2022.Book42 - Midlife (Setiya)

Pretty bad. High-level, just the uselessness of (modern?) analytic philosophy. Where it isn't wrong, it's shallow. (IMO hypothetical humans are fungible)

2022.Book41 - The Thousandfold Thought (Bakker)

 Excellent. Got a lot more of the secondary plots this time - what happened to Conphas, Moenghus.

2022.Book40 - The Warrior-Prophet (Bakker)

 Very good. Quite brutal

2022.Book39 - Only a Joke Can Save Us (McGowan)

 Pretty interesting. Lack vs excess. Tries to cram everything into that framework, and it doesn't all fit.

2022.Book38 - Nigger (Gregory)

 Excellent story of suffering and (partial) triumph.

2022.Book37 - Do I Stay (McLaren)

Thumb on the scale - best imagination and effort is put into the "yes" side. Another way to look at it is he's recruiting for a new project.

2022.Book36 - The Darkness that Comes Before (Bakker)

 Good on re-read. I enjoyed the crusades part more this time. I think in earlier reads I just wanted to get to the aliens/Dunyain stuff.

2022.Book35 - Fingersmith (Waters)

 Excellent. The plot twist about a quarter of the way in was devastating. A little bogged down in the middle, excellent ending.

2022.Book34 - What is Theology? (Kotsko)

 Pretty interesting stuff.

2022.Book33 - Maker of Swans (O'Donnell)

 Excellent. So gothic.

2022.Book32 - Auntie Mame (Dennis)

 Pretty entertaining. Some good laughs.

2022.Book31 - The Executioner's Song (Mailer)

 An unlikable murderer and everything that comes after. Surprised to learn it was "true crime".

2022.Book30 - Factotum (Bukowski)

 Lurid, sometimes funny. Goes to the End of the Road.

2022.Book29 - The Mars Room (Kushner)

Excellent. Lurid and empathetic

2022.Book28 - The Misanthrope (Moliere)

 Kind of not that great, maybe better live?

2022.Book27 - A Time for Mercy (Grisham)

 Solid entertainment

2022.Book26 - The Beast (Martinez)

 Very good description of migrants through Mexico

2022.Book25 - Deacon King Kong (McBride)

 Excellent. Very entertaining.

2022.Book24 - Real Tigers (Herron)

 Very good. Lots of action.

2022.Book23 - The Sentence (Erdrich)

 Not very good, maybe for political reasons? Ghost arc was unoriginal -- too "Get Out". Book store characters fairly interchangeable, maybe because they were based on life?

There's so much room for an interesting investigation of identity formation - especially voluntary, conscious identity choice. And the political implications of partially-voluntary ethnic identities! Discourse privileges the involuntary status.

The current-events plots were inessential, as was the goofy loup-garou thing.

2022.Book22 - Wives and Daughters (Gaskell)

 Good entertainment. Feminine hobbledehoyhood!

2022.Book21 - Elite Capture (Táíwò)

 Pretty good. Quite simple. Pitched as "why oppressive companies have DEI", but it's more about progressive-aligned organizations.

2022.Book20 - Election (Perrotta)

 Not great, but better than the movie.

2022.Book19 - Material Girls (Stock)

 Good stuff, but I'm not hopeful. Extremism will win over moderation; allies can't stop.

2022.Book18 - Lonely Boy (Jones)

 Pretty interesting. One work of art and the right publicity can last a lifetime.

2022.Book17 - The Song of the Lark (Cather)

 Excellent. Loved it. Great novel about art.

2022.Book16 - The Music Lesson (Wooten)

 Some very good stuff, mixed in with a kind of ridiculous frame story.

2022.Book15 - Dead Lions (Harron)

 Pretty enjoyable follow-up. Kind of funny how Webb keeps getting beaten up.

2022.Book14 - Slow Horses (Harron)

 Pretty good, entertaining stuff.

2022.Book13 - The Professor's House (Cather)

 Excellent. Trying to understand the place of the Western in the middle. Comparison of the abandoned civilization with the professor?

2022.Book12 - Making of biblical womanhood (Barr)

 Very good. Continually shocking that complementarianism is a thing

2022.Book11 - All Our Wrong Todays (Mastai)

 Some parts are excellent, a little uneven

2022.Book10 - The Fall of Babel (Bancroft)

 Reasonable world and plot, ridiculous style.

2022.Book9 - The Half-Drowned King (Hartsuyker)

 Solid entertainment. A bit slow after the middle, with lots of action at the end.

2022.Book8 - Lab Girl (Jahren)

 Really good.

2022.Book7 - The Genetic Lottery (Harden)

 Excellent

2022.Book6 - Jesus and John Wayne (Du Mez)

 Spectacular history of American Evangelical Christianity. Bad memories, but somehow I never got that into it. Anabaptist inoculation.

2022.Book5 - Creeks and Crises (Neufeld)

 Excellent family history.

2022.Book4 - The Word is Murder (Horowitz)

If anyone can make metafiction too self-absorbed, it's the British.

2022.Book3 - Fight Night (Toews)

 Pretty good. Works hard for not much payoff. Entertaining.

2022.Book2 - The Talented Mr. Varg (McCall Smith)

 Not very good. Loose plot, unimportant characters.

2022.Book1 - The Handsome Man's Deluxe Cafe (McCall Smith)

 Just OK.