FASCINATING HISTORY of early forensic medicine is a compendium of great true crime with a science-y twist. SOLID A

THE POISONER’S HANDBOOK: MURDER AND THE BIRTH OF FORENSIC MEDICINE IN JAZZ AGE NEW YORK
Penguin Group (USA)
2010

POETIC MEMOIR by the great writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o about childhood during Kenya’s struggle for independence. SOLID A

DREAMS IN A TIME OF WAR: A CHILDHOOD MEMOIR
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
2010

WITTY, ROLLICKING SPACE OPERA is a deftly done comic extravaganza a la HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. Fun! SOLID A

THE SHERIFF OF YRNAMEER
Pantheon Books
2009

PYNCHON’S BACK, with a magnificent, vivid mix of noir detective tale and surf hippie ramblings. Just amazing! SOLID A

INHERENT VICE
Penguin Press
2009

BRIEF, ELOQUENT, REMARKABLE memoir by 91-year-old UK publishing legend Diana Athill. Run, do not walk, to get it! SOLID A

SOMEWHERE TOWARDS THE END: A MEMOIR
Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
2009

FUNNY, CLEVER, IRREVERENT, this third private-eye family comedy in Lisa Lutz’s magnificent Spellman series rocks. SOLID A

REVENGE OF THE SPELLMANS
Simon & Schuster
2009

ASTONISHING, TOUCHING, HILARIOUS novel about a multicultural neighborhood in Rome shines in luminous translation. SOLID A

CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS OVER AN ELEVATOR IN PIAZZA VITTORIO
Penguin Group (USA)
2008

FUNNY, FASCINATING, fact-filled look at invented languages from Esperanto to Klingon makes for a great beach read. SOLID A

IN THE LAND OF INVENTED LANGUAGES: ESPERANTO ROCK STARS, KLINGON POETS, LOGLAN LOVERS, AND THE MAD DREAMERS WHO TRIED TO BUILD A PERFECT LANGUAGE
Spiegel & Grau
2009

19TH CENTURY US SOCIAL HISTORY, centering on a star-studded 1882 banquet honoring Social Darwinist Herbert Spencer. SOLID A

BANQUET AT DELMONICO’S: GREAT MINDS, THE GILDED AGE, AND THE TRIUMPH OF EVOLUTION IN AMERICA by Barry Werth
New York: Random House
January 2009

TRIPPY, thoughtful virtual-space saga with cool plot twists, plenty of flash and flair. Williams’s best so far. SOLID A

IMPLIED SPACES by Walter Jon Williams
San Francisco: Night Shade Books
June, 2008