Umberto Eco's The Prague Cemetery

Couldn't finish it. The reviews all raved, they all said it was worth the investment, but after 65 pages I was still slogging through the (ultimately) tedious lists of prejudices and stereotypes. Funny at first but wow it got old. I'll catch you next time E.

Cutting For Stone

Loved it. Like early John Irving. Great characters living through fascinating times.

The Monuments Men

Robert Edsel's account of the military unit that protected monuments and art in WWII was fast-paced and pretty interesting. He provides enough details to give a good sense of what happened without getting bogged down. It's fascinating to read a new perspective on the war as well. Very enjoyable.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Lovely book about the mental process of an author I like. Totally related to the ups and downs of training and races. Almost (almost!) inspired me to run another marathon or even go swimming. Probably just inspired me to read another book by Murakami.

Reamde by Neal Stephenson

I approached this with some trepidation due to my love of some Stephenson and inability to access other of his novels, plus the length at 1,000+ pages is a bit daunting. As it turns out, this is a page-turning fast-paced story with a variety of characters that kept my interest until the very end. Stephenson takes the approach of putting characters in a situation, introducing the worse-case scenario, and figuring out how to move from there. Loved it.