Author: Luke Harding​
Rating: 4 Stars
Review By: Shana

​This 2016 book, unfortunately, remains all too relevant and has a ripped from the headlines feel. Harding not only recounts (with all materials available at the time of printing) the events that lead up to the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in particular, but more generally looks at the events that have shaped Russia under Vladimir Putin. This includes a truncated explanation of the fall of the USSR and the birth of Russia, how the assets that used to belong to the state were divvied up among the Oligarchs, the failure of any nascent democracy in Russia, Putin's improbable rise and eventual consolidation of power, and workings and tenor of present-day Russia under Putin. 

Author: Erik Larson​ ​
Rating: 4 Stars
Review By: Shana

Larson is in fine form, weaving together the small details of the passengers and crew of the Lusitania, a history of the ship, an overview of international relations, a truncated bit of biography of President Wilson during WWI before the US entered the Great War, a peak into Great Britain's Room 40 as it secretly read Germany's encrypted messages, and an exploration of the captain of submarine U-20 on the patrol that would bring it into a fateful meeting with the Lusitania. 

Author: Ezekiel Boone ​
Rating: 4 Stars
Review By: Shana

​Hugely entertaining, suitably creepy, plenty of action. This is the middle act of the trilogy where ancient spiders have reawakened and humans are rapidly forced to come to grips with the reality of no longer being top of the food chain.

Author: Paul La Farge ​
Rating: 3​.5 Stars
Review By: Shana

​This book has gotten generally rave reviews from critics. I can appreciate the skill of La Farge, his prose is clear and he builds characters well, and there is a certain dexterity to his construction of this story within a story within a story. But overall, it just sort of left me cold.

Author: Christina Henry​ ​
Rating: 4​.5 Stars
Review By: Shana

​This is a dark "sequel" and, to some extent, re-imagining of the Alice books. Which is saying something since Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and especially Through the Looking Glass are already rather dark to begin with. In this first book of Christina Henry's series, Alice is committed to an asylum and has been resident there for ten years. We learn that the asylum is in the Old City and that Alice was originally from the wealthy and much safer New City. Within the first few pages the reader will realize this is no children's book. 

Author: Tom Wainwright ​​ ​
Rating: 4​ Stars
Review By: Shana

​A fascinating study of the international drug trade through the prism of economics. Wainwright does not get mired down in economic jargon or minutiae, instead opting to paint an engaging and eminently readable portrait of how the drug trade works with plenty of vignettes/case studies of various points in the supply chain.

Author: Jonathan Eig​ ​
Rating: 4​ Stars
Review By: Shana

​Eig does an admirable job blending medical, social, and political history in telling the story of how the birth control pill came about. The impact this medication had on culture is hard to overestimate, and its intertwining with sexual freedom, population control, women's liberation and equality, and the pharmaceutical industry is fascinating.  

Author: Daniel Brook ​
Rating: 4​ Stars
Review By: Shana

​Very interesting book where the author takes four non-Western cities (St. Petersburg/Leningrad; Bombay/Mumbai; Shanghai; and Dubai) that were all built with an eye to the West.  In the author’s fun turn of phrase, “Their occidental looks are anything but accidental.”

Author: Stephen King
Rating: 4​ Stars
Review By: Shana

​This isn't King’s best book, but then he sets the standard so high it isn't really fair to hold him to it.  It is a very solid mystery, with nicely realized characters (both in terms of its heroes and a singular villain), and he lets those characters interact naturally, be entertaining, and make mistakes. 

Author: Susan Barker
Rating: 3 Stars
Review By: Shana

This is a hard review to write. The author is a master of evoking emotion and painting scenes, she uses words intricately without feeling pretentious or forced. But the subject matter is depressing, grim, and violent, and the book is peppered with sexual encounters that leave you feeling invaded and vulnerable.