The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi

Light, fun, thrilling space opera, 5/5 stars.

The Reckoning by John Grisham

Despite the frustrating lack of plot, drama, and a cohesive story, I enjoyed this one.  I loved the situational depth of both storylines and the historical details.  I also enjoy Grisham's writing style.  It was, perhaps, twice as long as necessary, and the plot is very weak.  Still worth it, 3/5 stars.

Infinity Wars edited by Jonathan Strahan

Mixed bag, but disappointing.  Two or three of the stories were excellent.  All the others were bad. 2/5 stars.

Demian by Hermann Hesse

As a high school sophomore, 15-years-old, my class was assigned to read and discuss the English translation of this terrible book and 15-year-old-me hated it.  45 years later, in a flight to Europe, I read the book in German and it still sucks.  Abraxis?  Yuck.  1/5 stars.

The collapsing empire by John Scalzi

Fun story, great world-building, fantastic humor, colorful characters, 5/5 stars.

Abominable by Dan Simmons

Awesome story, great writing, interesting history, gripping.  5/5 stars.

Narziß und Goldmund by Hermann Hesse (1930)

Wow!  What a fantastic spiritual journey.  Apollonian vs Dionysian sensibilities struggle in the self-actualizing journey of a young sculptor as he wanders through the Black Death (Bubonic Plague) ridden areas of Germany.  Karl Jung's silly archetypes in the masculine heterosexual Goldmund counter-balance his special gay friend Narziss as each matures.  Very well-written, moving, poetic.  5/5 stars!

Swords and Saddles by John Hemry (Jack Campbell)

Really well-researched and fun military science fiction by one of the modern masters, very entertaining set of short stories.  5/5 stars.

Riverdale (tv series, 2017)

Sleepless on a transatlantic flight, I watched the first few episodes of this series and enjoyed them.  The writers are creative and give a dark, modern twist on the old comics and cartoons I remember from the 1970s.  Way too much political correctness detracts from an otherwise excellent series.  3/5 stars.

Crazy Stupid Love (film) 2011

I was on a transatlantic 787 dream-liner flight, could not sleep, watched this bad romantic comedy, 2/5 stars; miss it.