Whores for Gloria - William T. Vollmann

A book built from Vollmann's time exploring Skid Row  interviewing hookers, addicts and alcoholics.  Seems to be an attempt to see and write from the mind of a character from that milieu.  An exploration of the human relations and the fantasies or stories told in this world.  No sense of judgement, blame, sociological analysis.
Strange man - if he is in fact setting out to deeply explore the worlds of those outside the middle class ficiton, I have great respect for that.

Arabian Nights - Robert Louis Stevenson

A collection of interrelated stories narrating the adventures of a main character.  Clever.  Centred on crime.  A light read.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson

Famous story.  The idea is better than the book itself.  Maybe a theme more suited to today's more gory horror style.

The Black Arrow - Robert Louis Stevenson

A well-told story set during the period of the Wars of the Roses.  Very evocative of the time, with those wonderful illustrations by N. C Wyeth.

Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson

Another great story by Stevenson.  The plot is slower moving than Treasure Island, but there is a wonderful long section of wanderings around the Highlands as the two main characters hide from the police and army.  The description of the settings is wonderful, and you meet a host of interesting characters.  It gives you a glimpse of occupied Scotland in the 1700s and the political forces and conflicts of the time.  There is also a section set in Edinburgh of the time, a swirl of crowds and narrow, twisting streets.

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

A very entertaining read due to Stevenson's incredible skill as a writer.  The characters are wonderfully drawn, you can almost see and hear the settings.  The plot line moves along and has some nice twists.
Stevenson produced some outstanding work.  Seems he is much admired by a whole host of famous novelists.

The Three Musketeers - Alexendre Dumas

The beginning of this book is O.K.  - a bit slow but readable.  As it progresses, however, especially as you near the end, I found it impossibly boring, repetetive and uninteresting.  An historical novel for t19th C audiences.  A certain idea of "swashbuckling" I suppose. The only way it could be interesting would be in the context of sociological study of the 19th C bourgeoisie and what this book could tell you about their imagined lives....
Never did manage to finish it.

Rather Be the Devil - Ian Rankin

Another good one.  This time the underlying issue is the Russian mafia and money laundering in England.

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow - Yuval Noah Harari

A very interesting look at some of the possible important trends emerging as a result of technological change largely.  A look at how human potential is shifting as technology changes.
Some main themes:

- human immortality; the possibility of drastically increasing the human life span

- the slow, step-by-step ceding of control of decisions to technology (smartphones), big data and AI; what happens if (when?) AI begins to set its own priorities

- a brutal look at how humans have manipulated biology to produce the modern meat factory;  the possibility that intelligent computers could come to treat humans in a similar fashion

- the importance of the stories we tell in the evolution of humans and society

- threats to liberalism as humans become less necessary as a work force

- the concept of living beings as algorithms; problems and issues with this idea

A brief summary.  A very dense book.  Worth rereading.