[cont'd] Michael Frayn, Democracy. A compulsively readable play about an episode in the politics of West Germany in the 1970s, a subject I didn't know could be

[cont'd] Michael Frayn, Democracy. A compulsively readable play about an episode in the politics of West Germany in the 1970s, a subject I didn't know could be made so interesting to me. Superb. Michael Flynn, Eifelheim. Excellent and profound SF/historical novel about aliens crashing in the Germany of the Middle Ages, and how that would work out. Avoids cheap tricks, very strong on historical research and verisimilitude. Ross Thomas, The Cold War Swap, Cast a Yellow Shadow, Chinaman's Chance. Very well-written thrillers, typically stories about spying or political corruption. I'm usually bored by this genre, couldn't put these down. Will read more by this (hitherto unknown to me) author. Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wizard of Earthsea. (reread) Still as good as I remembered it to be. P.K.Dick, The Man in the High Castle. (reread) Very inventive and weird in a good way, but I wish the characters would be a little different (everyone is the same highly neurotic mouthpiece for the author), and the obsession with I Ching does nothing for me. Still worth reading. Robert Ryan, Dead Man's Land. A Sherlock Holmes novel in which 90% of the action is with John Watson rejoining the Army to help in World War I at his late middle age, and Holmes appears only briefly. Works quite well. Very detailed on day-to-day trench warfare and medicine at the front. Michael Frayn, Noises Off. A funny short play, very meta, not as good as his "Democracy". Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Better than his two long novels of the 2000s. A self-contained fairy tale, fun to read and well-written, but not beyond that. Gaiman's unsurpassed masterpiece, to me, is still The Sandman. Michael Swansick, Chasing the Phoenix. SF, set on a future Earth where computers and electronic communication are outlawed following problems with runaway AIs, but there's lots of high technology (e.g. genetics) otherwise. Funny and amusing, a light read. [edit: deleted about 20 books I didn't like or hated]