Tripwire

Tripwire, Lee Child

Good work, Lee, but I need to find some just slightly better books.

Lolita

Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

Dolorous, but a more scientifically comic command of English I have not seen.

Wolves Eat Dogs

Wolves Eat Dogs, Martin Cruz Smith

Grimy, black, wet and hot. But not the hot you think: excellent book.

Small World

Small World, David Lodge

Fun. Just a tiny whiff of a hint didactic. Otherwise fun.

Comment parler des livres que l'on n'a pas lus ?

Comment parler des livres que l'on n'a pas lus ?, Pierre Bayard

LP++

The Satanic Verses

The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie

I wish I could say I liked its comedy, its impertinence and its sexy girls, but it's hard to "like" a book that rent international diplomatic relations; and besides, it's just a little biological bit too gross.

Die Trying

Die Trying, Lee Child

Okay, we are clearly dealing with exciting, well-told stories, but in every one the bad guy gets shot in the head without knowing who killed him.

These are good revenge stories, but they are missing the watch-the-big-guy-fall pieces that make books like A Man in Full or Le Comte de Monte Cristo so satisfying.

Killing Floor

The Killing Floor, Lee Child

The heart pumping action and Reacher's not possible cleverness make up for the quick, weak ending.

The Survivor

The Survivor, Frank Herbert

I survived.

A Wanted Man

A Wanted Man, Lee child

Odd narrative engineering: the story ends in the middle of the book, then a new one starts. It's pretty good, but feels like cut-and-paste.

And who's the actual wanted man?

The Hard Way

The Hard Way, Lee Child

Good story, well told. Abrupt ending.

Slaughterhouse-Five

Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut

Is it illiterate of me to say that this was very funny?

The Left Hand of Darkness

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin

It's cold. But I happen to like the cold.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie

The sheer yet gentlemanly audacity of the ending should tie tighter to a murder motive. And then it would be genius.

V.

V., Thomas Pynchon

I think I'm gonna have to make a map.