So many books, so little time

OK, so I haven't written for a long time. The reason I write this blog is so I have small reminders of the books I have read. When I get as far behind as I am now, all I can do is jot down the briefest thoughts about these books, although fortunately I can look at highlighted passages on my kindle and at least see what stood out while I was reading. So here goes (part 1 of 2):

The Little Book by Selden Edwards - I really enjoyed this take on time travel/historical fiction/fantasy. So much interesting stuff going on in Vienna in 1897, and this was a fun way to tell the story. The main characters may be a bit too perfect, but in the context of this type of book, it works.
City of Thieves by David Benoit - Great authors keep coming up with new stories from WWII, and this one is excellent. Wonderful characters on a hard-to-imagine mission during the siege of Leningrad. The book has everything: great story, writing, characters, ideas.
Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis - I loved Lewis's MoneyBall, but that was about baseball (interesting), while this book is about finance (boring). Lewis is a really good writer and makes what I consider an inherently boring topic pretty entertaining, but what he couldn't do, for me at least, is make it understandable. I still don't understand derivatives and all that other financial mumbo jumbo. The main lesson I took from this book is that for people in the financial services industry, it's all a big game. They are getting rich playing with our money and don't give two hoots about what happens to us when the money disappears. Pretty depressing.
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson. I'm not sure what made me choose this book, but I'm glad I did. You start out thinking it's the story of a curmudgeonly middle-aged man trying to hang onto the past, but it turns out to be something different -- a very relevant story about inter-generational conflict and a love story to boot.
The Last Child by John Hart. A good mystery - full of suspense and complex characters.
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. McCann writes beautifully; he has created rich, complex, and believable characters; he tells multiple captivating stories that swirl around and occasionally bump up against each other; and in the end, "The world spins. We stumble on. It is enough."