Tatiana   Martin Cruz Smith
Latest Arkady Renko novel set in Kaliningrad in the new Russia. Murder, a lost corpse, trouble with Zhenya and his girlfriend, all while being targeted by Russian mafia. Complicated plot develops well, characters are interesting, and an enjoyable and believable ending. I have really enjoyed all of Smith’s novels, this one now included on that list.

The Twelfth Department   William Ryan
Second of the very enjoyable Chief Inspector Korolev novels. This time he is investigating murders at a psychiatric institute run by the NKVD. Well written, well plotted, and an excellent character. Kind of wished it didn’t end.

Ecclesiastes
My annual re-reading of this book that doesn’t really fit in a bible for believers. “How sweet is the light, what a delight for the eyes to behold the sun! Even if a man lives many years, let him enjoy himself in all of them, remembering how many the days of darkness are going to be. The only future is nothingness!” (11:7-8) That about sums it up.

Rivers   Michael Farris Smith
Well-written novel about a very believable near future U. S. ravaged by constant storms. Excellent prose, compelling narrative, and some good characters. Couldn’t put it down.

Tenth of December   George Saunders
Outstanding collection of short stories propelled by the characters. Magnificent use of changing perspective and each character’s inner world. Excellent, idiosyncratic prose. Characters remind me a little of Larry Brown. Can’t believe I knew nothing of Saunders until recently. Very, very good.

Dead Brides: Vampiric Tales by Edgar Allen Poe   Edgar Allen Poe
Some of my favorite (Berenice, Ligeia, Morella among others) Poe tales collected with two critical essays, H. P. Lovecraft’s mere homage to Poe’s greatness and Jeremy Reed’s interesting analysis of The Fall of the House of Usher as a description of Poe’s growing madness. Well worth it.

The Man from Berlin   Luke McCallin
Fairly interesting and well-enough written novel about a German Abwehr officer investigating a double murder in Nazi occupied Yugoslavia. Plot moves a little slowly with the protagonist’s self-examination that doesn’t really help us get to know him. Good enough I guess.

Karl Jaspers: A Biography: Navigations in Truth   Suzanne Kirkbright
May be one of the worst books I’ve read. Clunky, pretentious writing that says almost nothing, incredible lack of information about Jaspers and his life. Didn’t get any information about him and the development of his ideas that I was looking for. Terrible waste of time.

Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields   Wendy Lower
Excellent history of women who became part of the Nazi killing fields in the Lebensraum areas along the Eastern front in World War II. Very well written and documented, 55 pages of notes. Provided extensive information about Nazi culture and how these women got involved. Excellent history.

High Heat: A Jack Reacher Novella   Lee Child
Another deeply entertaining Reacher plot about mobsters, a New York City blackout, and even the Son of Sam. Child’s usual excellent prose and intelligence. Very enjoyable.

dot.dead   Keith Raffel
Lame and predictable mystery set in Silicon Valley about a tech startup executive framed for murder. Weak plot and lame characters. Read quickly enough, but still a regrettable waste of time. Too bad.

A Working Theory of Love  Scott Hutchins
Entertaining and kind of sweet novel about a guy trying to work out his relationships while using his father’s journals to help create an A.I. to pass the Turing test. Enjoyable, but it felt a little weak thematically and in characterizations.

Japantown   Barry Lancet
Clumsy, overwritten, emotionally overwrought novel about a murder in San Francisco’s Japantown by a secret ninja society. Shallow, unbelievable characters and an obvious plot. Another waste of time.

Devil May Care   Sebastian Faulks
Rather lame update of the Bond series. Didn’t have the energy, wit, or sex of the Fleming originals, though it followed the plot formula closely. Too bad, kind of a waste of time.

My Brief History   Stephen Hawking
Disappointingly lame “autobiography.” Very short and superficial. A complete waste of time and money, even though I got a 30% discount. Useless.

Bloodmoney   David Ignatius
Involved plot about a rogue CIA group whose members start being assassinated and the woman agent sent to find out what’s going on. A little surprise, but not nearly good enough to justify the effort; shallow, unbelievable characterizations, unjustified resolution, and a dopey ending.

The Deep Zone   James M. Tabor
Cliché-filled novel about a CDC researcher required to do extreme caving to get microbes to combat a new super bacterium. Embarrassing characterizations, and a tiring plot. Waste of time.

Bertrand Russell: The Ghost of Madness 1921-1970   Ray Monk
Deeply disappointing second volume that covers the second half of Russell’s life. Monk seems intent on character assassination, disparaging anything good that Russell accomplished and writing like a tabloid expose about everything else. Too bad, especially in light of the quality of the first volume. Glad to get the whole 1200 pages behind me.

Bertrand Russell: The Spirit of Solitude 1872-1921   Ray Monk
Excellent, well-written, philosophical, and excruciatingly meticulous biography of the first half of Russell’s life. Felt great sympathy and empathy for his personal struggles and awe for what he accomplished. I’ve always been interested in him because of our shared name, and I was very aware of his politics when I was a teenager. Very glad I read it.

Savages   Don Winslow
Story of Ben, Chon, and O and their attempt to live the California lifestyle fuelled by their drug business but without any consequences. Guess how that turns out. Exactly like the Oliver Stone movie except for O’s narration and the silly, focus-group required second ending. Liked the more recent prequel better.

The Kings of Cool   Don Winslow
Beautifully written (I really like Winslow’s prose) prequel that gives the background, even generational, of the characters and circumstances described in Savages. Actually liked this book, and the characters, better.

A Mercy   Toni Morrison
Excellent, beautifully-written novel about women in slavery in 17^th century America. Tragic, sad, abhorrent, and hugely insightful about what slavery does to people. Couldn’t put it down. Very good.

Capital Punishment   Robert Wilson
Very enjoyable thriller about a kidnapping consultant who gets involved in a situation that is more than it seems. Well written, complicated and compelling narrative, and surprisingly good characterizations. Really liked it. Wish it hadn’t ended.

The Love-Charm of Bombs: Restless Lives in the Second World War   Lara Feigel
Disappointing account of five literary figures in London during World War II. The writing is good, the exhaustive research and insights of connections between the writers’ lives and their fiction are well-done, but it’s never more than just these individuals. Somehow, the book feels trivial, and I don’t feel like I’ve really learned anything. Too bad.

All That Is   James Salter
Salter’s latest novel composed of snapshots of 40 years from World War II to the early 80s. Exquisite prose, perfectly constructed sentences and narrative that somehow captures the mundane, lovely, surprising, and heartbreaking truth of human existence in this one life. This is what a novel should be. Really sad it ended. What could I possibly read now?

Femme   Bill Pronzini
As in Fatale, not a fabulous gay man. Disappointing noir novel about a woman manipulating wealthy men with sex. The plot and all the shallow characters have already appeared thousands of times. Luckily, it didn’t take too long to read.

Dead Aim   Joe R. Lansdale
Brief, violent, stylized, noir novella about partners who agree to protect a woman from her husband. As always, they get involved in something completely different. Quick, enjoyable read. Might try something else by Lansdale.

Masaryk Station   David Downing
Latest in the John Russell/Effie Koenen series. Now it is 1948 and they are struggling through the cold war politics of a divided Germany, especially Berlin. Well written, interesting, more thriller tension, and some important developments. Very enjoyable.

Bend, Not Break: A Life in Two Worlds   Ping Fu
Story of Ping Fu’s journey from persecution during China’s Cultural Revolution to founding Geomagic a 3D software company here in the U.S. I have been very interested in the experiences of intellectuals in the Cultural Revolution, not so much in entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, had the tone of a women's self-help book. Not too bad though.
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore   Robin Sloan
Loved every second I spent reading this novel about a bookstore clerk who stumbles into a secret society. Finished it in a day. Perfect mix of high tech and love of books. One of those books you wish you hadn’t read yet so you could still have the experience of reading it. Wish I enjoyed everything I read this much.

A Fringe of Leaves   Patrick White
Beautifully written novel about a woman in 1830s Australia shipwrecked and captured by aborigines. White won the Nobel prize in 1973, thus my interest. Enjoyed every exquisite word of it, and would have liked to meet Mrs. Roxburgh.

Phantom   Jo Nesbø
Latest Harry Hole novel. This time Harry is trying to save his “son” Oleg which entails defeating the biggest drug dealer in Oslo. As usual, very entertaining, well-written, a complex narrative, and extremely violent. Ended abruptly, and nearly everything is left hanging. Even so, once again really enjoyed it.

Odds Against Tomorrow   Nathaniel Rich
Interesting, intelligent, and especially timely novel about the futurist Mitchell Zukor whose personal fears help him warn about future catastrophes. Didn’t really like the ending, seemed pretty fanciful and certainly not a future I would like. But I really enjoyed the novel.

The River Swimmer   Jim Harrison
As usual, two exquisite novellas by one of my very favorite authors. Wished they wouldn’t end. I especially liked “The Land of Unlikeness.” Can’t ever get enough of his work. Really, really enjoyed them.

A Man Without Breath   Philip Kerr
Latest Bernie Gunther novel. I have read everyone. This time Gunther is causing problems in Smolensk in 1943. Read quickly enough, as usual, but less interesting. Bernie’s sarcasm seemed stale, the plot was obvious, and the relationship with the woman felt contrived. Not bad, but a little disappointing. May be my last one.

The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought Susan Jacoby
Interesting, well-written introduction to Ingersoll, his historical place, and his ideas. Too much a polemic telling us what we should take from it, especially the letter at the end, but much good information nonetheless. A fascinating figure. Very Good.

A Delicate Truth   John LeCarré
Perfectly executed novel about a rendition attempt gone wrong and the damage it does to some of the people involved. Beautifully written, interesting characters, and a timely, if depressing, plot. Excellent.

Walter Benjamin   Esther Leslie
Well written intellectual, or critical, biography of the German “philosopher” and critic who is currently so popular. I’m still not sure what to think of Benjamin, but there is much of him that is deeply intriguing, and this is an excellent overview. Well worth the read.

The Leopard   Jo Nesbø
Another excellent installment in the Harry Hole series. Harry returns to Oslo to track a serial killer to the Congo and back, while dealing with the encroachment of Kripos, his own addictions and demons, and the death of his father. The increasing damage to Harry’s body reflects the damage to his mind. Longest in the series so far and well worth it. Can’t wait for the next one.

In the Tunnel   Okubo Takamichi
Very disappointing Novella about two people trapped when the bus they are on is caught in a tunnel collapse. Read more and more like a pep talk on a positive mental attitude. Waste of time even though it was short.

The Destroyed   Brett Battles
Disappointing installment in Battles’ cleaner series about an unfinished job that comes back to haunt Quinn. Not enough character development, and Battles’ seemed to strain at the plot. Really quick read, but not that much fun.

Second Son, A Jack Reacher Story   Lee Child
Short story about a 15-year-old Jack Reacher solving a case the way the adult Reacher does. Nice to meet his family. Same intelligence of style and plot that makes the whole series so interesting. Really liked it.

The Infinite Tides    Christian Kiefer
Beautifully written, thoughtful novel about an astronaut returning from the ISS to deal with his daughter’s death and his wife leaving him. Thoughtful, interesting, and as already mentioned beautifully written. Too bad the ending was so disappointing. Too bad.

California Fire and Life   Don Winslow
Entertaining, well-written novel about an insurance fire investigator uncovering murder and fraud by a real estate mogul tied to the FBS and Russian Mafia. Enjoyed his conversational style. I was nicely entertained.

Helsinki Blood   James Thompson
Latest in this deeply entertaining, brutal, emotionally bleak series about inspector Kari Vaara. Everyone is seriously damaged as he tries to get out from under police corruption, win back his wife and daughter, and save their lives. Hope there’s another one.

Deep Down, A Jack Reacher Story   Lee Child
Very entertaining “Kindle Single”, set back in the 80s, about Reacher solving the penetration of the Navy by a Soviet spy. All the things that make the novels so good are here. Just too short. Really liked it.

Hit Me   Lawrence Block
Latest in Block’s Hit series. Now Keller has a wife and child and thought he was retired. Not so fast. As usual. Block’s quick, clean style, entertaing dialogue, and interesting plot made this novel hard to put down.

The Winter of Frankie Machine   Don Winslow
Entertaining novel about a mafia hit man who just wants to be a San Diego businessman. Characters are pretty shallow, but the style is entertaining, and there’s plenty of slam bang action. Quick, pleasant read.

The Snowman   Jo Nesbø
Latest Harry Hole police procedural where a snowman is integral to a series of murders of women. As always in this series, excellent writing, interesting characters, and a complex plot that is perfectly executed. This time Harry’s loved ones are also targets. Very good.

Death in Breslau   Marek Krajewski
Strange, difficult mystery, set in Breslau during the rise of the Nazis, when it was still part of Germany. Three women are sliced open, then scorpions placed in their bodies. The difficulty derives primarily from the poor translation that includes some sentences that unintelligible in English. Too bad.

War Stories, Poems about Long Ago and Now  Howard Nemerov
I’ve loved Nemerov’s poetry since I was a teenager. This collection is about WWII, Vietnam, and since. I wish more people knew his poems. Very good.

Getting Off    Lawrence Block (writing as Jill Emerson)
Utterly entertaining guilty pleasure of a novel about an irresistible woman who murders anyone she sleeps with. And she sleeps with a lot of people. Clean, simple style that pulls you right along. Absolutely loved it.