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Canonical Heinlein, and canonical sci-fi. Was at one time given a great deal of attention for the purported consonance between Martian main character Valentine Michael Smith's worldview and that of the hippies of the 60s, and continues I think to be unfairly regarded as a social commentary, or social satire, or especially a suggestion about how we ought to conduct our affairs here on the real Earth. The extent of its impact though is unquestionable: It made that one Billy Joel song where he was trying to be all R.E.M., and added the word "grok" to the OED.

How we discover and report history, by the smartest guy ever to think and write about things like that.

In the running for my favorite book of all time. It's a handful, and has some steak sauce on it, but if you read American Gods I don't want to hear it.

A worthy sequel to a truly great book and movie that would have been great without Bonnie Bedelia narrating the surprise ending on Valium.

Absolutely fucking hilarious.

Here's my left testicle and my first born. Can I please write like Mencken now?

Fans of the First Law trilogy shouldn't miss it; can be read on its own. Story structure, pace, character development all first-rate. I generally will favorably remember a book wherein something a character does genuinely outrages me, and that happened in this book. A weaker ending than the story deserved, but not weak enough not to love it.

Poetry. Start to finish.

Ok.

Meh.

A clear, linear retelling of the Gospels by one of the great writers.

Bloated. It's like the White Album, which could have been the Beatles' best record if it hadn't been a double album.

Not brief enough. An interesting concept, poorly executed. And what's with the "the" in the title? Fly too close to the sun much?

A smidge disjointed, but the storytelling is top-notch, and I now understand how the economy collapsed, and really wish I didn't.