The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

Alright, I know that this is a modern classic, and I know I'll catch some grief for saying this, but I don't get it. Holden Caulfield is a sixteen-year-old who flunks out of his fourth prep school, and instead of going home right away, he decides to spend a few days in New York City by himself. This is one of those novels that I'm certain that English Lit teachers love to focus upon, undoubtedly finding symbolism at every turn. This type of analysis always bothered me back in high school, as sometimes a story was just that, a story. Holden is a cynic, a few years older than his age would otherwise disclose, and perhaps a bit of a romantic as well. It's an okay story - kid goes to NYC, has a few drinks, smokes a bit, hires a prostitute for conversation, and otherwise bumbles about the city. I wanted more - I wanted obvious insight, but found little here but entertainment.

Black Order - James Rollins

Here is my first real good read of the year. I'm no stranger to James Rollins and I've enjoyed his books in the past. I've picked up most of his novels and they are awaiting me to pick them up. Since I don't like to read the same author back to back, my trek through his Sigma Force novels is slowly progressing, but that is no indication of how much I enjoy them. Rollins has a way to suck you into the story without you realizing. His stories bring enough fantasy in, but when that mixes with his historical aspects, the fantasy almost seems like it could really be true. It is always fun to read the author's notes at the end to see what was fact and what was fiction and I'm often surprised. Great book, great series, great author. Recommend highly!

The Black Jewels Trilogy - Anne Bishop

I was so looking forward to reading this one. It had sat on my shelf for a year or so before I finally decided to pull it off and read it. I started this one last December thinking it would be a good epic fantasy to carry me through the winter. I pushed and pushed through it longer than I should have and 228 pages in, I threw in the towel. I have read other reviews of this trilogy that said it starts off slow and confusing, but is worth pushing through as it gets better as time moves on. Well, perhaps it does, but I feel I've already wasted too much time on this and there are too many other good books to spend my time on, so I've moved on. I'm sure this actually is a good trilogy and I truly am disappointed in myself for not liking it more, so if you have an inclination to try this one on for size, go for it, many others have liked it much more than I.

Taken - Robert Crais

This author became one of my favorites last year, and I have been eagerly awaiting this novel. Elvis Cole is hired to find a missing college girl and her boyfriend, and ends up being taken by the same human traffickers who hold their hostages alive only until their relatives can't pay anymore. Although the reader knows from the first page that Cole will be taken, the event itself is still nicely magnified by the author. In an understated way, this novel really investigates the friendship between Joe Pike and Cole, as Pike mounts an offensive with another colleague, Jon Stone. The action is most definitely there, but Crais has done something even more significant with the final pages of the book, after the guns are silent and the hostages are safe. My only regret - another year of waiting started as soon as I finished reading!

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

In the afterword, the author mentions that it cost $9.80 in 1950 to write this novel, renting a typewriter one dime at a time. The result of those dimes is a classic story about censorship - "firemen" who start fires in the homes of anyone thought to be harboring a book. Guy Montag is one of those firemen, but early in the novel he has a rush of conscience brought to him by his seventeen-year-old neighbor Clarisse. After Guy sees one woman burn to death atop her library, and after Clarisse goes missing, Montag strikes back against the establishment. I have always enjoyed Bradbury, and this book works just as well more than sixty years after it was written.

Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir - John Paul Stevens

Justice Stevens served on the Supreme Court for 35 years, retiring in 2010, and this book is a different type of autobiography. Stevens traces his interactions with five Chief Justices - Vinson, Warren, Burger, Rehnquist, and Roberts - and offers highlights and thoughts on many opinions handed down through those Courts. It was an interesting read that wasn't written entirely in legalese, and at times offered real insight on how key opinions came to be. There was one section that made me chuckle, as Stevens spent the better part of two pages complaining how a few Justices moved a table without everyone's approval. Apparently those petty coworker issues exist everywhere, even in the highest court in the U.S.

Mission Flats - William Landay

I am in awe of this author's ability, having read an ARC of "Defending Jacob" a few months ago (it will be released on January 31st, and already has several awards awaiting its release). This is his first novel, and is absolutely brilliant. Ben Turman is a small-town cop who is brought into a major case when a Boston DA is found murdered in a nearby cabin. Truman travels to Boston to work with the police of Mission Flats and the local prosecutor. There are several back stories, some of which didn't seem important when I first contemplated them, but by the end of the book, everything came together in ways that I had not anticipated. I thought that I had this figured out several times, and I'm happy to say that I had it wrong. There is a bit of deceit on behalf of Truman as he fulfills his dual role as main character and narrator, but it is a satisfying deceit. Mr. Landay is destined to reach the top of every literary list, and that placement is well-deserved.