A Man of Parts   David Lodge
Wonderful biographical novel about H. G. Wells’ last days from the point of view of the many women in his life. Once again, Lodge’s prose is clean and light. Wells has interested me for decades, and I loved this enjoyable way to learn more about him. Really liked it.

Zero Day   Mark Russinovich
Very bad “novel” about cyberterrorism that reads much more like a white paper. Lifeless prose, pale, uninteresting characters, and a clumsy plot. Complete waste of time. Too bad.

The Great Leader   Jim Harrison
Harrison’s latest novel about a Michigan State policeman who tracks a cult leader who molests girls while trying to transition to retirement. Insights I really enjoyed about life, American History, relationships, manhood, womanhood, and “sex, money, and religion.” Really, really enjoyed it. Wish it hadn’t ended.

Worm: The First Digital World War   Mark Bowden
Book about the Conficker worm and the ad hoc team of computer scientists that tried to stop it. Interesting even though Bowden seemed like a dog circling endlessly the spot where he wants to finally lie down. His style is fine, but could have been better organized. Only learned a few things because he had to write to a less technical audience.

The Broken Teaglass   Emily Arsenault
Interesting novel about lexicographers discovering hints about a killing in the citations. The relationships were all only verbal, no real depth to them, and the male protagonist had no male characteristics at all. He seemed completely unreal. Good, but got tedious toward the end.

Fun & Games   Duane Swierczynski
Surprisingly entertaining action thriller about an actress being hunted by a team of assassins. And Charlie Hardie gets caught in the crossfire. The reader is pulled along nicely by the almost invisible prose, but the mindless action gets a little unbelievable by the end. But it was like the title.

A Death in Summer   Benjamin Black
I was growing tired of Quirke by the end of Elegy for April, and he is even more tiresome in this novel. Got so I didn’t find any of the relationships credible, and didn’t care about any of the characters or who killed whom. Banville is a beautiful writer, the prose is superb, but I just wanted to be done with it.

The Sisters Brothers   Patrick deWitt
Entertaining western about the infamous brothers, Charlie and Eli Sisters, hired killers who travel from Oregon to San Francisco to kill Herman Warm. Nicely written in Eli’s voice, odd characters, and dusty tangents. Kind of good.

Train Dreams   Denis Johnson
The early 20^th-century life of Robert Grainier told in a beautiful novella. While he constructs railroads and clears their paths, he is unable to construct a life connected to others. Poignant, sad, and evocative. Crystal clear prose. Really enjoyed it.

The Last Man in Berlin    Gaylord Dold
Poorly written, phallus-centered “historical” novel about a police detective in 1930s Berlin trying to solve murders of transvestites and resist the rise of the Nazis. Had to struggle through the ragged prose, didn’t like the characters, and the eroticism seemed plastic. Didn’t like it.

Death Will Have Your Eyes    James Sallis
Disappointing “novel about spies” that isn’t really a spy novel. Nicely written meditation on lives and choices and learning to live, but the spy stuff was just an overlay. Glad it didn’t take very long to read.

A Centenary of Relief Society, 1842-1942    Relief Society General Board
Excellent history of the Relief Society’s first 100 years when it had much more autonomy and power. Very helpful resource for my MABF research. Learned a lot.

The Killer Is Dying   James Sallis
Beautifully written novel about three characters living with their losses, one dying of cancer, one whose wife leaves him to die alone, and a boy living alone after his parents leave him. Great understanding of the human condition. Great prose. Absolutely loved it.

The School of Night   Louis Bayard
Pretty interesting thriller about scholars and collectors hunting for treasure based on a Thomas Harriot letter. Liked the relationship between Harriot and Margaret and some of the overall mystery. Nicely written. Really enjoyed the history and intelligence. Weak ending, but a very enjoyable read.

Agent X   Noah Boyd
Second Steve Vail novel. This time he tracks down a complicated Russian spy network that tried to kill, then frame, the woman he loves. Quick-paced, action-packed, fairly-intelligent, and adequately-written. Very similar to the Reacher series by Lee Child. Slightly too long, a little padded, but pretty enjoyable for an escape.

Rhino Ranch   Larry McMurtry
The final novel featuring Duane Moore. This time he is still trying to find love and wholeness with the same lack of luck, while the world speeds past and he grows old. Still love McMurtry’s style and the characters that populate these novels. Sorry to see them go. Couldn’t put it down. Enjoyed the read very much.

The Holy Thief   William Ryan
Historical mystery set in 1936 Moscow where Inspector Korolev tries to track down the serial killer who has tortured and killed a Russian/American nun, a high-ranking thief, and even an NKVD major. Or is it all a rogue NKVD operation about stolen icons? Fairly entertaining and well-enough written, but kind of slim on the history and details of Russian life. Enjoyed it.

The Last Ember   Daniel Levin
Dan Brown type novel about the search for the giant golden Menorah that the emperor Titus took to Rome when he destroyed Jerusalem. Marginally interesting scholarship of Josephus’ writings, but lame villains, and characters in general, and an unconvincing ending. Much better prose than any of Brown’s novels, but kind of a waste of time.

Rescue of the 1856 Handcart Companies   Rebecca Cornwall and Leonard Arrington
Read this monograph as background research for the MABF diaries I’m working on. Emphasizes the “heroic” efforts of the rescuers of the stranded Willie and Martin handcart companies at Devil’s Gate in Wyoming. A little too slim, but an adequate introduction to an interesting and revealing moment in Mormon history.

The Ideas of the Woman Suffrage Movement/1890-1920 Aileen S. Kraditor
Disappointing book on the conceptual framework for the Woman Suffrage movement in the United States. It’s not bad, it just didn’t have any information I could use for my work on Mary Ann Freeze. Too bad.

Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement Robert P. J. Cooney Jr. in collaboration with the National Women’s History Project
A large picture book reminiscent of books that accompany PBS series. Great pictures from the Woman Suffrage movement, brief biographies of the major, and some minor, players, and useful history, though brief like the biographies. Good overview but not an in-depth scholarly work.

A New World: An Epic of Colonial America from the Founding of Jamestown to the Fall of Quebec
Arthur Quinn
Part of my study of American history. Very informative and enjoyable overview of the founding of the British and French colonies in North America, though it was work getting through it. Especially liked Quinn’s writing style, and the European context for colonizing. Good foundation and learned a lot. Well worth it.

The Brick Layer   Noah Boyd
Very enjoyable, and nicely written, thriller about an unconventional FBI agent who solves a series of murders and finds ransom money. Especially good male-female dialogue between two agents. Steve Vail is much like Reacher; highly intelligent and violent, but wittier. Quick and quite entertaining.

Bhagavad Gita   translated by Stephen Mitchell
This, more than any other “sacred” text I have read, seems purely spiritual and conveys an understanding of life. I am not comfortable with the Lord/God references except that they can be understood to portray a reverence for the foundation of existence throughout the universe, which I like well enough. Also loved the clarity and simple beauty of Mitchell’s translation.

Mormon Polygamy: A History   Richard S. Van Wagoner
An outstanding overview of polygamy in Mormonism from its origins in Nauvoo to today. Nicely written, well researched, and very informative. I was especially interested in the Utah period of Mary Ann Freeze. Well worth it.

Field Grey   Philip Kerr
Latest of the Bernie Gunther series. He spends most of the book in prison recounting his involvement on the Eastern front. Not as interesting as previous books, a little too expository, but an interesting ending. Overall, disappointing, but OK.

The Second Son   Jonathan Rabb
Third Nikolai Hoffner book. This time Hoffner, dismissed from the Berlin Kripo because of his Jewish mother, is in Spain during the early days of the civil war, hunting for his youngest, second son, finding love and unbearable grief and pain. Well done. Don’t know if this is the last of a trilogy or not.

The Border Lords   T. Jefferson Parker
Very disappointing fourth novel in the Charlie Hood series. This one is marred by a veer into vampire fantasy and clumsy, over-the-top plot. Too bad.

Iron River   T. Jefferson Parker
Graphic, brutal, and hopeless third installment in the Charlie Hood series. As the power and range of the cartels grow, more people are destroyed while others thrive, Charlie and his ATFE team are overwhelmed, and some mysterious people intervene. Beautifully written contemporary entertainment.

The Renegades   T. Jefferson Parker
In this second Charlie Hood novel, Hood is battling a fellow LASD deputy, Allison Murrietta’s son, and the Mexican Drug cartel employing them. More violence and excellent prose, but no love story this time. Again, nicely entertaining, primarily because of the beautiful prose that enlivens the adequate plot.

L. A. Outlaws   T. Jefferson Parker
The first Charlie Hood novel where he gets involved with Allison Murrietta as he tries to solve the murder of 10 men at an L. A. warehouse. Police corruption, an evil assassin, loads of violence, and a great love story between two great characters, all written in excellent, Hemingway-esque prose. Nicely entertaining.

The Last Colony   John Scalzi
Another Old Man novel where John Perry and Jane Sagan are now retired and just colonists. That doesn’t last long and they are caught up in interstellar politics, war, and intrigue. Entertaining, smart, and an enjoyable escape.

Old Man’s War   John Scalzi
Really interesting science fiction novel about a future where old people can join the Colonial Defense Forces when they turn 75. Entertaining, marginally plausible, intelligent, and well-enough written. Lots of fun.

The Sentry   Robert Crais
Pretty disappointing Joe Pike novel with Pike and Cole protecting a woman who isn’t what she seems. It has character and thematic gaps, and little emotion or power. This is about the third Crais novel in a row where he seems tired and uninterested. Too bad.

Mormonism in Transition   Thomas G. Alexander
Read the sections that had specific relevance to my work on Mary Ann Freeze’s diaries such as Plural Marriage, Word of Wisdom, etc. Very good introduction to why many things are the way they are in the church now, as well.

Collusion   Stuart Neville
Disappointing second novel featuring the Northern Ireland assassin Gerry Fegan. The narrative is interesting, and works well, until Neville begins to bring the three strands together. When they converge, he loses control and the plot and the resolution becomes unconvincing and unjustifiably mysterious. Prose is good, but overall, didn’t like it.

Heaven’s Net is Wide   Lian Hearn
Prequel to the very-enjoyable Tales of the Otori tetralogy concerning the development and tragedies of Otori Shigeru. Nicely written, and very interesting and enjoyable, even if it slides over far too many years. Really enjoyed it.

I read 63 books in 2010, the most of any year I’ve been keeping track. And I’m pleased with the quality of the books, especially the non-fiction.

Non-fiction highlights were: Hegemony or Survival Noam Chomsky, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything Christopher Hitchens, the five Plato dialogues, The Narrow Road to Oku Matsuo Bashō, Bhagavad Gita translated by Stephen Mitchell, and Marx’s General: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels Tristram Hunt.

Fiction highlights were: Sleepless Charlie Huston, Bad Things Happen Harry Dolan, Rosa Jonathan Rabb, The Farmer’s Daughter Jim Harrison, Bite Me, A Love Story Christopher Moore, Road Dogs Elmore Leonard, and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet David Mitchell. It was a very good year.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet   David Mitchell
Another brilliant and moving Mitchell novel, this time about the years Jacob de Zoet spends in Japan at the turn of the 19^th century. Stories within stories within stories. Enjoyed it very much. Great way to end a great year of reading.