Swann’s Lake of Despair   Charles Salzberg
Novel about Henry Swann who finds people or things for a living. Prose was decent, but the narrative was artificial and unconvincing, and the characterizations were shallow facades only. Too bad.

A Drifting Life   Tatsumi Yoshihiro
800-plus-page autobiographical graphic novel about the origins of gekiga manga. Loved every frame and balloon; the writing, drawing, and pacing. Didn’t want it to end. Already read The Push Man and Other Stories, plan to read more.

Quarry in the Middle   Max Alan Collins
This time Quarry is caught between the mob-controlled owners of two casinos on the Mississippi. More violence and sex, but this time not quite as interesting or convincing. Still, a good quick diversion from the meaningful stuff. Enjoyable enough.

Quarry’s Ex   Max Alan Collins
Another entertaining novel about the hit man who kills other hit men. This time he is protecting a film director who just happens to be married to his ex-wife. Sex and violence in the usual clean prose. Enjoyable diversion.

Autobiography   John Stuart Mill
Fascinating personal account of the political and social philosopher’s life (1806-1873). I grew to like and respect him more as the narrative progressed, for his incredible intellect, his honesty, and even humility. Even though it took some work to get used to his style, really enjoyed the book.

Quarry’s Choice   Max Alan Collins
Entertaining novel about a hit man sent to the Biloxi strip for a job in the 1970s. Plenty of sex, drugs, and violence in clean, efficient prose. Had a good time.

Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War   James Risen
Risen’s continuation of what he started in State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. Deeply depressing, detailed accounts of specific examples of the utter corruption of the political-economy of the American war on terror since 9/11. A little too journalistic, but well done. Makes me sick.

The Big Seven   Jim Harrison
Deeply entertaining novel about an ex-policeman who gets involved with a criminal family in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Harrison’s usual blend of humor, lust, pain, and thoughtfulness, all described in apparently-unrefined prose that turns out to be beautiful. Loved it.

The Rosie Effect   Graeme Simsion
Disappointing sequel that bogs down in lying and uncomfortable situations rather than the humor and affection that made The Rosie Project so good. The ending was sweet, but it was difficult getting there. Too Bad

How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe   Thomas Cahill
Title is complete misinformation, only very little at the end is about the Irish preservation of classical knowledge. Whole book is about Catholicism and Irish ancient texts. Uninteresting and irritating waste of my time. Hated it.

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage   Haruki Murakami
Novel about a 36-year-old Tokyo man who travels through his past, and to several places, to come to terms with his life, especially something that happened to him 16 years previously. As usual, beautifully written. I really like Murakami. Another good one.

A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing   Lawrence Krauss
Interesting and informative description of how the big bang could occur, and how it created our universe and what it is like. Really interested in Feynman’s explanation of how particles pop into and out of existence. All this stuff is contrary to our limited experience, but it does make sense eventually.

A Walk with Tom Jefferson   Philip Levine
Levine died on February 14, so I re-read this book of his poetry in memoriam. Really enjoyed it again. Very sad he died. His poetry meant a great deal to me, and he had a profound effect on my own work, for example “Triptych – History of the Church.” Very sad for me.

A Selection From the Poems of Giosuè Carducci   Giosuè Carducci
Winner of the 1906 Nobel Prize in Literature. Highly structured poems that feel contorted by Emily Tribe’s valiant attempt to maintain the structure and rhyme in translation. Never really got into any of them. As I’ve said before, Frost was correct. Too bad.

Vanished   Joseph Finder
Fairly entertaining thriller about a security consultant, former Green Beret, who tracks down his missing brother. Surprisingly dull, but first in the Nick Heller series, so I’ll try the second as well, would be nice to find another good series.

Selected Poems   Saint-John Perse
Winner of the 1960 Nobel Prize in Literature. Odd structure of many of the poems that have large sections of prose in them as well, though lyrical. Unfortunately, though the language is beautiful and there are some good images, didn’t really get much from these.

Last Days in Shanghai   Casey Walker
Novel about a congressional aide on a junket with his boss who goes missing. Didn’t like the main character, the pretensions of meaningfulness, and it seemed overwritten. Found the whole thing unconvincing. Too bad.

Far As the Eye Can See   Robert Bausch
Very enjoyable novel about the adventures of a Civil War veteran on the great plains in the 1870s. Liked his character and his struggle adapt to and understand his life there. Liked the first-person narrative style, and the writing in general. Didn’t want it to end.

O the Chimneys: Selected Poems, Including the Verse Play, Eli   Nelly Sachs
Very intelligent and original poems by the winner of the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature. Inventive images, simple language but cosmic ideas. Many chronicle the twentieth-century Jewish experience and the holocaust, which she avoided. Very good.

Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral   Gabriela Mistral
Well crafted poems of female experience, a little self absorbed, but beautiful imagery, even in translation a hint of her Chilean origins, and longing. Won the 1945 Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Damned Yard and Other Stories   Ivo Andric
These stories, by the winner of the 1961 Nobel Prize in Literature, all felt very foreign and dated, to me. Guess that’s why we read comparative literature. Didn’t really like any of them, though, but glad I did it anyway.

Minds, Brains, and Science   John Searle
Intelligent discussion of philosophical problems such as mind-body, whether digital computers can, or ever will be able to, think, and whether human will is free. An interesting suggestion about mind-body, and though he basically punts on whether humans have free will, he characterizes the issue very well. Good book, glad I finally read it.

To Give and To Have and Other Poems   Salvatore Quasimodo
A collection of poems from Quasimodo’s whole career. I don’t know if it was me, but none of these poems seemed that good. They weren’t bad, but they were all kind of ordinary, and a little stiff. Surprising to me that he won the 1959 Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Final Silence   Stuart Neville
Very entertaining, though emotionally difficult, thriller about murders in Belfast. Nicely written, well plotted, and believable. Liked the characters, each of whom has a very difficult personal issue to deal with while trying to solve the case. Very good.

Light And Shadows: Selected Poems and Prose of Juan Ramon Jimenez   Juan Ramon Jimenez
Poems and sections from Jimenez’s well-known Platero and I. I found all the poetry to be simplistic and clumsy; since the translations are by multiple poets, can’t really blame the translation. The prose selections were just simplistic. Too bad. He won the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature.

A Draft of Shadows and Other Poems   Octovio Paz
A collection of Paz’s poetry from much of his career. As he writes at the end of the long title poem:
     “the poem
      is air that sculpts itself and dissolves,”
That was my experience reading them. Won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Sovereign Sun: Selected Poems   Odysseus Elytis
Beautiful poems by the winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Literature. Beautiful imagery, nice rhythm, credit to the translator Kimon Friar. Really enjoyed them, would have been glad I read them even if they weren’t part of my reading project.

Uncaged   John Sandford and Michelle Cook
Fast-paced, entertaining action thriller about teenagers taking on an evil corporation that tortures animals and people. Pretty fun, but for a teen audience. And, it ends right in the middle of the action, sequel isn’t out until October. Like I said, quick and kind of fun.

Why Evolution is True   Jerry A. Coyne
Excellent overview of all the evidence for evolution by natural selection, sexual selection, and genetic drift. Much the same as Dawkins’ book, well-written, completely convincing, good detail and reasoning. Thought the last sections of the last chapter “Evolution Redux”, was kind of lame. Really liked it and learned a lot.

The Selected Poetry of Jaroslav Seifert   Jaroslav Seifert
Collection of poetry and autobiographical writings by the winner of the 1984 Nobel Prize in Literature. Perfect example proving Frost’s statement that poetry is what is lost in translation, the poems, at least in this translation, are clunky and lifeless. Too bad.

Euphoria   Lily King
Beautiful, tragic, sad novel about a love triangle between anthropologists studying primitive tribes in New Guinea in the 1930s. Based on Margaret Mead’s life. Beautiful, light prose, dual points of view, excellent characterizations. Couldn’t put it down. Lovely.

Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors   Nicholas Wade
Fascinating study of what genetics can tell us about human origins. Traces in detail physiological, cultural, linguistic, and social development from the earliest human ancestors to the present. Very well written and organized. Very informative, interesting, and convincing. Loved it.

Friends, You Drank Some Darkness: Three Swedish Poets   Robert Bly, trans. and ed.
Collection of representative poems by Harry Martinson who won the 1974 Nobel Prize for Literature. Enjoyed them. Glad Bly has translated so many Swedish poets, and glad I read them.

Selected Stories   Alice Munro
Long stories that explore in detail the intricacies of the female psyche and heart. Beautiful prose. Good job evoking time and place. Won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature, thus my interest.

The Storm and Other Things   Eugenio Montale
I liked Montale’s Mottetti so much I read this 1956 collection as well. While I agree with Frost that “poetry is what is lost in translation”, I really liked the images and crafting of these poems. I understand why he won a Nobel prize in Literature.

Turing’s Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe   George Dyson
Well-written, well-organized, brilliantly researched intellectual history of the creation of the computing machine produced by John von Neumann’s team at the Institute for Advanced Study in 1948. The last three chapters actually changed the way I see the world. Loved this book, didn’t want it to end.

Mottetti: Poems of Love   Eugenio Montale
Twenty interrelated love poems that together form a whole, written between 1934 and 1939. Beautiful, though sometimes obscure, images and language. Like them a lot. By the 1975 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Introducing Wittgenstein   John Heaton and Judy Groves
Very good, brief introduction to Wittgenstein’s thought, especially the Tractatus and Philosophical Investigations, his two most important works. Well explained. I’ve never been a big fan of Wittgenstein, but he has to be dealt with. Glad for the review.

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street   Herman Melville
Beautifully written novella about a law clerk who “would prefer not to.” In past readings, it was tinged with humor, but this time it just seemed sad, for everyone. Really enjoyed Melville’s exquisite prose.

The Old Man and the Sea (Bloom's Notes)    Harold Bloom editor
Deeply disappointing collection of critical essays about the Hemingway novel. I found Bloom’s introduction particularly self-serving and arrogant. Confirmed my dislike of Bloom personally and intellectually. Only liked Charles Taylor’s essay mentioning Nietzsche, the rest were cynical and mostly pathetic. Too bad.

The Old Man and the Sea   Ernest Hemingway
Really enjoyed re-reading this classic. Hemingway’s prose seemed even more perfect than I remembered. Didn’t see as much triumph of the human spirit this time as the oppressive nature of life, especially for the poor. Really, really good.

Tokyo Kill   Barry Lancet
Entertaining thriller about a detective agency that works in San Francisco and Tokyo. This time Brodie is looking for lost World War II treasure. Pretty good until the end where is kind of dissolves. Not too bad though.

The Grand Design   Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow
Hawking’s overview and explanation of the current cosmological view of the origins and nature of the universe based on M Theory. Read it when it first came out in 2010. Well written and organized. Good review. Glad I re-read it.

The Round and Other Cold Hard Facts   J.M.G. Le Clézio
Read this collection of short stories because Le Clézio won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2008. Stories are dark, fatalistic, and emotionally bleak. They were cold and hard. Didn’t really like any of them. Too bad.

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution   Richard Dawkins
Dawkins’ detailed account of the evidences for evolution by natural selection. He talks about himself too much, and he’s a little condescending, though in a nice way, but the book has good details. Chapter 13, “There is grandeur in this view of life” is an exquisite and beautiful summary of how natural selection works. Glad I read it.

Bridge   Robert Thomas
Beautifully written novel about a woman struggling with mental illness and trying to navigate love, work, and getting past jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Prose is astonishingly beautiful. Really liked it.

Gottlieb Mittelberger's Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750 and Return to Germany in the Year 1754…   Gottlieb Mittelberger
Fascinating first-hand account of Mittelberger’s emigration to America in 1750 and his account of the four years he spent in Pennsylvania. Filled with useful and interesting information about what the colony was like then. Excellent.

Introducing Hegel   Lloyd Spencer and Andrzej Krauze
Brief, general overview of Hegel’s philosophy. Spent too much time on his philosophies of nature, science, religion, and art for me. I was primarily interested in Phenomenology of Mind and Philosophy of History. But a good review. Liked the summary of who was influenced by him as well.

The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism   Andrew J. Bacevich
Bacevich’s history and analysis of the crises facing U.S. governance, foreign policy, and the military, as exemplified by our involvement in the Middle East. Well reasoned, convincing, and really well written. Also, deeply depressing. Continued in a recent article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-bacevich/iraq-assumptions_b_6210920.html.

Deadline   John Sandford
Most recent Virgil Flowers police procedural. This time he’s solving murders, embezzlement, and dog-nappings in Trippton, MN. Entertaining, but not really good until toward the end. Quick, fun read.

Collected Poems   Philip Larkin
Larkin’s published and unpublished poems. Beautiful images and language, all constrained by the omni-present rhyme. My first encounter with him, probably my last as well, though he is a very good poet.

The Odyssey   Homer (Fagles translation)
Re-read this after several decades. Remembered parts of it, but didn’t remember how beautifully written it is. Really enjoyed it. Was moved when Odysseus and Penelope finally reunite. No wonder it has survived for nearly 10,000 years.

Out of the Dark (Du Plus Loin De L'Oubli)   Patrick Modiano
Novel by the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 2014. A writer remembers the brief affair he had with a woman 30 years ago, and his encounter with her fifteen years later. A bit mysterious, interesting, and nicely written.

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer   Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
Excellent biography of Oppenheimer. I’ve been fascinated with him since I was young. Focuses in great detail on the witch hunt to rescind his security clearance during the hysteria of the McCarthy era, as the subtitle indicates. Difficult and infuriating to wade through the extensive excerpts from the transcripts. Very well done and very interesting.

The British Colonies in North America   Peter Benoit
Good, brief introduction and overview of the British colonies up to 1774. Sparse, but useful information. Glad I read it.

The Double   George Pelecanos
Entertaining second installment in the Spero Lucas series. This time Spero cracks a burglary ring to recover a painting. But, of course, it’s not that simple. Pelecanos’ quick, clean prose, sex, and violence. Brutal and, like I said, entertaining.

The Intellectual Life of Colonial New England   Samuel Eliot Morison
Rather than an intellectual history per se, this is Morison’s catalogue of the origins of theology, history, literature, especially verse, and science in 17^th-century New England. A little dry and out of date, but also somewhat profitable.

The Cut   George Pelecanos
Entertaining crime thriller about an Iraq vet who works as an investigator for a lawyer and does work finding things on the side. He takes a percentage (a cut) of what he finds. Hard, realistic, written in quick, clean prose. Enjoyed it.

Sexual Revolution in Early America   Richard Godbeer
Excellent social history of sexual mores in colonial America from the first settlements through the 18^th century. Turns out, there was a lot of independent activity, even among the puritans. Thoroughly researched and well written. Very detailed and informative.

Selected Poems 1934-1952   Dylan Thomas
October 23 was the 100^th anniversary of Thomas’ birth, so I read through this collection. Everybody always says they love Thomas, so I didn’t take him as seriously for awhile, but re-reading these poems confirmed for me that he is really a great poet. Very good.

Not A Drill   Lee Child
Reacher gets involved with some hikers who aren’t really hikers. Prose is back to crisp and clean, but the narrative is pretty thin again. Worth the read, though not the price. Oh well.

Selected Poems   Galway Kinnell
Kinnell died this week, so I wanted to read some more of his poems. This is a very good early selection. “The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ into the New World” is an excellent example of his skill. I really enjoyed these poems. Much better than I remembered.

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World Steven Johnson
Another very informative and interesting book by Johnson. The title is an accurate description. As usual, learned a lot about Victorian London, the history of the specific instance, and the development of science. Really enjoyed it, very profitable.

Personal   Lee Child
I’ve read all of Child’s Reacher books, and, unfortunately, this is my least favorite. The crisp, clean prose and quick action that have made all the others so entertaining are absent here. Use of the first person narrative serves only to wash out all the other characters, as well. Too bad. Disappointing.

A Woman Alone & Other Plays   Dario Fo
Plays and stories by the 1997 Nobel Prize winner. Really enjoyed the left political point-of-view, especially the “Tales of the Resistance” and “More Stories”. Wish I had encountered him earlier. Very good.

Kaddish for a Child Not Born   Imre Kertész
Powerful novel about a writer recounting his struggles to be able to live emotionally after surviving Auschwitz. Very well written and translated in a sort of stream-of-consciousness. By the 2002 Nobel Prize winner.

The Invention of Air: A Story Of Science, Faith, Revolution, And The Birth Of America   Steven Johnson
Interesting and informative history of Joseph Priestley’s influence in chemistry, religion, and politics, especially among the founders of the United States. Very well written. Especially interesting sidebars on the nature of intellectual progress and new paradigms. Really liked it.

Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think   Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier
Disappointing discussion of the growing influence of the “science” of big data. Distressing that it was not about knowledge and understanding, but about statistics with applications for and about business only. Deeply concerned by their promotion of “inexactitude” and the rule of statistical analysis.

It Can’t Happen Here   Sinclair Lewis
Engaging novel about the ascendance and implementation of a totalitarian government in the United States in 1936. Unfortunately, plausible for now as well. Lewis won the Nobel Prize in 1930.

The City Under the Skin   Geoff Nicholson
Entertaining and off-beat novel about women who are being randomly grabbed, tattooed, and then let go. The mystery brings together an ex-con trying to go straight, a cartographer, and one of the women. Nice prose and a good story, though kind of a weak ending. Enjoyed it.

The Hunting Gun   Inoue Yasushi
1947 Japanese novel that consists of three letters written to a man by three women he loves who are, in different ways, abandoning him. Emotionally bleak.

The Liar’s Wife   Mary Gordon
Four well accomplished novellas. For some reason, they didn’t have the power for me of Spending and her other collections of exquisite novellas, but very good. Liked Fine Art the best.

One Summer: America, 1927   Bill Bryson
Entertaining popular history of the many interesting events that occurred in the summer of 1927 in the U.S., such as Lindbergh’s flight, the Yankee’s, a notorious murder case and others. Worth it, but not profound.

The Golden Boat: Selected Poems   Rabindranath Tagore
A much better selection of Tagore’s poetry, in a translation by an actual poet. His 1913 Nobel Prize makes a lot more sense reading these, accomplished, sometimes almost formalist, poems.

The Half-Finished Heaven: The Best Poems of Tomas Tranströmer   Tomas Tranströmer
A collection of the 2011 Nobel Prize winner’s poems. Quite good, but I agree with Robert Frost that poetry is what is lost in translation. Glad the prize awards poets. Enjoyed this overview of his work.

On the Shores of Eternity   Rabindranath Tagore
The subtitle says “Poems from Tagore on Immortality and Beyond.” Didn’t like any of them, even found the wish for death expressed in many of them to be obscene and offensive. Read them because he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

The Great Gatsby   F. Scott Fitzgerald
Embarrassed to say, I hadn’t read this book until now. All the high school book reports and movies made me well acquainted with the plot, but I was unprepared for the beauty of Fitzgerald’s prose and the insights into American society. Very good.

The Sixth Extinction   Elizabeth Kolbert
Informative, disturbing, and fascinating description of the anthropocene era where humans are driving pretty much every species extinct, including themselves. Engagingly written, though a little less personal journalism would have helped. Great information.

Night Heron   Adam Brookes
Engaging spy thriller about a Chinese prisoner who re-activates his spying for Britain and the journalist who gets caught in it. Well written, interesting characters, thrilling escapes. All the good stuff except sex. well done. Really enjoyed it.

World of Trouble   Ben H. Winters
Final volume of the Last Policeman trilogy. As the end of the world gets very close, Henry searches for his sister Nico. Horrifying, sad, and pitch perfect. Incredibly inventive and accomplished. Really enjoyed these three books.

To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918   Adam Hochschild
Fascinating, beautifully-written history of Britain’s involvement in World War I coupled with those who dissented against it. Outstanding history of an enormous tragedy. Deeply moving. Really, really good.

Shovel Ready   Adam Sternbergh
Spademan is a hit man in a near-future New York that has been spoiled by a dirty bomb. Writing is hip and quick, the narrative unravels a little toward the end, but everything works out OK. And that’s how the book was, OK.

Rough Country   John Sandford
Another entertaining Virgil Flowers novel about a series of murders up in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Lesbians, country music, some good dialogue, with interesting characters and a quick narrative pulse all add up to a lot of fun.

Heat Lightning   John Sandford
A series of professional executions puts Virgil Flowers on the trail of Vietnamese revenge killers. Good action, the usual humor and cynicism, good prose, good characters make an entertaining thriller. Lots of fun.

Dark of the Moon   John Sandford
Another entertaining Virgil Flowers novel. Chronologically, this is the first, about a series of murders in a tiny town in southwestern Minnesota. Good writing, believable characters, and plenty of action. Quick, distracting fun.

The Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I   Barbara W. Tuchman
Brilliant, beautifully written history of the first month of World War I, the month that determined everything that followed. Thought it appropriate since this is the 100^th anniversary. Deeply sad.

Orfeo   Richard Powers
Stunningly beautiful novel chronicling the life of a contemporary composer who at 70 is suspected of bio-terrorism. Highly intelligent, insightful, and beautifully written. Powers’ mind is incredible.

Mad River   John Sandford
Enjoyable and bleak Virgil Flowers novel about a killing spree in Southeastern Minnesota. Complicated plot, the usual good writing, and moral dilemmas and outrage. Nicely entertaining.

Shock Wave   John Sandford
Virgil Flowers novel about bombings of a megastore site in rural Minnesota. The usual good writing, some interesting characters, and a few twists toward the end. A satisfying and entertaining diversion.

Bad Blood   John Sandford
Very entertaining Virgil Flowers novel about a religious sex ring in rural Minnesota. Excellent police procedural, intense action, humor, and a believable narrative. Really fun.

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America   Erik Larson
True crime book about the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition and the serial killer in Chicago at the same time. Fascinating history of the fair and the many things that developed from it. Not nearly as interested in the speculative serial killer sections. In general, good.

Storm Prey   John Sandford
This novel reminded me why I stopped reading these prey books a long time ago. I don’t really like Davenport, found the criminals to be caricatures, and a few too many thriller clichés. Glad it didn’t take too long. Now I’m really done.

Countdown City   Ben H. Winters
Sequel to The Last Policeman. As the countdown to the end of the world continues, Henry tries to find the missing husband of his old babysitter. Well written, good characters, and very entertaining. A little quirkier this time. Still, couldn’t put it down.

The Last Policeman   Ben Winters
Very entertaining mystery novel about a policeman trying to solve a murder with only six months until an asteroid crashes into the earth. Really well written, great characters, plenty of twists, and a satisfying ending. Couldn’t put it down.

Descartes’ Loneliness   Allen Grossman
More beautiful poems about mind in the world, and the fundamental loneliness of thinking and human existence. Really liked them. Wish I could write poetry this good.

The Bright Nails Scattered on the Ground: Love Poems   Allen Grossman
Beautiful, intellectual poems about a man and woman in an unsanctioned love. Mythic, cosmic, symbolic. Wish I had discovered Grossman sooner. Very good.

Storm Front   John Sandford
Complicated, deeply entertaining and satisfying novel set in Mankato about a BCA agent who gets caught up in international smuggling. Pretty good characters, swift prose, and an engaging, and mostly convincing, plot. Good enough to be plenty of fun.

The Salinger Contract   Adam Langer
Entertaining, though implausible, thriller about a writer hired to write a novel that only one person will ever read. Some interesting twists, and good practical moral ambiguity in the characters. And, as would, no doubt, be the case, no really happy ending. Beautiful prose which is what kept me going.

The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II   Iris Chang
A good history of the massacre that occurred in Nanking in December 1937 when the Japanese took the city. Unfortunately, not really a balanced account. Chang’s writing uses too many adjectives instead of letting the innate horror of the action speak for themselves. Also, she talks too much about herself, and writes as if raping a woman is far worse than torturing and mutilating a man. The basic information, especially about the subsequent cover-up, is good. Too bad her intentionally inflammatory language, and her obvious personal dislike of the Japanese, taints the work.

Work Done for Hire   Joe Haldeman
Entertaining thriller about a former military sniper who is recruited to kill someone after he has been back from the war and is a successful writer. Good until the clumsy, rushed ending. But a quick read.

Mortality   Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens’ last book written while he was dying of cancer of the esophagus. Everything in it that I loved about his other work, insight, humor, and stiletto-sharp reason. Sad but really good.

The Rosie Project   Graeme Simsion
Absolutely delightful comic novel about a genetics professor with Asperger’s who creates a scientific project to find a woman with whom he is compatible. Laughed out loud, and wasn’t even disappointed with the clumsy, predictable ending. Couldn’t put it down, read the whole thing in one sitting.

Peeling the Onion   Günter Grass
Grass’ moving, honest, guilt-ridden, and literary memoir of his war and post-war years up to the publication of The Tin Drum. I wish he had kept going, but it is nearly perfect as it is. Really liked it.

Decoded   Mai Jia
Jia’s novel about a math genius who works as a cryptographer for Chinese intelligence. Like a dog repeatedly circling a spot before it lies down, Jia doesn’t get to the plot for the first 300 pages. Nice prose translation, but tedious and full of what seems to me extraneous information. Kind of a waste for me.

George Lukács   George Lichtheim
Excellent overview of the thought and works of the 20^th-century Marxist aesthetician who was such a strong influence on the Frankfurt School and critical theory. Well written, succinct, and very informative.

The Lecturer’s Tale   James Hynes
Delightful, bizarre, imaginative send up of the machinations in an English department at a major university. Strange, interesting characters, a little fantasy and horror, and a lot of fun in a moral tale based on 18^th-century literature. Couldn’t put it down.

The Intellectual Construction of America: Exceptionalism and Identity From 1492 to 1800   Jack P. Greene
Excellent history of how the American colonies were viewed and portrayed during this period, especially the British colonies of North America. Lots of good information, especially about the first half of the 18^th century. Not so interested in the concept of American exceptionalism, at least how it’s used in the 21^st century. Well worth it.

Why Read Moby-Dick?   Nathaniel Philbrick
Engaging and insightful analysis of the greatness of Melville’s classic. Well-written with good examples and extensive reference to the text, full of good critical information. Brief, but very useful.

Brown Dog   Jim Harrison
Finally a collection of the five previous Brown Dog novellas and a sixth. All of them are exquisite. B. D. is a wonderful character, Harrison’s prose is captivating, as always, and B. D.’s escapades and worldview are delightful. Couldn’t put it down. Hope there are more.

Books   Larry McMurtry
Disappointingly dull memoir of McMurtry’s nearly life-long experiences as a bookseller. I love books and bookstores, but I still got bored. The colloquial prose was fine, but his method, and what he talks, about were surprisingly uninteresting. Too bad.

Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life   Robert B. Reich
Reich’s thesis that democratic capitalism, the thing that made America great, has become super capitalism, that is unmaking America. He claims that the separation between capitalism and political democracy has broken down, and democracy is being destroyed by uncontrolled capitalism. No kidding. Well written, good historical background, but I was a little uncomfortable with how much he likes business. Not bad.

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern   Stephen Greenblatt
Deeply enjoyable and informative intellectual history of the re-discovery of Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things and its influence on western culture. Very well written and researched. Really enjoyed it.

The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code Margalit Fox
Enjoyable, well-written, and informative intellectual history of the process of deciphering the linear class B script used by the Mycenaean civilization in ancient Greece and Crete. Really enjoyed it, but sad that Alice Kober died so young.

Hop Alley   Scott Phillips
A sequel of sorts, this novel is Bill Ogden’s further adventures in the 1870s, now in Colorado working full-time as a photographer. Nicely written and engaging storytelling. I’m really going to miss Bill.

The Barbarous Years: The Peopling of British North America--The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675   Bernard Bailyn
Stupendously informative history of the social, religious, political, and even personal construction of the British colonies on the eastern shores of North America. Everything about the struggle to create and sustain them was unbelievably brutal and savage, from external and internal forces. Beautifully written so the incredible detail never becomes burdensome. Excellent.

Cottonwood   Scott Phillips
Interesting, well-written novel about the infamous Bender murders in late 19^th-century Kansas. Bawdy, brutal, and at times touching. Liked the characters, especially the narration of the Bill Ogden character. Really enjoyed it.

Devils in Exile   Chuck Hogan
Entertaining thriller about Iraq war vets who rob drug dealers, destroy the drugs and keep the money. Of course, there’s more going to it under the surface, and everything is complicated by love. Fun, quick read.

The Cairo Affair   Olen Steinhauer
Novel about the Arab spring in Libya and Egypt form the CIA point-of-view. I’ve really liked all of Steinhauer’s other books, even the early eastern Europe cop novels, and especially the Milo Weaver series. But I grew weary of the betrayals, infidelities, and, I guess, the characters, in general, of this one.

The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution   David Quammen
Lovely, well-written intellectual history on Darwin’s development of the idea of natural selection. Begins with Darwin’s return from the Beagle voyage and goes to his death. It is indeed intimate and very engaging and informative. Really, really liked it.