Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident (Eoin Colfer)

In this second book of the series, Artemis sets out to rescue his father from Russian gangsters, but gets drawn into an attempted coup down in the fairy world when Captain Short, his nemesis from the first book, thinks at first he's behind it. It is full of the fun elements from the first book - very smart centaurs, very stupid goblins, wicked villains with plans for world domination, and Artemis, the boy genius. Tons of fun. I enjoyed it, and will keep reading the series. It's interesting, though - the first book in the series I listened to during a long car trip, and I found myself missing the lovely accents as I read the words. I may choose to listen to the next book, instead of reading it in text.

Redshirts (John Scalzi)

This delightful book is hilarious, geeky, and still emotionally moving. Scalzi asks what it would be like to be living in a badly-written ripoff of Star Trek. Why are away missions so deadly for lower-deck folks while the main officers are rarely hurt and never killed? Why do bridge consoles keep exploding, no matter how often the circuits are checked? Why is it that decks 6-12 take damage in every attack, but never any of the other decks? How do they keep finding scientifically impossible solutions to problems, and always just moments before they are needed? The heroes find their own scientifically impossible solution to their dilemma, one that is mind-bending and convoluted and just crazy enough (and funny enough) to work. Then there are several codas and other appropriately off-kilter bits of things that bring it all to a satisfying conclusion. (I think I know who Jimmy Hanson really is. As one of the character says, "that would be recursive and meta.")

Heartless (Gail Carriger)

I'm still enjoying this series, but this fourth book didn't quite live up to the standards of the previous three. Alexia is still as strong-willed and outrageous as ever, but not as quick-witted, perhaps because she is so thoroughly pregnant. It took her over 200 pages to figure out something I had seen right away. The delightful turns of phrase and thrilling adventure are still there, but slightly diluted. Here's hoping the next installment - Timeless - is back on track.

Shadow Woman (Thomas Perry)

A worthy third novel in the Jane Whitefield series. Jane has decided to quit her occupation of making people disappear, but there is one last job she has to do. Pete Hatcher is a hapless middle manager in a Las Vegas casino who has suddenly become the target of some very scary professional assassins, and he has turned to Jane for a way out. As usual, it winds up being more difficult than she ever expected, and nearly costs not only her life but the lives of people she cares about. She is victorious, though, because she is tough and smart and uses the opportunities offered to her. I hope her future life goes well.

The Rapture of the Nerds (Cory Doctorow & Charles Stross)

It is years after the singularity, and most of humanity has abandoned Earth and meatspace and uploaded itself to the cloud, living a virtual life. Huw is one of those who remained behind, rejecting not only a cybernetic existence but even electricity and telecommunication. So at first he is happy to have been selected to serve on a jury that evaluates new technologies thrown up by the post-humans in the cloud, but it turns out that he has been infected by something that is using his body for its own purposes. He winds up on a grand tour of the many different ways of being human, from violently fundamentalist to the expanded consciousness of the cloud, and in the end the fate of the entire solar system rests on him. I have enjoyed the smart, geeky works by Stross before, but not Cory Doctorow so much, and this one didn't really work for me. Although Huw is central to resolving some major crises, the primary tool he (or sometimes she) uses is avoidance. I like my protagonists to be more actively involved in solving problems, not throwing temper tantrums. I also tended to lose the convoluted threads of the plot sometimes. I suppose I am not uplifted enough for this novel.

I'll Have What She's Having (Alex Bentley, Mark Earls, and Micael O'Brien)

This look at the important processes of social learning and social influence could have been more engaging than it was. Their primary point, that ideas diffuse and society progresses as people copy new ideas and the latest trends from each other, is undeniable. I was unconvinced, though, by their attempt to formalize this landscape. They talked about idea cascades, about directed and undirected copying, about the "long tail" of choices in many domains, and so on, but for me it never really came together. I came out of this knowing no more about social influence, and understanding no more deeply, than I did going in.

The Sense of an Ending (Julian Barnes)

The author of this small novel creates a dense and honest portrayal of the life of an ordinary man who is, as he says, at the end of his life; "no, not life itself, but of something else: the end of any likelihood of change in that life." He was pleasantly married, gently divorced. He has a daughter who keeps in touch distantly and grandchildren he rarely meets. He has a complaisant view of himself and his ordinary place in life, and a memory of an ordinary youth that includes two unusual people: Adrian, the brilliant young man he went to school with, and Veronica, the difficult young woman he he dated for a while. Now, as he settles into a bland  old age, these people come back in their various ways to haunt him and throw him off his rails. I admit to being confused at the end, and think it  would have been a splendid idea if Veronica had actually talked to him instead of just telling him over and over that he didn't get it, but the writing is clear and engrossing. I enjoyed it.