An accident? Perhaps.

40.

City Life by Witold Rybczynski - Book club pick! Supposedly a sweeping cultural history of cities in North America. Has some interesting bits, mostly about Chicago, malls, and de Tocqueville, but overall a little bit of a let down. Makes me wonder what his new city book is about.

He was a tall man, wide across the shoulders, slightly stooped, greying at the temples.

41.

Without Fail by Lee Child - No. 6 in the Jack Reacher series. This one got me from the get go. Reacher is hired by the Secret Service to try and kill the Vice President. It all goes down hill from there. Couldn't stop reading it and blew through the last 120 pages in one night. Obviously his editor gave him a stern taking to aftr the last one.

This is a strange city, administratively dependent on Ostia, but in many ways far more important.

42.

The Roman Empire by Dr. Ray Laurence - A volume in the cute Traveller's Guide To the Ancient World series. It is a guide to the Roman Empire circa 300 AD written like it is contemporary travel guide a la Fodor's or Lonely Planet. Fun, reminds me of early university and gaming.

The only thing that sister had was faith. And between you and me, gentlemen, her faith were not worth stealing.

43.

The Big Gold Dream by Chester Himes - I have been wanting to read Himes for quite some time. Published in 1960, this was one of his Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones noirs. I imagine that Harlem in the 50s and 60s was pretty grim, but I really hope not as bad as he describes; so many people out to steal poor woman's lottery winnings.

She left the check face down halfway between the two drinks, and walked away without saying anything at all.

44.

Echo Burning by Lee Child - No. 5 in the Jack Reacher thrillers. First hundred pages were kinda slow, but it picked up at the end. A little too much white-dudes-doing-horrible-things-to-people-from-Mexico, but ok. So far my least favourite in the series.