Wrapped inside the story of the great fire in 1986 at the Los Angeles Central Library, this book is a sweet ode to libraries and librarians. It is candy for book lovers and library denizens, and a particularly pleasing, and familiar, family portrait for those of us lucky enough to have been working librarians.

Great dialogue, flawless plotting , making the difficult appear easy; a wonderful example of great skill and humor: that is just what you expect from Ed McBain. A Christmas-winter theme provides the atmosphere that limns each of his novels.

The Deaf Man is back, and detective Steve Carella is determined to knock him out, though the best he's done to date is fight him to a draw. Pure pleasure in plotting and characterization, as always with the 87th Precinct novels.

Typically superb reporting by Woodward. The book gives a more rounded and human view of Trump than you can get in the media (left or right) or certainly on social media. Not only insights into how the White House works, but the book contains fascinating accounts of how staffers and politicians, whatever their motives, backgrounds, or political beliefs, had to constantly act, react, and adjust to the mercurial (read unbalanced) president. They stepped through the looking glass from the White House to the madhouse.

A continuation of Woodward's exceptional reporting from inside the Trump White House (in "Fear"), this is a detailed explication of the administration's activities through the summer of 2020, regarding North Korea, racial polarization, the handling of the pandemic, and more. The portrait of Trump demonstrates his strengths and his weaknesses, his terrible cynicism, and the inevitable, relentless devolution of the government to align with his big ego (or small ego, depending how you view it). Interesting is the portrait of the reptilian Lindsey Graham, a shape-shifter of Dickensian stature who is a master technician of the American bottom-feeding politics.

This one is so well-plotted, with interweaving threads that are not at all obvious until you're well into it. And for someone (like me) old enough to remember when terms like "male chauvinist pig" (or as the child in the story hears it, "male show business pig") had real bite, this is a nice time-capsule for the mid-seventies sensibilities. The Fat Ollie character is worth the price of admission.

McBain is in full stride in this psychological thriller. Forget that the "real killer" is pretty easy to spot. The path to the end is so well-wrought, and there is real tension until the inevitable reveal. Although it is a thriller, and very much an 87th Precinct piece, with all the usual wonderful cop and detective banter and humor that makes this series so endearing, there are moments of really good writing that are the work of a mature novelist whose story-telling chops and brilliance of execution are on full display.

The second 87th Precinct novel in a row that a) is more thriller than police procedural; b) features deep mental illness in an antagonist who; c) focuses on cutting, here with a scalpel rather than a knife, and; d) prominently features Fat Ollie Weeks -- a wonderfully entertaining character, typical of the 1970's tenancy toward antiheroes, although thankfully he's presented through humor rather than brooding. Since I'm reading them all in order I'm interested to see whether this thriller thing continues, but McBain does it very well, cranking up the tension to the very end. That's a good thing here, because the plot is a bit far-fetched, although what was in the '70's a pretty thrilling and probably unusual plot, it's now a thriller trope --the intelligent obsessive deranged killer -- that you can see on television every night of the week. So, with this novel and his Deaf Man books, McBain once again breaks ground for his successors.

Rick Atkinson is a unique and valuable chronicler of American war. His Liberation Trilogy, covering America's military contributions to the western theater of World War II, was a fresh, landmark contribution to the historical record of that well-chronicled saga. This, the first installment of the Revolution Trilogy, brings the same meticulous research, elegant storytelling, and as in the Liberation Trilogy, a wealth of fresh sources that bring to life the players, from George III and George Washington to the rebel militiamen--largely farmers and tradesmen--and the British regulars--a peacetime army who found themselves transformed from occupation forces to war fighters on foreign soil. The period covered in this volume brings to life the wealth and grandeur of the British Empirical might, arrayed against the improvisational, fervent fire of the insurrectionists; detailing the mistakes, the defeats, and the triumphs of war, as well as the personal stories of loneliness, exposure, brutality, and raw bravery all the soldiers; a worthy contribution to the stories of our history.

If there is a sun that illuminates the police procedural, there is nothing new under it, because Ed McBain has already done it. This one, a highly entertaining post-Vietnam War puzzler, explores the psychology of wartime PTSD, manifested in dreams, memories, and in this case, murder and revenge. Every television cop show from Dragnet to The Sopranos to the one that I saw just a week ago (and can't remember what it is; such is age) bears a direct lineage to this simple yet compelling plot. Along the way is a wry exploration of "sex and the married man" featuring detective Carella. Then there's Stanley, the fiercely loyal seeing-eye Labrador retriever, who may just show up in future books.

McBain continues in the thriller vein with this exploration of madness in connection with what appears to be a "standard" urban murder case. Can't say much without spoiling the plot, which climaxes in s shocker for all involved. Even in this wild ride, the characterizations are sharp, and he makes his points about the haves and have nots.

This is McBain's British mystery moment, with famous authors, psychics, and as the title suggests...you know whats. It's fun, and in a departure for this series, almost totally focused on Detective Carella--more a Carella novel than an 87th Precinct play. Good plotting as usual, with a satisfying wind-up.

Very British, very postbellum (World War I) novel by a master novelist; full of non-pc attitudes about and descriptions of women, non-whites, non-Brits; but a wonderful novelization of the life of a Paul Gaugin doppelgänger. Incidentally, there is a short academic piece here: https://tinyurl.com/y8ue7zjx positing an interesting explanation of the enigmatic final paragraph of the novel, as well as its otherwise unexplained title.

N.K. Jemisin can really imagine and can really write. Her worldview and her voice are formidable. Just read this long short story/novella and enjoy classic, great science fiction.

Ron Chernow may be the greatest historical biographer writing today, this side of Robert Caro. Recent Washington biographies of GW have inched their way toward bringing him back from iconism to humanity, and this one completes the job. It does a fantastic job of showing how a man can become iconic--and deservedly--while still evincing the foibles we all share. Amid the Life is a satisfying recounting of the birth of our nation, ushered in by an amazing group of statesmen and soldiers made great in no small part by the times, and by the roles thrust upon them. This story also fully limns the tale of Washington as an English gentlemen cum Southern plantation slaveowner, including the economic, social, and personal pressures of that role. A rich and full biography, beautifully wrought.

The proof that there are other dimensions and abilities that transcend those of the normal person, is the fact that Stephen King has for all these years created such fantastic adventures into the places the rest of us only dream about.

Thank you, as always, Mr. King, for this latest entry. I gobbled it up as always I do, and I can't wait for the next helping.

I'm a horror movie fan, and Boris Karloff has always been one of my greatest cinematic heroes. But if you haven't read this book, then you have no idea what Frankenstein is really about. Despite its very 19th century English style, it is an adventure story that moves, and at the same time it poses moral and ethical dilemmas that are as relevant today as when the book was written. There's a reason this one is a classic.
And the great Simon Vance narration is wonderful as always.

A sweet reunion of all of the Expanse core characters. After all of these books, the series just keeps getting better and deeper.

What a pleasure to be reunited with all of the wonderful characters of the George Smiley series. Whenever this grandmaster writes about spies, somehow you feel that he's just writing about all of us.

What can you say? It's a great all-time science-fiction story. And if you've seen the movies, The Thing From Another World (1951), and/or The Thing (1982 and/or 2011), then all the better.

When John le Carre is not writing the best spy novels of all time, he finds a place and an outrage in the world of which most of us are blissfully unaware, and tosses into it an idealistic and imperfect soul or two just trying to be good people. In this case, the place and the outrage are the Congo and the forces of world Capitalism; and the innocents a pair of lovers who are trying to influence the struggle between them. And in the tradition of le Carre and Graham Greene and the great British spy novelists, guess who wins.

My Dad and I went to Washington Senators games until the day they left town for Texas in 1971. One day I found this book on my dad's bookshelf in the TV room. I knew the musical Damn Yankees, having seen the movie and endlessly listened to the Broadway soundtrack album. But I had no idea the musical was based on a book. Revelation. Sat down and read it. Loved it. I offer this entry in memory of baseball days with Dad, and in honor of the Washington Nationals, who ended a 95 years championship drought this season. I may be older than Joe Boyd, but I was as happy the day the Nats won the Series as old Joe was the day he helped the Senators finally beat the Damn Yankees.

Loved this book at the time, but as a kid fan was shocked by its bluntness.

A great, classic escapist adventure melodrama.

This is one of those life-changing books to me, a near perfect execution of history fictionalized. Like Vidal's "Lincoln," that this book gave me the gift of coming to know the people behind the names I known since I was an elementary school Civil War buff, particularly Lee and Longstreet. Heartbreakingly real.Note: I discovered this book when someone at National Geographic gave me a copy of the US Army's reading list for officers. It was at the top of the list.

Immensely satisfying conclusion to a unique crime trilogy; for those of us who are not Scots but feel a connection to the place, these books limn out the mindset of the working Glaswegian with grit, compassion, and great humor. Maureen O'Donnell and her crew are wonderful characters to know.

Fascinating account of the rise of the imperial presidency and the security state as a function of the development of the atomic bomb. A warning to all who feel that a change in administrations means a change in the balance of power.

Wonderful first novel, great characterizations, humor and a refreshing new heroine.

One of his best in a long time. A good old-fashioned multi-character yarn, as big as The Stand, more mature, with a sustained fast paced and nice characterizations.

Wonderful, compassionate biography of a larger than life character who was a real man.