Lands Beyond (L. Sprague de Camp and Wily Ley)

This is a non-fiction book dealing with various geographic myths and legends, covering their history and attempting to discover their origins. It discusses such topics as Atlantis, Homer’s “The Odyssey”, Sindbad’s voyages, the Sargasso Sea, Prester John, the City of Gold, etc. Overall it’s a very interesting, informative, and entertaining book.

the darkness that comes before by R Scott Baker.
followed by books 2-5 in the series. cant wait for book 6 this year

philosophy and fantasy combined if that makes sense.
i liked the book and bought the rest in the series.

* The Power Of Less * by Leo Babauta

Written by the webmaster of zenhabits.net, it's a kind of how-to guide about living a minimalistic and mindful life.If you've read all his blog posts, you won't learn a lot of new things but it's quite practical to have those "zen" tips on paper format.

Leave It to Psmith by PG Wodehouse. I finally discovered Wodehouse's books a couple of years ago - I'd heard of him but never actually read his books - but now I love his work. Not only is his writing hilarious and his plotting very tight but his command of the language is impeccable. Every word and phrase feel just right.

Has anyone ever asked Ron Gilbert if he got the idea for Guybrush Threepwood from Wodehouse's work? At least the name. Freddie Threepwood in the Blandings stories isn't quite as bright as Guybrush...

* Men On The Run * by Joseph Beauregard

This small book is a follow-up to a documentary by Arte (German-French TV) on criminals on the run. It portrays 5 people which got convicted and escaped the police for years. They tell about their experiences, how it changed them. What these testimonies have in common is the emotional journey these men go through and how they ended up appreciating more their life, relationships and freedom as they were always in danger of getting arrested all day, everyday. Very short but very interesting.

ISBN-10: 2842055608
ISBN-13: 978-2842055608

* Operation Dragon * by Bernard Benoliel

A French essay on the famous movie with Bruce Lee. A bit disappointing as the author focusess too much on a deep analysis based on its own obsessions with the movie and Bruce Lee so it reads more like an art-school student 's thesis rather than a wide and interesting point of view.

It took me two months to finish this one, but now Crossroads of Twilight, by Robert Jordan, is done! Four more to go!

Books finished in 2016:
#1: Winter's Heart, Robert Jordan
#2: Dune, Frank Herbert
#3: Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan

Lyonesse II: The Green Pearl (Jack Vance)

This book is the continuing adventures and machinations of kings and magicians in the legendary land of Lyonesse. Jack Vance’s prose is colourful and humorous, I found the story very entertaining and I highly recommend this book.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

If your unfamiliar, chapter long short stories of Sherlock Holmes's cases, written from the perspective of Dr. Watson.

* I Just Wanted To Be A Cop * by Seaade Besbiss

Being a 3rd-generation French-Moroccan woman, Seaade lived in a small town in rural France. When being a teenager, she stopped school and later married a guy who kept her at home and beat her. After some time, she escaped and wanted to integrate the police forces (well, technically, it's the Gendarmerie but I think most GOG readers don't know it) because she values justice and integrity. But once there she faces sexism, racism and harrasment even if her work is good. And naturally, it all goes downwards.

This book is a pure testimony and as such it has its inherent qualities and defaults. It's a first-hand story on both being from the 3rd-generation and facing harrasment at work: as such, wjhile extremely personal it naturally lacks of "distance" and seeing matters as a whole but it's not purposed to be an essay so it's fine. The book is short (160 pages) and some parts lacks of development as the author doesn't necessarly want to expand on every periods of her life. But well, overall it was a good read and it gives some perspective on the author as besides the book, she also got some fame due to internet clashes.

ISBN-10: 221370063X
ISBN-13: 978-2213700632

Willy Ley's Exotic Zoology

This is a popular science book dealing with an assortment of topics such as unicorns, eels, sea serpents, dodos, yetis, moas, various fossils, man-eating plants, and much more! It takes a historical look at these, attempting to describe their origin. Overall it’s an interesting read, although the author does put forth a couple of ideas from the realm of cryptozoology. It's an older book, but it mostly deals with history so the science is still good. (I read the 1987 version, which is a reprint of the 1959 version, which itself was an updated version of three previous books).

Song of Kali by Dan Simmons.

I knew nothing about this book beforehand and just went on a recommendation by Harlan Ellison.

Didn't read a brief of the plot or an intro; I simply dove in. I'm so glad I did. The experience was much better than if if I did my usual "Research the hell out of everything" before reading thing. It felt more like a journey by going in blind.

So I recommend it to you in much the same way. Don't read about it, just read it.

Uh yeah! That is a good book, I think :)
Lucky for you Murakami has written quite a collection.
I gotta say, from the 5-6 books of his I've read, Hardboiled Wonderland is still my favourite. But Dancex3 comes as good second :)

Last book finished is a recent release: Illusory Advice ... Nice frank questions and answers about how authentic buddhism fits into western lifestyle.

Haven't read that one yet, but it sounds good. Right now I'm on "Kafka On The Shore."

It's always hopeful to know I'm still able to finish a book in reasonable time. Tower of the Swallow, fourth book in the main Witcher saga, is done. I love this series. The translation of next (and last!) book (in Dutch) is supposed to arrive near the end of september. I'll make sure I have time to finish it.

Books finished in 2016:
#1: Winter's Heart, Robert Jordan
#2: Dune, Frank Herbert
#3: Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan
#4: Tower of the Swallow, Andrzej Sapkowski