Good Omens : The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (on CD)

Have wanted to read this book since it came out, but it never quite made it into my lists. So now I have. It would have been better to read it with my eyes: there are a lot of perspective changes that are NOT signaled well by the narrator. Still, a pretty funny-yet-thoughtful book about Armageddon.

Yes, I know, that's unexpected, but look at the authors' names. The plot mostly revolves around a book of predictions from the 17th century that has been passed down through the writer's family after her death--she was burned at the stake as a witch. Also involved are an angel and a demon who are quite amusing, a Witch-Finder Army (of one two) and an 11-year-old in the center of things who is the son of Satan.

It's amusing. Made me want to read more Pratchett.

Nothing to Lose, by Lee Child

The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon (on CD)

A clever book that is ostensibly about solving the murder of a heroin addict living in the same SRO hotel in which the main character--a Sitka policeman--lives.

The set-up of the story is, however, that Sitka and environs was set aside in the 40s as a settlement for European Jews when it became apparent that Hitler was going to target them. As a result of this, fewer Jews were killed in the Holocaust, and Israel never became a country in 1948. The settlement is set to 'expire' just weeks after the murder in question, and the U.S. government wants all cases solved or dispatched to the cold case files before they take over.

The problem with this case is that the victim turns out not to be some faceless nobody, but the son of the most powerful rabbi in the area, a man once thought to be the Messiah.

And then the fun begins. It's a good book. A bit weird to hear what (to me) sounds like New York accents coming from Alaskans, but the man who did the reading did an outstanding job with voices and accents. One of the best I've listened to, actually.