Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind by Yuval Noah Harari

One of the best history books I've read. Tight with narrative for readability and better illustration of essential points.

Foolproof: Why Safety Can Be Dangerous and How Danger Makes Us Safe by Greg Ip

Nassim Nicholas Taleb did this book more entertainingly and meaningfully. This book is The Black Swan-lite, or even The Black Swan-polite. Nonetheless, a reasonable book to skim your way through.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Excellent book. Excellent storytelling. Ran out of puff towards the second half -- the book doesn't follow an arc and just slowly fades away -- but Kingsolver's excellent writing and choice of setting make this book riveting.

All Things Considered by GK Chesterton

A grab bag of essays. Chesterton is an excellent essayist with a gift for wit. Unfortunately his sparkling wit that takes an argument and renders it ridiculous by following its corollaries down rabbit holes of unreason can often get convoluted and confusing... at least they do so when they're read on an iPhone in bars and parks at haphazard times as I did.

A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov

How did this book not render itself forgotten with time's passage? Read pretty much anything else by any other Russian writer who has survived time's passage.

Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith

Pabulum, but good pabulum.

Age of Ultron by Brian Michael Bendis

Even for a superhero comic, pretty damn ordinary.

To Have and To Have Not by Ernest Hemingway

Oh Ernest. So many sentences. So short.

From the Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple

Excellent, wonderful travel writer. Elegant English. Interesting subject matter. Marred somewhat by being too long and covered too many out of the way places and too many kooky characters that will never really be remembered. Best when when dealing with Eastern Christianity's influence on Islam and the Maronites in Lebanon.

Headhunters by Jo Nesbo

Fast-paced, simple Norwegian crime thriller.

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

My favourite McEwan work: short, sharp, touching, skilful.

The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham

I'd forgotten how sexist this book is, how sexist Maugham generally is. Nonetheless, it's a stunning portrait of a man who does portraits -- I'm writing this for myself so puns come aplenty, o imagined reader I am writing to regardless. Maugham combines psychology with storytelling, but in a majestic way: allowing a character's mysterious behaviour to remain mysterious, not providing reasons where reason knows not, all the while still rendering the characters believable.

30-Second Mythology edited by Robert A Segal

Very lame. Hard to believe this collection of not-well-written mythological vignettes could be written by a number of contributors rather than a single author.

My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad

Fun, warm, a bit long. Dickensian in its portrayal of curious characters, yet lacking depth.

A Geek in Korea by Daniel Tudor

The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran by Robert Spencer

He cherry picks, is biased... but Spencer is also appraising the Koran more honestly than many others who more blithely claim the book to be about peace.

The Koran by God translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali and another by Tarif Khalidi

Hard to believe this book is the basis for a religion. Tedious, repetitive. Is almost a book of Chinese whispers derived from the Old Testament repeated ad nauseam.

The Koran: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Cook

Dull work that detailed some of the more boring details in slipshod manner.

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman

Dictator by Robert Harris

Such jolly good fun. A bit rushed in the end. The whole series should probably have been a tetralogy than a trilogy, but that's a trifling criticism when compared to the galloping joy of reading the series.