Here are some books I read last year, or didn't, as the case may be:

Vodka, Boris Starling
Another one of those sexy noirish mysteries, set in an exotic foreign land. Did you know that Russian criminals often have really interesting, and often filthy, tattoos (and that there's a great book on the subject)? Did you know that the former Soviet Union had eleven time zones? (I learned that from a Negativland song.) This book is ambitious, and good, but long, and, like the Soviet Union, or my blog posts, it could probably benefit from some editing.

Early Bird: A Memoir of Premature Retirement, Rodney Rothman
Kind of funny, definitely not earth-shattering, kind of not my thing. You know that Seinfeld episode 'The Pen,' where Jerry and Elaine visit Jerry's parents in Florida, with the space pen, and Elaine whacked out on muscle relaxers? That episode's much better than this book, and you can watch it in 25 minutes, or read the script in less time than that.

Damaged Goods, Roland S. Jefferson
Jefferson also wrote The School on 103rd Street (see below), which was reissued as one of the Old School Books series, undiscovered black crime/hardboiled/noir/whatnot like a few of Chester Himes' early works, one of Donald Goines' less famous ones, etc. School was written in 1973 (and it's very good), while Damaged Goods was written in 2003 and released in 2005, and it, too, is very good. Well, it's very good if you like that kind of stuff. If I was trying to sell someone on crime fiction, it would only be the book I'd choose for a person who was already a big blaxploitation fan.

The School on 103rd Street, Roland S. Jefferson
Part Andrew Vachss, part The Spook That Sat By The Door, and part, oddly enough, brand-name-heavy and pimpadelic. Very much of its day, but very readable, and suspenseful, and compelling, for a modern reader.

Crossworld: One Man's Journey into America's Crossword Obsession, Marc Romano
Here's the pitch: It's like Word Freak, except about crossword puzzles. Crosswords are way more popular than Scrabble, right? And the author has the cooperation of Will Shortz, the NYT crossword editor and a towering figure in his field. It's good.

Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation, J.D. Lasica
I renewed it five times and haven't even cracked it open. Blurbs from Howard Rheingold, Steven Levy, James Fallows and others. Good reviews from the geek press corps. I'll return to it someday, like Linda Rondstadt. (That's a reference to 'Blue Bayou.' I don't plan to ever return to Rondstadt's music, Plow King jingle notwithstanding.)

The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank, David Plotz
I liked the Slate series, but this is another one that I renewed five times without ever reading a page, and that I might, y'know, someday return to.  ¶ 8:52 AM