THE MALTESE FALCON - Dashiell Hammett

A treasure worth killing for.  Sam Spade, a slightly shopworn private eye with his solitary code of ethics.  A perfumed grafter named Joel Cairo, a fat man named Gutman, and Bridget O'Shaughnessy, a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime.

The original noir private eye author at the top of his game.  Most will have seen the film but the books streets ahead.

MADE IN AMERICA- Bill Bryson

In  Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land- explaining how a dusty desert hamlet with neither woods or holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won......as well as exposing the true origins of the G String, the original $64,000 question and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame.

As always great entertainment, the history of lots of words and places and his usual digressions.  Fantastic.

THE DAIN CURSE,THE GLASS KEY & STORIES- Dashiell Hammett

Two of his novels along with four short stories that are connected and could have been a further novel.

Hammett is the original hard boiled detective writer.  Chandler may have had better plots but wasn't as consistent and certainly his dialogue was as sharp, and anyway states that he owes Hammett and acknowledges him as the master.

Hammett, the first and the best.  You can re-read him as much as you like and it doesn't get old.

If you like crime you read these stories and most other stuff you read pales.

THE BODY - Bill Bryson

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The latest offering from Bryson doing for the body what he did for the universe a few years ago.

Full of facts and figures that just make you shake your head.

Many writers would make all this information snore inducing but as always with his humour and self depreciation it is a delight to read

A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING - Bill Bryson

I read this often, absolutely full of interesting facts.  I always find myself giggling reading the first few chapters when trying to comprehend the numbers involved in space.

Accessible knowledge with Bryson's humour ,always a bonus.

CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS - Rudyard Kipling

A boys adventure but an excellent read whether you are 12 or 60.   Interesting in its depiction of fishing on the Grand Banks. 

OUR MAN IN HAVANA - Graham Greene

This is very funny, ludicrous in parts but if you have read the accounts of Philby and co. the incompetence of the British Secret Services is not exaggerated here. A Greene with a reasonably happy ending. 

Loved it, can't believe I left it so long to read again