Fresh Kills, by Reggie Nadelson

This was a very dark book.

The Wheel of Darkness, by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

This is like an old pulp mystery set in the Orient, but modernized. It doesn't, though, talk down to its readers. Not with a vocabulary in which a main character describes herself as a pedant and obscurantist, or which uses words like punctilious without seeming ostentatious.

Heartsick, by Chelsea Cain

This was an unusually difficult novel to read. It felt voyeuristic, as though I was peeking into the pain of the hero; it made me uncomfortable. But not so much so that I didn't finish the book.

Caesar: Life of a Colossus, by Adrian Goldsworthy

When I bought this book, it seemed really interesting. Only after I began reading it did I realize that 519 pages on Julius Caesar is probably about 419 pages more than I ever needed to know about him.

Still, I stuck with it because the writing is good and was able to (just barely) keep my interest. I'd been reading it off and on for quite a while.

(If you've followed this blog, you may have realized while my reading taste is sometimes rather eclectic, I generally avoid history. So why did I pick this book in the first place? Who knows!)

As further evidence that I'm a philistine (as if you need proof that I am an uncultured boor), here's what made the biggest impression on my from this book: the phrase metrosexual is said to derive from Mark Simpson's writing in 1994. Consider instead that in 88 BCE the Roman dictator Sulla was associated with "the actor Metrobius, who specialized in playing female roles on stage..." Metrobius as the original metrosexual? Hmmmm.

So, do I recommend this book? If you're the sort who likes to read about history and historic figures, then absolutely. If you prefer light-hearted murder mysteries, and believe anything more complex than a Robert B. Parker plot is overly convoluted, then avoid this one like the plague.

2nd Chance, by James Patterson

Well, once you're into a series, might as well keep going.

1st to Die, by James Patterson

Solid plot in a murder mystery that introduces the "women's murder club" (a recent TV series). Fast read too.

The Quiet Girl, by Peter Hoeg

About one-quarter through this book I wondered, would it make more sense in the original Danish? Yet I kept reading, pulled into the story, odd as it was. I'm glad I did so.

Watchman, by Ian Rankin

A well-written, quirky, somewhat dated, British spy novel. Enjoyable.

Blasphemy, by Douglas Preston

This was a fun read. The idea is that a team builds a particle accelerator on Native American land (with their permission). They seek to smash atoms at high speed, nearly the speed of light.

As they do so, they seem to be communicating with God.

Are they really? Is it a plot for a latter-day L. Ron Hubbard to start yet another religion?

Preston bashes the heck out of fundamentalists. BTW, there was one major error of fact (sort of): towards the end, Preston notes it is the first time that God has spoken to mankind. Old Testament readers would disagree.

When you ride alone you still ride with bin laden, by Bill Maher

I agree with 99% of what Maher writes. As a consequence, I found this book rather depressing. But accurate.