Rachel Caine and Kerrie L. Hughes, eds., Chicks Kick Butt, Discussed elsewhere.
Blake Charlton, Spellbound. Discussed elsewhere.
J. H. Elliott and L. W. B. Brockliss, eds., The World of the Favourite. This is a collection of essays about royal favorites in the time of Richelieu, Buckingham, and Olivares. Those three get the most focus for obvious reasons, but some of the essays go into Austria, Poland, and Denmark. One of the editors mentioned in the introduction that he would like to see more work done on female favorites in the courts of queens, and good heavens do I agree. I wish he hadn't put that in the introduction, because I kept thinking, "Yes, that!" while I was reading the actual book they had. Which was interesting and worthy.
Glen David Gold, Sunnyside. This is a very odd book. It's a pleasant read about things I would not really have thought I wanted to read about (Charlie Chaplin? really?), but the threads don't really come together in any very unifying way, and individual thread endings sort of fall apart a bit. I'm still not sorry I read it, but Charlie Chaplin and bilocation and...stuff. Yes. Definitely stuff.
Joseph Kanon, The Good German. I felt like I was reading this book forever. It was very well-done, but it was also very graphically realist about Berlin in late 1945. Which was not pleasant. A beautifully done murder mystery set in occupied post-war Berlin--interesting, but definitely not something that will brighten your day.
Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club. I read this to talk about its structure with
Arturo Perez-Reverte, Purity of Blood. Second Alatriste book. Inigo runs afoul of the Inquisition after they invade a convent to help a Judaizing nun who...yah. Swashes get buckled. Buckles are swashed. Much fun had by...almost nobody except the reader, actually. But better that way than the other way around.
Laurence Yep, City of Ice. Discussed elsewhere.