A fun novel set in a bleak future where most of the world's population spends its time in the virtual universe of OASIS. The death of OASIS's creator sets off a quest to find the golden easter egg that will give the winner control of the company. The solution to the puzzle requires a deep and vast understanding 70's and 80's geek culture.

 The first installment of Shimura Takako's bittersweet story of two fifth grade friends, a girl who wishes she was a boy and a boy who wishes he was a girl.

The third volume of Sumption's excellent history of the Hundred Years War covering the period from 1369 to 1393, a time of waning English fortunes (deaths of Edward III, the Black Prince, and Sir John Chandos depriving them their strongest leaders) and waxing French fortunes (fueled by the victories of Bertrand du Guesclin), while both countries were plagued with weak leadership and familial infighting due to the minority of the child king Richard II of England and the onset of madness in Charles VI of France.

 An enlightening and entertaining look into the home life in Georgian England. A wide variety of households are examined from bachelor digs in London to a mansion in Oxfordshire to a Lincolnshire widower trying to manage without a wife. The best chapter focuses 3 sets of his and her account books which lay out the division of responsibilities between the master and the mistress of the house.

A fine survey of the Soviet misadventure in Afghanistan by the last UK ambassador to the USSR. Impressionistic, with many anecdotes by those involved from Politburo members down to grunts on the ground. The only downside is that so many of his sources aren't available in English, which makes further reading difficult for  those (like me) who unlettered in Russian.

 An engaging history of the United States before the Revolution. While the first chapter addresses Pre-Colombian history, the real focus is on the era between 1492 and 1763. Richter examines the motivations of the various European peoples who came to America, the Native American reaction to them, and the consequences for both.

 An examination of the origins of the Indo-Euopean language group and how technology (the domesticated horse and wheeled transport) and place (the Eurasian Steppes) help to facilitate its spread across Asia and Europe. A very thorough analysis of the subject, with an emphasis on the archeology, although his chapters on the linguistic theory behind the concept of Proto-Indo-European and its development are quite good and accessible to the non-specialist.

A one volume survey of Central Eurasian history from ancient times to the present. Lucidly written and accessible to the general reader. A worthy successor to Rene Grosset's Empire of the Steppes.

 The sad and tragic story of how the Lakota were dispossessed of the Black Hills and their struggles to reclaim them.

 An excellent and readable account of Cahokia, the mound city just east of St Louis, and its place in Pre-Columbian America. Like Charles Mann's 1491, it upends the conventional portrait of Native Americans and recasts it a much more complex and detailed way.