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen -- The narrator is a South Vietnamese Army Captain, adjutant to a General. He is a double agent and after the fall of Vietnam follows the General to the US. An incredible novel operating on many different levels, the narrator is a classical misfit able to travel in many worlds and uncomfortable in them all.

El Sueno del Celta by Mario Vargas LLosa -- A fictional biography of Sir Roger Casement, true in its history of the British Foreign Service Officer who in the beginning of the 20th century exposed the crimes against humanity in the rubber trade in the Congo and then Putomayo in Peru, who became an Irish patriot before the Easter Rebellion and was hung by the British in 1916 as a traitor and gunrunner. (The Dream of the Celt -- I'm reading it in Spanish and in translation simultaneously.)

Poisonfeather by Matthew Fitzimmons -- A thriller novel of computer hacker who goes after a Maddoff type fraud who cheated the hacker's patron out of his life savings. Trails off into a weak ending.

An Echo of Heaven by Kenzaburo Oe -- A novel of Marie, a close friend of the narrator who like the narrator has a disabled son. Her two sons commit suicide and she survives in a search for meaning becoming a local saint in Mexico at the end. Dark and twisted beautiful and engaging.

Hollywood Station: A Novel by Joseph Wambaugh -- A collection of top this stories told by cops tied together with a loose narrative of a murder investigation. The usual grittiness and veracity of the former cop novelist.

Four Hands by Pablo Ignacio Taibo -- An American and Mexican journalist partners in writing cover the world between the US and Latin America while a weird and convoluted CIA plot grows around the Sandinistas and the world Greg and Julio report about.

Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow -- A murder mystery crime novel set against the Pacific Beach surfing world. Boone Daniels, a Private Investigator, and his friends struggle against the evil forces on the edge of their world waiting for the perfect wave. A good quick read.

Down the Rabbit Hole (Fiesta en la Madriguera) by Juan Pablo Villalobos -- A young boy tells about life from his perspective of living in a luxurious fortified palace with his narcotrafficante father. Reading Spanish and English editions together.

The White Boats by Mark Marinovich -- Cesar a 10 year old boy working with his grandfather and selling bait to the tourist boats in Baja California dreams of catching his own Marlin.

You Had to Be There: From Web Town to Psych Ward -- A Memoir by Terrance McCarthy --An English major, Air Force veteran, journalist, copywriter becomes a lock down psych ward counselor. How he got there and what it's like.

6/16

The Whites by Richard Price -- The cases long ago that a detective can't let go. Billy Graves is a detective sergeant NYPD on the Night Watch and the story includes his work, his family, his friends, and the cases that haunt them.

The Short Drop by Matthew Fitzsimmons -- Not too far out thriller with computer hackers, kidnap and politics.

The Ebony Tower by John Fowles -- A collection of short novelas that consider art and its meanings.

1921 by Morgan Llewelyn -- An historical novel of the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War, a full cast of characters as seen by a journalist from Clare who is at the center of many of the most important events, Michael Collins, Eamon de Valera and many others.

A Place to Come To by Robert Penn Warren -- A novel of a dirt poor southern boy from Dugton Alabama who becomes a University of Chicgo PhD and professor of Dante.

3/16

Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster -- A surrealistic novel of an old man in a room by himself trying to remember who he is and what he has done while various visitors come to care for him.

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry -- An old Insane Asylum is finally being demolished and the last director tries to find out why his oldest patient, 100, was put there in the first place. Roseanne secretly writes her own biography and the two pieces go side by side against the backdrop of Ireland from the Rebellion to today.

The Star of Istanbul by Robert Olen Butler -- A spy novel set before America enters The Great War. An American journalist working as a spy follows a mysterious film star from Greece to Istanbul.

Belfast Ghosts by Stuart Neville -- Years after the Good Friday Agreement Gerry Fegan, a former paramilitary soldier is haunted by the ghosts of the people he murdered. He exorcises his visions of his victims by revenging their deaths in the uneasy peace of Belfast.

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris -- The story of three women, Rayona the teenage daughter of Christine from the reservation and a Black father, Christine, the daughter of Aunt Ida, and Aunt Ida who speaks only the old language and watches soap operas tells the story of how she came to be the mother of Christine. The story is a braid with three strands.

Istanbul Passage by Joseph Kanon -- A novel of intrigue set in Turkey in 1945 after the defeat of Germany when the US and Russia are squaring off against each other. The escape of a Romanian former Nazi now ally against the communist is the centerpiece of intrigue, love and murder.

NeuroTribes, The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity -- A look at autism, early research in the US and Austria, with stories of families, and how our understanding of autism has developed and changed.

The Great Transformation, The Beginning of Religious Traditions by Karen Armstrong -- A look at the context, history and factors that contributed to the rise of Abrahamic religions, Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism in the mellenia before the common era.

A Temporary Gentleman by Sebastian Barry -- Jack McNulty from Sligo is a former British colonial officer who returns to Ghana first with the UN and then on his own. Writes a memoir of his life with his wife Mai Kirwin, now dead.

Dead Man's Walk by Larry McMurtry -- A tale from the early life of Gus and Call when as teenagers they join the Texas Rangers in the Republic for two ill fated expeditions into Indian territory.

Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker -- A Western novel, part of series by the author of the detective novels of Spencer. Marshall Virgil Cole and his deputy clean up a town.

Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon -- The main character is the street and the Temescal district of Oakland where the two worlds of Berkeley and West Oakland intersect and wash over each other.

Empire of Cotton, A Global History by Sven Beckert -- In following the history of cotton, it's cultivation and the manufacture of cloth and yarn the author gives a new perspective on the industrial revolution and colonialism, slavery, global trade and capitalism. Half way through, unfinished, slow reading.

Clockers by Richard Price -- The story of a homicide and its investigation and the people affected, the suspects, the detectives, and the neighborhood.

The Cartel by Don Winslow -- A sequel to the Power of the Dog and just as well based on the actual fact though in fiction the good guys come out on top which is not the case in reality. The Drug War in Mexico up to 2012 including the succession of PAN by PRI in Los Pinos, the Mexican Presidential Residence.

Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll -- Further adventures of Alice in wonderland and the characters she meets and the problems she confronts.

Anthill by E.O. Wilson -- A young boy falls in love with a small pocket of wilderness near his town in South Alabama near Florida. He watches the natural cycle and particularly the ants. He grows up, goes to law school and saves the woods from the developers, but included is a wonderful natural history of three ant colonies which is very similar to human behavior of vice versa.

The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow -- A Roman a clef around the drug cartels in the 70's and 80's and the violence including the murder of a Catholic Cardinal. Very well written and a gripping story. The characters center around a DEA agent and a Mexican drug lord and his family and include the CIA, the Mexican government, the Mafia and Opus Dei.

Shadow Ritual by Eric Giacometti and Jacques Ravenne -- A French murder mystery in which a Paris detective and Freemason searches for the killer, a member of the Orden, a German secret society behind the Nazis. He is joined by a skeptic but beautiful secret service officer and they unravel the complex history behind the crime.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll -- A wonderful bedtime read that we are working our way through slowly. The original is incredibly fanciful and complex. It stimulates and tickles the imagination of a 5 year old.

Butchers Crossing by John Williams -- An historical novel set in the plains, Kansas and Colorado during the 1870s. A dropout from Harvard inspired by Emerson joins a buffalo hunt and becomes snowbound spends in the Rockies.

Finders Keepers by Stephen King -- A novel without King's usual paranormal trappings. A novelist is murdered and his unpublished works are stolen. It leads to a host of good characters and involved subplots all converging.

6/15

God is My Broker by Brother Ty with Christopher Buckley and John Tierney -- A parody of greed, Wall Street, self help books, Deepak Chopra, and the Catholic Church. It's wonderfully fun and not at all mean.

Every Dead Thing by John Connolly -- Charlie Parker a retired New York City cop takes on a case that coincides with finding the murderer of his wife and daughter. The characters, situations and details get a little unreal. It is fiction untethered from reality.

The Cousin's Wars by Kevin Phillips -- A careful analysis of the loyalties that divided English speaking people on both sides of the Atlantic during the English Civil War, the American Revolution, and the American Civil War and the continuity of those loyalties and divides to present time.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin -- Written at the end of the 19th century, Edna the protagonist begins the novel married to a French Creole gentleman in New Orleans and discovers herself and sets out on her own path to love and fulfillment.

Atticus by Ron Hansen -- An adult son, Scott, commits suicide in an expatriate town of Mexico and Atticus, his father and a Colorado rancher and oilman goes to Resurrecion to retrieve the body and learn what happened. He learns it was a murder.

4/15

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver -- A woman in Appalachia is on her way to an illicit tryst and stumbles on a momentous gathering of butterflies in the trees above the farm, like a miracle. She turns back and returns to her life, family, husband and church.

The Orenda by Joseph Boyden -- An historical novel of the Hurons, their Jesuit missionaries, and their Iroquois enemies in 17th century Canada.

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann -- The stories of many lives tied together by one event and then another tragic event that occurs near the same time.

3/15

Stoner by John Williams -- A novel republished from 1965 and becoming a best seller tells the story of William Stoner, a farm boy who goes to ag school at the University of Missouri in 1910, becomes an English major, grad student and teacher at the same University and follows him until his death over 40 years later.

Nickel and Dimed, On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich -- Ehrenreich works the jobs we take for granted in America, housemaids, waitress, and tries to get by on the money she makes.

Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell -- The heavy but simply written tome by a loyal disciple of Milton Freidman and Free Market (lazez faire) Economics.

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain -- Bravo Company is caught on film in a firefight which makes them heroes of the week. They're brought home for a morale building tour including being on stage with Beyonce at a Dallas Cowboys game. At the end of the last day of their tour they're on their way back to Iraq.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair -- The early 20th century novel exposing the meatpacking industry by chronicling the struggle of a Lithuanian family in Chicago.

The Fallen Angel by Daniel Silva -- Heroic Mossad agent Gabriel Allon saves Israel from Armageddon and protects his friend the Pope from a Vatican bank scandal. Twelfth book in a series.

A Choice of Enemies by George V. Higgins -- Boston Irish pols, corruption and political dealings. Wonderful dialogue and characters.

Season of Ash by Jorge Volpi -- A broad historical novel of the world at the time of the fall of the Soviet Union with American and Russian parallel stories.

The New York Times Book of Insects edited by Nicholas Wade -- A collection of articles about insects and other arthropods from the newspaper science section.
The Trouble with Testosterone by Robert M. Sapolsky -- Wide ranging essays on human behavior by the Stanford neuroscientist and primatologist.

10/14

Gildead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson -- An aging pastor in 1950's Iowa writes an autobiography for his 7 year old son.

Firing Offense by David Ignatius -- The main character an up and coming reporter gets embroiled with the CIA, the Chinese and French corruption

The Footprints of God by Greg Ilse -- A near future thriller where the protoganists are fighting the forces of evil in a super AI computer using replicated brain scans and quantum computing. Interesting questions about the divine.

The Son by Philipp Meyer -- The multi-generational story of a rich and powerful Texas family, telling parallel stories of their beginnings, rise to power, and modern times.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Soccer by D.W. Crisfield -- The fundamentals of the game, watching it, playing it, and coaching it.

8/14

The Gathering by Anne Enright -- A brother walks into the sea at Bath, his sister remembers him and the family gathers for his wake in Dublin.

Lichii Ba'Cho by D. Jordan Redhawk -- A dystopian novel of 2057 in which the US is at war with the corporations with a lesbian romance, the Red Wolves Tribe and war in Idaho.

The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carolos Fuentes -- A novel of Mexico after the Revolution in 1913 to the 1950's from the dying point of view of a powerful businessman who was a revolutionary officer in 1910.

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel -- An historical novel, second volume of Mantel's story of Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn from Thomas Cromwell's point of view.

Los de Abajo by Mariano Azuela -- A novel of the Mexican Revolution written in 1915 by a doctor who served with Villa's Northern Division after 1912. And Underdogs, the English translation that I am reading along side it.

7/14

Joyland by Stephen King -- A novel of love, crime and ghosts.

English Major by Jim Harrison -- Another very good novel from Harrison, a man in his 60's looks for the meaning in his life.

Testament by John Grisham -- A lawyer novel, good, interesting ending.

6/14

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel -- Very good historic fiction with Thomas Cromwell as the sympathetic narrator.

Garden of Beasts by Jeffrey Deaver -- Finally good crime fiction. In 1936 Berlin an American hit man turned government assassin is given a hit on an important war planner. He's taken in by an American spy cell and chased by various German police, good guys and bad. So far so good.

Commanding Heights by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw -- An economic history of the world since World War II, the triumph of mixed economies with strong governments in the 50's and 60's and their dismantling in the new free market world.

5/14

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman -- A novel where an ordinary English boy steps across into the fairy world where fantastical things happen. It's an interesting blend of matter of fact fiction and the Celtic other world.

Legends of the Fall, The Man Who Gave Up His Name and Revenge by Jim Harrison -- Three wonderful novelas, three brothers in Montana, a successful oil executive gives it all up and a tale of revenge when a gringo has an affair with a local cacique's wife. Wonderful settings character and plot. Harrison is a master.

The Woman Who Lost Her Soul by Bob Shacochis -- A twisted novel starting with the son of a Ustashe captain killed by partisans in front of his eyes. Multi-generational, he becomes a US foreign service spook, and his daugher carries on the family trade into Haiti and then today's fault lines between Christians and Muslims.

4/14

Darkest Fear by Harlan Coben -- A Myron Balitar story in which the sports agent former basketball player searches for a mysterious character whose bone marrow will save his newly discovered son. A good quick read.

Run by Ann Patchett -- A novel about families, politics and class set in Boston. A single day in which all the separate pieces come together and blend.

The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos -- The story of Cesar Costillo and his brother Nestor. They are the Mambo Kings, musicians who work during the day, a meat wholesaler, and then a building supe, and play in the clubs at night. Cesar becomes almost famous and continues on to playing quinceneras and weddings in the 70's.

Innocence by Scott Turow -- Rusty Sabitch and Tommy Molto of Presumed Innocent meet again many years later and another trial for murder unfolds. A real page turner. Did Sabitch kill his wife or not and was he really innocent many years ago.

Stars at Noon by Denis Johnson -- A young American woman at her lowest and an English oil executive meet post revolution Nicaragua and flee the Sandinistas, the Costa Rican police and the CIA. A dark and steamy novel.

Punin and Baburin by Ivan Turgenev -- A novela where a young nobleman meets two characters, one a radical going from job to job as an accountant and the other a flamboyant reciter of poetry. They reappear again when the young man is a university student and then later when he is a civil servant. The story of their changing relationship against a backdrop of class.

To Hell or Barbados by Sean O'Callaghan -- The history of Cromwell's war against Catholics in Ireland which included kidnapping, forced immigration, indentured servitude and slavery. The Irish, Scots and English enemies of the Lord Protector were sold into servitude in the Carribean and the American colonies.

The Baptism of Billy Bean by Roger Alan Skipper -- Lane Haller, an aging Vietnam Vet, lives in the West Virginia hills and puts himself in the middle of a group of bad guys dealing drugs and the local sheriff while he tries to find himself among his own family and friends. Well told, good characters and setting.

Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow -- A novel of a son exploring his father's experiences during World War II and his court martial even though he is a lawyer in the Judge Advocate General Corps. A good tale and good history of World War II and the Battle of the Bulge.

The Isles, a History by Norman Davies -- A history of Great Britain and Ireland from pre-history to the present by a Welsh Oxford Don who tells the story with a Celtic point of view including the Anglo Saxons but not dominated by English nationalism. Parts are a Celtic rant against the English, but it's enjoyable, it balances things out a bit.

Lost Eagles by Ralph Graves -- An historical novel of Roman Legions set in first century common era. A young man comes of age and joins the Roman Legions recovering from defeat in Germania.

The Street Lawyer by John Grisham -- After two cardboard thrillers I needed a realistic setting and characters. Interesting story, good on homelessness, and characters who do well by themselves. It all works out in the end.

Midnight Runner by Jack Higgins -- A number of bigger than life and cardboard characters foiling a plot to destroy the world by a beautiful Arab English countess. Silly.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen -- A novel placed in current time and in St. Paul Minnesota. Interesting characters and dynamics following them as a family from college days to middle aged resolution. It's a good read, good characters.

Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan -- An allegory of a Christian's journey to salvation and the Celestial City. Part II is the pilgrimage of Christian's wife and children. It is an early novel and while primitive in style, Bunyan was literate only from the Bible, it is a good read.

The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper by John MacDonald -- A Travis McGee novel from 1960s Forida with great scene, wonderful characters and a driving plot. A little too much at the end.

1491 by Charles G. Mann -- The story of the Western Hemisphere before Columbus particularly the substantial population and the sophistication of development in Mesoamerica, the American Midwest and South America.

Oliver Cromwell by Peter Gaunt -- A short biography of the man who rose from obscure country gentleman to the Lord Protector and Dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland. The author presents a complete portrait including the butchery and cruelty of Cromwell and his part in the evolution of constitutional rule in England.

A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins -- A very abbreviated and concise history of England as it emerges from Roman Britain until today. A good survey of the whole story.

The Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flanagan -- Post 9/11 Australia goes paranoid and weaves a fantasy of terrorism around a pole dancer and a small time hood. Most of the novel is from the point of view of the victim of a paranoid society.

Supermob, How Sidney Korshak and His Criminal Associates Became America's Hidden Power Brokers by Gus Russo -- The Chicago Jewish Mob in Hollywood. Interesting reading about Al Hart, City National Bank, Lew Wasserman and a host of others. Stopped reading half way through bogged down by repetition and guilt by association.

Tropical Freeze by James W. Hall -- Hall's character Thorn who does his best to live off the grid in Key Largo is involved with Federal agents gone bad and a cast of other dangerous characters in the south of Florida. Has that thriller feel at the end of too many unrealistic threads.

1/14

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery -- The classic 19th century satire and novel of manners about the wealthy, those who want to be wealthy, minor British aristocracy and the Napoleonic Wars. A very good read, published serially, it is a long page turner.

Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth by Margaret Atwood -- A series of lectures by the Canadian poet, novelist, and essayist. She looks at debt as a concept and human activity, looking on either side of it, its history, literature, and its effect on the human condition. A very broad look.

The Foundations of Dual Language Instruction by Judith Lessow-Hurley -- A 1990 published academic book on bilingual education, its method, justification, and results.

The Scale of Maps by Belen Gopegui -- A novel with an obsessed narrator who tells about a woman he loved and his own insanity.

The Beast God Forgot to Invent by Jim Harrison -- Three novellas, a brain damaged man in his 30s and his older friend maybe father. The young man disappears presumed drowned and his friend writes the coroner what he knew about him. Brown Dog, an unlucky Indian, in LA. A 55 year old bioprobe writer finally goes to Spain. Beautiful language, wonderful characters.

Just Kids by Patti Smith -- Patti Smith's memoir of living with and loving Robert Maplethorpe starting in 1967 until his death in 1989. Talks about the artistic drive that both shared and grew in together. A wonderful period piece and life on the edge in New York.

The Shia Revival How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future by Vali Nasr -- A look at the Shia sect of Islam and its conflict with the Sunni and what has been happening in the Middle East for many years now. Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia are all deeply affected by the Shia Sunni split. The author is an American professor of political science at the Naval Postgraduate School.

O Jerusalem by Dominique Lapierre and Harry Collins -- The story told sympathetically from both sides of the fight for Jerusalem during the 1948 Arab Israeli War.

The Blind Man of Seville by Robert Wilson -- A mystery novel in which the chief inspector fights his own demons while looking for a twisted murderer. The scene and plot are realistic and solving the crime is the engine of the novel, but in the end it seems a stretch.

Morpho Eugenia by A.S. Byatt -- A novella placed in 19th century England. William is an entomologist returned from exploring the Amazon who becomes part of the family of his patron. Science, religion, class and love. It's a beautifully written story.

The White Planet, The Evolution and Future of Our Frozen World by Jean Jouzel, Claude Lorius, and Dominique Raynaud -- translated from the French a very current look on ice in the world today and what it tells us about climate. It is heavy on explaining the science and what is happening with ice core drills in glaciers and ice sheets and what it tells us about climate historically back with some accuracy to 800,000 years and the data used to see what is happening and will happen. Global warming is here and very scary.

White Butterfly by Walter Mosely -- Ezekiel Rawlins is a tortured man living in a racially segregated Los Angeles after World War II and is brought in by the LAPD to find a serial killer. Interesting stuff, well written, with echoes of Raymond Chandler.

Smoke in the Wind by Peter Tremayne -- Another Sister Fidelma novel placed in Wales. A section that is helpful with pronouncing Welsh, at least a start. A murder involving Saxons and Bretons, Fidelma solves it. Easy reading.

Suffer Little Children by Peter Tremayne -- Sister Fidelma is a 7th century Irish religious from Cashel. She is also a dalaigh, a Brehon Law judge. She investigates strange goings on in the Gaelic world of the 7th century and solves crimes. English style murder mystery in an historical setting. A little simple; the history is good. The sensibility seems anachronistic.

Strumpet City by James Plunkett -- An historical novel of the Dublin Lockout that took place 100 years ago this year and laid the groundwork for the Easter Rebellion which followed less than three years later. A broad historical novel with characters that come from all the elements of Irish society. Published over forty years ago it has been reprinted and is currently very popular in Ireland now. A good read.

A Book Around the Irish Sea, History without nations by David Brett -- A look at the history of the Irish Sea, people and places from the end of the Ice Age to present times by a cyclist with a real feel for history and architecture. The author bicycles through Scotland, England, Wales, the Isle of Man and Ireland weaving together the story of a people who like Mediterraneans are tied together by their geography, culture and history. A wonderful book.

9/13

The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan -- A contemporary Irish village where the financial collapse puts a strain on everyone. A man is murdered and stories are told by the village's people. Each chapter is an individual story and the novel emerges from putting it all together

2012

NAMA Mia by Paul Howard -- A very contemporary story about a not so sensitive getting middle aged lady's man, father, brother, and son in the post Celtic Tiger collapse.  Ross O'Carrol-Kelly is doing the best he can and it's not very good.  Funny and current.  NAMA in Ireland is the National Asset Management Agency, the bailout receiver of Ireland's real estate developers.  

A Long Long Walk by Sebastian Barry -- The story of a young man in 1914 Ireland who gets caught up in the all the unrest and then joins the Army to fight with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in the trenches of France.  A beautifully written story of family and the War in a country of divided loyalties.

The Commitments by Roddy Doyle -- The wonderful novel of Jimmy Rabbit and his Dublin Soul group, the Commitments.  The movie is better than the novel only because it has a soundtrack and the actors do such a great job of bringing Doyle's characters to life.
 
The Sea by John Banville -- A writer loses his wife to cancer and goes to the shore where he went as a child to mourn her as he thinks of the past and tries to come to the terms with the present.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Irish History and Culture by Sonja Massie -- The tone is a little silly and simple sometimes, but it's a good short general history and introduction to Ireland with a very Irish American point of view.

The Red House by  Mark Haddon -- A brother and sister come together with their families at a vacation home in Wales.  The novel tells the story from the point of view of each member of the family, husbands and wives, teenage children and a young child.  Like Curious Incident it is a wonderful novel and amazing to read. 

Our Kind of Traitor by John LeCarre -- A young couple meet a Russian mafia don on vacation in Antigua and get swept up in a plot between British security and the Russian mafia.  Usual LeCarre but not remarkable.  Entertaining.  

Ireland, an Illustrated History by Henry Weisser -- A short compact history of Ireland from its neolithic beginnings through the 1990s. Illustrations are black and white photos, not much, but it tells where to see the artifacts of Irish history remaining today. A good review in preparation for my trip next month.

Spanish Lessons Beginning a New Life in Spain by Derek Lambert -- A memoir of a British novelist, his wife and son who buy an old home in a village 60 miles from Valencia. A host of characters and situations that ask why he bothered, but easy to read.

Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man by Joseph Heller -- A wonderful novel about an old novelist who had a big hit for his first book many years before and is now trying to come up with the last good one.  Fits and starts, silly, but in the end, a wonderful character and story. 

Brain Rules by John Medina -- A popularization by a neuroscience researcher on how the brains work and basic facts we need to be aware of, particularly for work and school.  Basic stuff but useful.

Irish Folk & Fairy Tales Omnibus by Michael Scott -- A wonderful collection of the standard Irish folktales and some very good new ones I wasn't aware of.  Well written, readable, true to the past and interesting.

Something to Die For by James Webb -- A Washington D.C. thriller that goes from Washington intrigue to diplomatic channels to war in the Horn of Africa. Webb is the former Secretary of the Navy and Senator from Virginia so there's some authenticity to what he writes about. A little cardboard.

The Course of Irish History edited by T.W. Moody and F.X. Martin. A collection of essays covering Irish history from the dawn of time to the end of the 20th century by scholars from University College, Trinity and Queens College. All together it gives a good survey of Irish history.

The Philosopher and the Druids, A Journey Among the Ancient Celts by Philip Freeman -- A fascinating account of the ancient Celts from Asia Minor to the Hebrides drawing on fragments and writings of early Greek and Roman sources, particularly the Greek philosopher from Syria, Posidonius.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie -- The story of a Nigerian student in America and her adjustment to America and Americans and her return to Nigeria. A good novel with lots of characters and plot with a very interesting point of view and lots of insight into Americans.

The Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson -- A very interesting novel of a young CIA agent and his old OSI uncle in Southeast Asia from the 1950's to 1980. Soldiers, assassins, missionaries and spys. Very dark, but well written and pulled together in the end. A very interesting read.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon -- The persona of the writer is a 15 year old autistic young man. One of his teachers helps him to edit his mystery book. It is an extraordinary novel with a full range of characters and plot but told with the absolute factuality of autism. A very good read.

Spain: A Unique History by Stanley G. Payne -- An American historian tells how he came to be an Hispanist and tells about the theories and narratives of Spanish history and their genesis through the end of the 20th century and his view of history and particularly Spain. Much more interesting than it sounds.

Solar by Ian McEwan -- A Nobel laureate physicist drags through life during the breakup of his fifth marriage and lectures on thinking he hasn't done since his twenties. He heads a climate change institute that is contributing almost nothing.

The Shipyard by Juan Carlos Onetti -- An odd novel of a character who goes to a bankrupt shipyard in a fictional region of Uruguay. It very slowly winds out a story of a world out of kilter.

One World Divisible by David Reynolds -- A global history since 1945, decolonization, the Cold War, Cultures and Families, Israel, Muslims and Consumerism, by an English historian. A textbook but readable.

July, July by Tim O'Brien -- A college class reunion in 2000 of the Class of '69. A full cast of characters and their personal histories that started at Darton Hall College. O'Brien's world is very familiar.

Absolute Friends by John Le Carre -- A post Cold War novel about a retired spy, his partner, and her son. It starts in Munich where Ted Mundy is a tour guide for English speakers at one of Mad King Ludwig's castles. He wears a bowler and a Union Jack handkerchief in his breast pocket. Good read, ending is a little stretched.

The House of Paper by Carlos Maria Dominguez -- An Argentine writer who lives in Uruguay tells the story of a book, Conrad's The Shadow-Line, that goes from Cambridge to Uruguay and back to Cambridge. Funny, mysterious and very interesting. Good read.

The Ruins of Us by Keija Parssinen -- Rosalie grows up in a Saudi compound for oil families, meets a Saudi sheik at the University of Texas, marries him and returns to the Kingdom. Everything is fine until nearly 30 years later when Abdullah takes a second wife. A little slow.

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow -- The exuberant world of the turn of the century, 1900 as seen through the eyes of a young boy growing up well off in New Rochelle, The world of Emma Goldman, Harlem, race relations, and Jewish immigrants wind through the tale.

Topaz by Leon Uris -- Spies, defectors and intrigue in the fall of 1962 with an international group of characters working in Washington and trying to save the world. Attitudes more than anything very dated.

The Black Box by Michael Connelly -- A quick read, Harry Bosch investigates an unsolved murder from the 1992 Civil Disturbance in LA. Interesting well, written but I get tired of the shoot 'em up endings and Bosch still working after 20 years of being on the outs. Good stuff but unrealistic. Can't anyone write a story where they just arrest the perpetrator in the usual way and everyone goes back to doing their job?

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett -- A wonderful and very readable novel about the guests at a party in a Latin American country taken over by revolutionaries. A collection of the famous and not so famous in a world gone wrong.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi -- A graphic novel of a young girl growing up in post-revolution Iran. Her family are middle class but sympathetic to the revolution and she sees its effects all around including her own family. A beautiful and moving story.

Search in Gomorrah by Daniel Panger -- A lone German American GI guarding five SS prisoners slowly loses feeling in his hands and feet from the freezing cold while the Germans plot to overpower him. Instead of letting them go he shoots them. In post-War Germany he searches to learn who they were.

Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein -- A parent writes about the commercialization of childhood by Disney and other marketeers. She also considers gender and nature. A lot of good questions, unfortunately there aren't many answers.

Class, Image and Reality in Britain, France and the USA since 1930 by Arthur Marwick -- An historian looks at class in three countries during the Depression and after World War II up through 1975.

Death of a River Guide by Richard Flanigan -- A river guide in Tasmania is drowning and has visions of his own history and the history of his family.

Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine De Saint Exupery -- Beautifully written stories of flying in the 1920s the mail routes from France to Africa and from Argentina to Chile. An incredibly beautiful book.

American Grace by Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell -- A sociological study of religion in America, intensity, involvement, political meaning, geography. Authors objectively study current religious practice and how it works in America. America's grace is that we have a high acceptance of people of other beliefs and in spite of most sects claiming to be the one true way, the members don't believe it.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque -- A book I read in high school worth reading again. Early on I believed war was a futile waste of young lives. Now I know where some of that began. This brutally realistic book is still very powerful. A novel of German conscripts and volunteers in the trenches of World War I.

Belarus by Lee Hogan -- A good science fiction read. Andrei founds a new colony based on Mother Russia with Russian folklore characters, aliens, and building a new world.

The Accidental Santera by Irete Lazo -- Gabrielle Segovia, a professor of biology is drawn by her grandmother from the other world into Santeria and becomes a priestess. Interesting for its knowledgeable and respectful treatment of Santeria, also for it's local color. The character and her husband teach at San Francisco State and live in North Berkeley.

Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier -- A professor of ancient languages, Greek. Hebrew and Latin, leaves his classroom in Bern one afternoon and takes the train to Lisbon for reasons he can't explain, but it seems he has to do it.

The Vatican Exposed by Paul L. Williams -- Money, murder and the Mafia. Going back to the Concordat of Lateran with Mussolini and looking at the concordat with the third Reich, the author looks at the murky world of Vatican money, particularly the Vatican Bank. It's still going on. He's a little aggressive in connecting the dots, but not much, there are plenty of dots to connect.

The Lost History of Christianity by Phillip Jenkins -- A look at the history of the Church of the East, Nestorians, Syriacs and Copts who have an older tradition than the Western Church. A bit polemical. In the end the Eastern Churches are all but gone from the Middle East, victims of sectarian warfare into the 20th century and even the Iraq War. They survive as refugees to the West.

Insignificant Others by Stephen McCauley -- A comedy of manners about relationship where both partners have someone on the side. Light reading, superficial, interesting in that the couple are gay. Everything works out in the end, of course.

Render Unto Rome by Jason Berry -- A former National Catholic Reporter writer tries to figure who tells about the local shenanigans used by the American diosceses to pay their settlements with the child abuse scandal victims. I was disappointed that it didn't get more into the actual finances and the way they worked, but a good book.

Libra by Don Delillo -- A fictionalized account of the Kennedy assasination. Well written. Oswald is a patsy and the real killers are a rogue CIA team from the Bay of Pigs days. Ties up Oswald, Ruby and the success of the attempt. An American Tabloid which came later reworks much of the same territory.

Sofie's World by Jostein Gaarder. An odd little tale by a Norwegian of a little girl who is given a correspondence course by a mysterious philosopher. It's like the Disney version of A Survey of Western Thought. It's an oddity but interesting.

The Rising, Ireland: Easter 1916 by Fearghal McGarry -- A retelling of the Easter Rebellion with particular attention to the first person accounts of the Fenians and the Irish Citizen Army volunteers.

Waiting by Ha Jin -- An American Chinese immigrant Ha Jin tells the story of a military doctor, his wife and his girl friend during the cultural revolution and after. It is an excruciating tale of love and duty against a backdrop of a China now passed.

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather -- A fictionalized account of the first bishop of New Mexico. It tells the stories of Fr. LaTour's travels and missionary efforts in the land newly acquired by the United States.

Theodore Roosevelt, A Life, by Nathan Miller -- What happened in the beginning of the 20th century that resulted in the Progressive Movement and who was Teddy Roosevelt that he championed it. And how did being a Peace Prize Winner and an Imperialist jive. A very interesting life and a good book.

Lost in Translation by Nicole Mones -- A novel about an American woman in Beijing, a translator immersed in China and its culture on a bridge between languages, cultures, her own past and present, history and today.

O Jerusalem by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre -- The story of the birth of Israel and the extremely brutal fights in and around Jerusalem with the inhumanities suffered by and inflicted by both Arabs and Jews on each other. Published in 1972 after the 6 Day War it's looks at the roots of the conflict.

80 Million Eyes by Ed McBain -- A 1966 police procedural novel. Very good. A TV comedian dies on air when he is poisoned by someone. The detectives at the 87th Precint investigate. No superheroes or wounded protagonists, just good fiction.

Lost City Radio by Daniel Alarcon -- A novel that takes place 10 years after the civil war in a Latin American country. No good guys, no bad guys, just loss. Characters lonely for the people they've lost continue on and search for answers.

The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton -- A novel about anarachists in London around the turn of the last century. An odd piece of fiction not to be taken literally. I read Chesterton as a teenager and he's still interesting.

The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers -- The wonderful Bill Moyers interviews with Campbell on PBS. Very readable and incredible insights. Two very wise men talking about everything.

The Quantum Zoo by Marcus Chown -- "I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics." Richard Fenyman. An interesting book about what I don't understand. Lots of examples and things to think about in time and space.

Black Cross by Greg Iles -- A World War II thriller with British, Americans, and Jews trying to stop potential Nazi chemical warfare. The characters are a little thin, but it's a strong plot and covers a lot of territory. Unrealistic, a little cartoonish.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson -- Essays on physics, astronomy, geology and life sciences by a non-scientist. From Newton to Einstein covering the progress of science in the modern age and explaining many of the new insights we have. A very good read.

The Golden Orange by Joseph Wambaugh -- A mystery where the characters and the plot stay within the realm of reality. No super heroes or villains, no impossible plot twists. Enjoyable reading interesting to the end.

Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon -- A bizzarely cynical piece placed in Southern California in the 60s/70s, a detective novel parody. The main character is a stoner private investigator. It's funny and interesting but not very. It seemed needlessly complicated and I got through it.

The World We Have by Thich Nhat Hanh -- Meditations on peace and ecology based on the sturas. Thich Nhat Hanh is Vietnamese monk in exile who has written extensively about engaged Buddhism. A very current and practical book with a Buddhist viewpoint.

The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien -- An odd interior novel by a deSelby scholar about murder, bicycles, and constables. It's very odd, very funny, and very Irish. O'Brien was a contemporary and friend of Joyce and Beckett.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie -- A young adult novel about a young Spokane leaving the reservation and going to high school 30 miles away in the local town. Essential Alexie, funny, sad and heartwarming. Arnold "Junior" Spirit is a wonderful character.

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy -- Hard portrait of West Texas and the people who live there. Good McCarthy. A little grim.

Second Opinion by Michael Palmer -- A medical mystery that just keeps getting further and further afield. After the first few near misses and murders, call the cops. Interesting world, lots of good medical background. Cardboard characters.

The Cinderella Affidavit by Michael Fredrickson -- Not a bad legal story with real characters and situations. It's a first novel and is a little uneven but not a bad read.

Love and Money by Erskine Caldwell -- I'm finally reading Caldwell for the first time. Interesting. A good story that is pulling me along to the end. Short and tight.

Rain Gods by James Lee Burke -- A Hackberry (Hack) Holland police story. There's no mystery Jack (Preacher) Collins did it. Burke's prose is beautifully colorful. His characters are hardbitten and well drawn. It's disappointing toward the end, unrealistic and hackneyed.

Hornet's Nest by Jimmy Carter -- The 39th President of the US wrote an historical novel of the Revoluntionary War as fought by his ancestors in Georgia. Full of history and insight, a little more like a lesson than a novel, but good. Slow start but an excellent historic novel. Worth reading.

Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor -- A surreal story of Hazel Motes a preacher for the Church without Christ. Chiseled writing, ominous characters, and a relentless plot. O'Connor can tell a story, but I think one is enough for me.

Eldorado by Bayard Taylor -- Taylor was sent by Horace Greely to report on California in the summer of 1849. The book was published in 1850. It is like stepping back in a time machine. It is an amazing book and well written.

Forty Stories, new writing from Harper Perennial. Some of the stories are good and some I skipped. A free collection of stories by new up and coming authors. I've read three and they're fresh and they're entertaining. It's free. Download it athttp://www.fiftytwostories.com/ I'm reading it slowly.

A Single Shot by Matthew F. Jones -- John Moon, a nice guy but a loser, accidentally shoots and kills a young woman while poaching a deer. The tale that ensues is dark and twisted, a good read.

Katrina in Five Worlds, A Palistinian Woman's Story by Kathy Saade Kenny -- Katrina's granddaughter tells the story of her grandmother's journey from Palistine to Imperial Russia, back to Palistine to Mexico to the US to Palestine and back. A gripping immigrant tale.

11/22/63 by Stephen King -- A time traveler can stop the Kennedy assassination. It's good Stephen King. He makes sense of it all and asks difficult questions. Good characters and a plot that pulls you along.

DNA USA by Brian Sykes -- Sykes is a geneticist who has looked at mitrochondrial DNA and Y chromosone. He does a road trip in the USA and throws in a lot of factual data on DNA and people's reaction to it.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism by Gary Gach - The usual simple straightforward explanation with a light voice that is the hallmark of this series. It's a good general plain introduction to Buddhism.

The Seven Daughters of Eve by Brian Sykes -- A very interesting look at mitrochondrial DNA for Europeans and the 7 clan mothers, where they come from and who they were. An easy and interesting read.

Rabbit Redux by John Updike -- Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom is 10 years older, a little flabbier, a little wiser and a lot more settled. This time Janice leaves him and so the novel goes. More sexual fantasy than reality, but interesting for what Updike thinks.

Rabbit Run by John Updike -- The first of the Rabbit books. Rabbit Angstrom is an aging basketball player waking up in a dead marriage. He becomes the unfaithful Jesus, but it's like watching a train wreck.

Me and Kaminski by Daniel Kehlmann -- A short and interesting novel about an obnoxious young man and an old and famous artist with a Buddhist twist.

The Celtic Book of Living and Dying by Juliette Wood - A beautifully illustrated book of Irish and Welsh tales and customs by a Welsh professor of language. A treasure from the Book Zoo on Piedmont Ave, a very good used bookstore.

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht - Slow and well written book with the Yugoslav Wars as a backdrop. Obreht is an excellent story teller.

The Partner by John Grisham - Another Grisham, always a good read. Starts with a bang and I'm still reading quickly a 100 pages into it to figure out where this one goes. Great plot. The ending is obvious but worth getting to.

The Litigators by John Grisham - Finney and Fig, a boutique law firm in south Chicago, actually just ambulance chasers. A very funny story with a heartwarming end, of course. A good read. Grisham having fun.

Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper - The first story of Natty Bumppo in the series. Long and involved but with an exciting story in it. A wonderful way to see American thinking in 1840. Still a good read, slow. The prototypes for countless movies and tales.

Atonement by Ian McEwan. - An amazing novel. Various strains all pulled into one very well written novel. McEwan is a master.

The Twenty-Seventh City by Jonathan Franzen - An odd story about the City of St. Louis. A woman and very successful police officer from Bombay is hired as the Chief of Police. Politics and history. It was interesting.

Opening Your Heart, Cardiac Bypass as a Spiritual Journey by Beth Glick-Rieman - A very personal and real story of the author's spiritual journey after cardiac surgery. Beth is the leader of our writers' group. Pure Beth.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - A mysterious tale told by a 'carer.' It follows the relationship of three children who grow up to become 'donors.' A good and eerie read.

The Good Father by Noah Hawley - The main character is a New York doctor who lives in the suburbs with his second wife and sons. His eldest son from his first marriage shoots a very admirable politician who would have been the next President. Well written. A very good read.

The Eagle's Throne by Carlos Fuentes - Great book on Mexican Presidential politics. Interesting story told in letters. The US is almost a character in the book, interesting perspective. The end is very interesting.

Echo Park by Michael Connelly - My second Connelly in a week. Very interesting plot, a little too much dramatic action, shootings, wounded partners and too many bodies, but good.

The Closers by Michael Connelly - I'll move these down but I need to say I'm reading cop novels and these are some of the best. Something to do during busy times.

Tinkers by Paul Harding - An incredibly well written tale of an old man's last hours and his memories of his own life and his father's life. Pulitzer Prize in 2010.

The Border Legion by Zane Grey - Fun to read. It's the 20th century cowboy story being told fresh. The stereotypes and simplicity are wonderful. I'm enjoying it as a piece of history itself but the plot and story go on way too long.

The Enemy by Lee Child - A interesting mystery. The main character is a little too extraordinary but the plot is good. Interesting twists and turns but cartoonish finish.

The President's Daughter by Jack Higgins - Higgins writes a good thriller. It moves along quickly. Written in 1997 the politics are a little dated and the ending is trite but it started well.

The Importance of a Piece of Paper by Jimmy Santiago Baca - a book of short stories like his poems, beautifully written scenes from life in the New Mexico barrios.

Forever by Pete Hamill - The characters were shallow, the main character like a comic book hero, and the device was more like a teenage Vampire novel. The New York history is good but the story was weak.

Hirohito by Edward Behr - An indictment of Hirohito as a war criminal. After reading it I think he was a participant but not a major planner. He could have resisted but like most Japanese he was taken in by Imperial ambitions. He had the power to stop the War but didn't use it until Japan was crushed.

36 Views of Mount Fuji by Cathy N. Davidson - A wonderful memoir that includes insights into Japan, language, grief, and family. Beautifully written I recommend it.

Japan Unmasked by Ichiro Kawasaki - A published in 1969 a snapshot of what one Japanese diplomat sees Japan becoming at the height of the Japanese miracle.

The Given Day by Dennis Lehane - An historical novel with the Spanish flu, the Boston Police Strike and Greenwood before the Tulsa Race Riot. The last part of it is well worth the long read.

Child's Play by Reginald Hill - Complicated and a very complicated solution at the end, not very satisfying, but interesting characters and twists and turns.

Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami - A beautifully written story of a young man and his first love. Has a nice Holden Caulfield feel to it.

Memoirs of Geisha, Arthur Golden - A good read. Drew me in, was a little slow in the middle but ended well. A seductive look into a world that still exists, changed but is still there.

Empire Falls, Richard Russo - Good read. It left me a little unfulfilled as a novel. The characters are good but something just not full enough about it. Maybe I was expecting too much.

Domestic Violets, Matthew Norman - I recommend it, light reading but fun.

The Celtic Twilight, W.B. Yeats - because the existence of fairies only stands to reason.

Ed King, David Guterson - Interesting, but a bit of a stretch.

Angle of Investigation, Michael Connelly - I stopped reading Connelly because his style seemed plodding. That's changed, a very good read and I'm a Connelly fan now.

Kidnapped, Robert L. Stevenson - There's a reason it's a classic, a great read.

Black in Latin America, Henry Louis Gates - Very personal, a memoir, lots of new insights. As a persona Gates has great charm, an erudite naivite.

Gold Coast, Nelson DeMille - There's a literary novel in there somewhere, echoes of Goethe and Milton. It's a good read. Fitzgerald it ain't.

Billy Bathgate by E.L. Doctorow - I don't know why I don't read more Doctorow. He is an excellent writer and a good story teller.

Typee, Herman Melville - Very readable, a wonderful story more true than fiction. Polynesia before the missionaries.

The King's Rifle, Biyi Bandele - A good World War II novel with accurate history viewed by a Nigerian boy from the country.