Prince of Fire, Daniel Silva

I'm not a Silva fan and the plot is very tired (Israeli master spy chasing Palestinian master spy), but some of the viewpoints about the Arab/Israeli conflict are interesting, more so for being expressed in a crime novel.

Bittersweet, Nevada Barr

Some are born lesbians; some are called.  A comanion piece to Brokeback Mountain.  Starts as a sage, finishes as a Maupassant short story.  Well written, not so well edited.

Sizzlin Sixteen, Janet Evanovich

Vinnie is kidnapped.  Not her best, but I wasn't at my best, either.

A Dying Light in Corduba, Lindsey Davis

Falco in Spain among the oil producers.  Bet there are a lot of uses of olive oil you didn't know about, including delivering babies.

The Boat of a Million Years, Poul Anderson

Linked short stories on immortals.  Could have been shorter.

A Perfect Execution, Tim Binding

Who'd have the executing people could be boring?

The Triumph: A Novel, John Kenneth Galbraith

Fashionable writing for the sixties.  If you missed them, read it now.

Monsier, Lawrence Durrell

The Alexandria Quartet may be the last Durrell I'll ever read.  This is TAQ in Avignon.

Bad Chili / Rumble Tumble, Joe R Lansdale

Funny crime series about two Texas friends: 1 straight and white; 1 black and gay.  Recommended.

Anna Pigeon (Series), Nevada Barr

All the rest of them.  This is a fine series, set in the U.S. National Parks.  Entertaining, well-written and educational.  What more could you want?

Time to Depart, Lindsey Davis

Another Falco. Criminal mafia in Rome.

When You are Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris

Sedaris gives up smoking and other stories.

Emil and Karl, Yankev Glatshteyn (Yid., Jeffrey Shandler, Translator)

Two children, one Jewish, one the son of Socialists, losetheir parents in 1940 Vienna.  A  picture of Austria at the beginning of the war that I can't decide if compelling or not. Meant for children.

Emil and Karl

Two children, one Jewish, one the son of Socialists, losetheir parents in 1940 Vienna.  A  picture of Austria at the beginning of the war that I can't decide if compelling or not. Meant for children.

Murder on the Waterfront, Michael Jahn

I waited a long time to find something in this series, but I'm not into celebrity politicians, grumpiness or the high-life.

Bitter Lemons of Cyprus, Lawrence Durrell

Four pages in and I was metaphored for life.

The Art of Being Belgian, Richard Hill

Easy read and good key to Belgium.  The only drawback is Hill assumes some knowledge on the part of his readers that they probably don't have or they wouldn't be reading this.

The Woman in the Fifth, Douglas Kennedy

 Harry Ricks loses everything, escapes to Paris & meets the secretive Margit.  Like all Douglas Kennedy, this is unputdownable, but I found the denouement less satisfying than his other books 

Forty Words for Sorrow, Giles Blunt

Well-written tale of serial killings in frozen Canadian North chased by Catholic guilt-ridden detective and his Francophone partner. Description of torture devices not too overdone.

Stone Cold by David Baldacci

Another Camel Club outing.  Annabelle is still being sought by the gambler she conned out of $40 million; Oliver is being sought by the CIA and the son of a former CIA killer/colleague.  Plots are all over themselves and *exciting*.  Unputdownable.

Blood Lure by Nevada Barr

Anna Pigeon tracks grizzlies and a murderer in Glacier National Park.  Entertaining as always, but Barr seems to have developped a taste for the passive verb.

Address Unknown by Kressman Taylor

A short story printed as a book, I would suggest that Address Unknown redeems the short story, except that it was written in 1938 when short stories still had form.  Written as an exchange of letters, it follows the rise of Hitler with a twist in the tale.  Most satisfying.

Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada

Also known as Everyone Dies Alone.  Life in wartime Berlin among the ordinary, the minor crooks, the Gestapo and an old couple who resist by leaving messages on postcards throughout the city.  Even tone makes sudden violence the more shocking.  (I read this in French.)

Eleanor of Aquitaine, Alison Weir

We are warned in the preface that much speculation is involved in trying to write a biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine.  Stlll, I think a historian should know that the Langue d'Oc is a language and not a dialect of French (she spent a few paragraphs on this) and that the Langue d'Oeil is French.  Also, I think a historian should have been able to find out that a cythara actually is a lute, not maybe a lute.  And this was only Chapter 1.

Not having a lot of faith in Weir's abilities as an historian or researcher, I gave it up.

The Brass Verdict, Michael Connelly

Excellent story, as all of Connelly's books are, but the presence of both Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer) and Harry Bosch was contrived and didn't do justice to Bosch.

13 1/2 by Nevada Barr

No Anna Pigeon, no National Parks. Just fine writing, suspense, and twists and turns that always keeps you guessing.

Azincourt, Bernard Cornwell

The story is exciting in spite of Cornwell's repetitiveness, and the battles of Soissons, Harfleur and Azincourt are faithfully told.  This even gets a "history" tag as well as historical fiction.

Prizzi's Honor, Richard Condon

Before the Sopranos and the Corleones, there were the Prizzis.  In this world, Condon treats the Prizzis as normal and reserves his ire for the politicians and other powers that be.  In this one, the Prizzis turn "respectable."  Very funny.

A Special Relationship, Douglas Kennedy

My new surgeon recommended Kennedy and this is my second: absolutely unputdownable.  American foreign correspondent marries British FC in Egypt, gets pregnant, suffers the all-time worst post-partum depression in history and winds up, friendless, in court.  Kennedy writes in the first person as a woman.  Masterful (mistressful?) job.

It's not 25 words.  I'll practice.

I'm Back

I miss my little reviews.  Not to mention that I forget what I read so quickly.  So here we go, again -- but no numbering!