Reader’s Diary

David Meyer

This is a pleasant little book about books from a collector and publisher.

John Baxter

This is an engaging, somewhat random memoir about book collecting from someone who knows books, knows some interesting people, and knows how to tell a story.  The highlights are his tales of pre-Internet science fiction fandom, obsessive Graham Greene collecting, and scruffy book scouts.

Brad Meltzer

Two brothers who try and use a legal technicality and some hacker tricks to steal “only” three  million dollars are surprised to find that they’ve stolen $300 million and have gotten into more trouble than they had ever dreamed existed.  “The Millionaires” is a page-turner, but not very substantial.

Robert Ward

This is a travel book with hefty servings of history.  It’s about Marian pilgrimages and is written by a non-believer who nevertheless volunteers at Lourdes.  A good part of it is about various shrines to the Blessed Virgin found along Spain’s Camino de Santiago.  The book is strikingly respectful of and uncommonly accurate about Catholic belief and practice.

John le Carré

Tiger Single is a bent lawyer, Oliver Single his son and legal partner.  When Oliver discovers the firm’s real business  – providing legal services and money laundering for Russian criminals -  he betrays his father to the authorities.  When the Russians believe Tiger has betrayed them he disappears and Oliver ends up trying to find him for the authorities and for his own protection.

This is shorter than le Carré’s more famous novels, but written in the same maddening and captivating oblique style.  I’d have to call it a lesser le Carré, but a lesser le Carré is still a very good book.

Dan Fesperman

A modern American academic delving into the secrets of the past sounds like a formula for more Dan Brownish tripe, but “The Arms Maker of Berlin” is an intelligent thriller that is more akin to Le Carre than to Brown.  Fepserman’s hero, a college history professor, follows a cryptic trail laid by his mentor, sometimes rival, and former OSS agent.  His opponent is a German industrialist who has a shameful secret from World War II.   The book has an interesting plot that avoids most of the cliches of the genre, interesting characters, and a more adult style than many recent thrillers.