“The Swallows of Kabul” by Yasmina Khadra

This is a novel about the horrible psychological, social and economic effects of Taliban repression/oppression on the people of the once bustling city of Kabul. Women are totally objectified in their burkas. Men and children are often vicious. Yikes!!!

“The Devil Amongst the Lawyers” by Sharyn McCrumb

Of all the Sharyn McCrumb books I have read, this is by far my least favourite. Apart from Nora with her psychic abilities, none of the reporter characters were appealing. The desire of the big city reporters to tell a story rather than bother with the truth was pretty disgusting, considering it meant portraying the locals very incorrectly as hillbilly yokels.

“The Peace Machine” by Bob Shaw

I found this author to be quite original and I enjoyed his ironic sense of humour.  How amusing that the main character’s desire to save the world was spurred on by his relationship with his very jealous wife. And how sadly real that his efforts resulted in more spending on weapons, depriving the world of money for good causes.

“Blood of Elves: A Novel of the Witcher” by Andrzej Sapkowski

To my pleasant surprise, I enjoyed this fantasy sword and sorcery novel and will continue reading the series. Sapkowski is a thoughtful writer and I can see why he has become popular world wide and why a Witcher video game was created. I read this book to prepare myself for watching the Witcher series on Netflix, which is apparently confusing due to multiple timelines. I was also intrigued because the books are translated from the Polish.