Here are some of the books I have read or re-read in the past year and would highly recommend. Since I have reviewed some of them as of late, I figured I'd throw in a few more. All these books are great but I'll add a star next to those which I felt were better than good, two stars to those I considered excellent and three stars to those few tomes I think are simply exceptional. I am afraid that my reading list does not include fiction. At some point I'll go through my bookshelves and the basement to put together a list of the past five years(may be). I also tend to give away books to friends and acquaintances when I am done with them, less clutter and it saves trees even if I am never quite sure if anyone reads them or just simply humors me. In no particular order:
How the Scots invented the modern world, Arthur Herman ..+.. The Gate, Francois Bizot ** ..+.. The Battle for Spain, Anthony Beevor ..+.. Churchill, a biography, Roy Jenkins ..+.. Imperial life in the Emerald city, Inside Iraq's Green zone, Rajiv Chandrasekaran** ..+.. Samurai William, Giles Milton* ..+.. Collapse, Jared Diamond ..+.. Mao, Jung Chang and Jon Halliday** ..+.. Chinese Lessons, John Pomfret* ..+.. Civilizations, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto ..+.. Under the loving care of the fatherly leader, North Korea and the Kim Dynasty, Bradley K.Martin ..+.. Ivan's War, Catherine Merridale*..+.. Sex with Kings, Eleanor Herman ..+.. Mapping mars, Olivier Morton* ..+.. The Places in Between, Rory Stewart* ..+.. Stumbling on Happiness, daniel Gilbert ..+.. Red China Blues, Jan Wong ..+.. The Bounty; The true story of the mutiny on the Bounty, Caroline Alexander*re-read ..+.. Blue Latitudes, Tony Horwitz re-read ..+.. Ghengis Khan and the making of the Modern World, Jack Weatherford ***re-read ..+.. The History of Money, Jack Weatherford*..+.. Paris 1919: Six months that changed the World, Margaret MacMillan ..+.. The Best American Science and Nature writing 2005, Jonathan Weiner(editor)..+.. Krakatoa; The day the World exploded, Simon Winchester..+.. To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World, Arthur Herman ..+.. King Leopold's Ghosts: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa*re-read ..+.. Diamond: The History of a Cold-Blooded Love Affair, Matthew Hart. All these books taste great.