Elegy for April   Benjamin Black
Third in the series with the Dublin pathologist Quirke. Emotionally brutal mystery about a friend of Quirke’s daughter who has disappeared. The evil that lurks inside families and destroys lives, especially between parents and children. Banville is an outstanding writer. I’m glad he started this series. Very, very good.

Euthyphro   Plato
Plato’s dialogue about the nature of piety. Socrates has been accused of being impious, and he encounters “his friend” Euthyphro coming from the courts. Euthyphro proves to be a self-righteous fool under Socrates’ questioning, and as such a mirror of the Athenian piety laws. The beginning of Socrates’ end. First in a series of dialogues I’m reading about his trial and death. Good to be reading philosophy.

Point Omega   Don Delillo
Brilliantly minimal novella about time and our awareness of it, and whether it is possible, through art, to get to what a life is. Beautiful, achingly clean prose that lets us experience some of the disorientation of the few characters. “Every lost moment is the life.” Very good.

Cyber War   Richard A. Clarke and Robert K. Knake
An excellent and very readable introduction to what cyber war is and why the U. S. is particularly vulnerable. Very simple for people who know little about networks or infrastructure, it’s still a valuable overview. Also pretty scary. Clarke inserts himself into the narrative a little too much, but that’s not really a criticism. Glad I read it.

The Nearest Exit   Olin Steinhauer
Very well executed sequel to The Tourist. Now Milo is trying to get his family back while a Chinese spy master tries to destroy Tourism. Steinhauer’s prose effortlessly glides us through the narrative permutations, humor, grief, and counseling. Very good and very enjoyable.

Freedom   Daniel Suarez
Sequel to last year’s Daemon. Now the daemon has progressed and is working, through the darknet, to undermine the corporate stranglehold on the planet. Lots of action, intrigue, and a compelling vision of how to get out of our slavery to corporate greed. Wish it could happen. Has made me want to change the way I live even more. Really enjoyed it.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight    trans. Simon Armitage 
A Middle-English narrative poem about Sir Gawain and his encounter with a monstrous knight. Very nicely translated by Armitage, but without the middle English cadences. Beautiful story, really enjoyed reading it, and I was deeply impressed by the literary abilities of the anonymous 14^th-Century English poet. Excellent.