[cont&#x27;d]<p>Michael Frayn, Democracy. A compulsively readable play about an episode in the politics of West Germany in the 1970s, a subject I didn&#x27;t know could be made so interesting to me. Superb.<p>Michael Flynn, Eifelheim. Excellent and profound SF&#x2F;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.<p>Ross Thomas, The Cold War Swap, Cast a Yellow Shadow, Chinaman&#x27;s Chance. Very well-written thrillers, typically stories about spying or political corruption. I&#x27;m usually bored by this genre, couldn&#x27;t put these down. Will read more by this (hitherto unknown to me) author.<p>Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wizard of Earthsea. (reread) Still as good as I remembered it to be.<p>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.<p>Robert Ryan, Dead Man&#x27;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.<p>Michael Frayn, Noises Off. A funny short play, very meta, not as good as his &quot;Democracy&quot;.<p>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&#x27;s unsurpassed masterpiece, to me, is still The Sandman.<p>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&#x27;s lots of high technology (e.g. genetics) otherwise. Funny and amusing, a light read.<p>[edit: deleted about 20 books I didn&#x27;t like or hated]