Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders

Clever little book.
Set in the first day or two after the death of Lincoln's son, during a difficult time in the Civil War.  The story takes place in the cemetery where the boy's body in placed.  Except for Lincoln and a watchman, all the characters are essentially dead.  They live in the confined world of the cemetery, which is portrayed as a kind of afterlife zone between life and death.  The characters are a mix of historical times and social classes.  The snippets of their lives explore many things - social realities of other times, the racism of American society, American history of the time, cruelty and kindness, strange ways to die.  All of the characters are essentially lingering in a nether world, unable to let go of some part of their former life - children, trauma, unfulfilled desire, love, social prestige, past sins.  Though the stories are not heroic, the characters take on a poignant reality. 
The migration to the true afterlife (ie. heaven or hell) is very creatively portrayed.

Whenever Lincoln or a historical event appears, it is described by a selection of quotations from letters and journals written by people of the time.  Clever touch.

The New Russia - MIkhail Gorbachev

I originally was interested in this book as a possible account of what happened in Russia over the past 20/30 years to lead us to Putin.  You can get this out of the book but you have to do a lot of gleaning through Gorbachev's self-defence and accounts of his opinions and statements at various points in the narrative.  You do get a sense of the mechanisms of political and economic corruption that developed under Yeltsin, and how so much of the State wealth was grabbed by the first generation of Oligarchs.  It is more difficult to get a sense of how Putin's game unfolded.  It seems Putin said all the right things with regard to ending the chaos and respecting democracy, while at the same time pursuing an ever more authoritarian governing style and building a new set of cronies.  Fairly prosaic.  Gorbachev does create, however, a good picture of the chaos and dire circumstances that created what could be called a necessity for Putin and his approach.

Still looking for a really good book on this topic.

Blazing World - Siri Hustvedt

A along, rambling novel told from several points of view, also interweaving journal entries by the main character.  Complex tangle of themes - the art world, where inside people does art come from, dealing with the traumas and memories of childhood, human relations, a delicate balancing of different views of life (including some out there ones....), traditional roles and stereotypes of women, how we die.  It includes some wonderful descriptions of works of art by the main character that you wish you could actually see. 
Hustvedt is obviously well-read in philosophy, theories of perception, and modern psychology/neural research.  She brings this into the work through the main character's journals which are quoted in the work.  The overall structure of the book is built around research notes by an academic for a book about the life of the main character/artist.
There is a substantial part of the book concerned with the flakey, trendy nature of modern art.  While the point is well-taken, I found this theme got too much time and began to drag.

Well-written but still a slowish read because of the complexity of themes and ideas.

To find:
The Blindfold

Drinking and Driving in Chechnya - Peter Gonda

A novel set during the 1990s collapse of the USSR and the war in Chechnya.  Some good description of life during that rough time. The portrait of corruption and how it works seems fairly accurate.  There are also some accurate details regarding Russian mafia gang culture.  The section where the main character ends up living in a black slum outside Washington D.C. is humorous at times.  Some of the story elements, though, seem a bit stereotypical in their portrayals.

Quicksand - Henning Menkell

A set of short pieces from this Swedish author, written between his cancer diagnosis and his death.  A mix of reminiscences about childhood, growing up and his time in Africa; thinking about what really matters in life; looking at his path; stories that come to mind and why; life lessons to pass on.

How to be Both - Ali Smith

A story centred around a fresco in Italy by Francesco del Cossa.  The book is in two parts.  One part is the story of the painter's life and work -  the painter is actually a woman but passes herself as a man for her entire working life (dies early of the plague).  The second part is the story of a girl named George (shortened full name) who visits the fresco with her mother shortly before her mother's sudden death. 
Like all of Smith's books, hard to say what it is really about.  There is certainly a very sensitive appreciation of the actual fresco work at the centre of the book - makes you want to go see it.  Themes of sex roles, of same sex relationships.  A sensitive appreciation of some of the feelings and thoughts around grief and loss.  An unusual take on the true hurt or crime of pornography. 
The characters are complex, so many themes and issues are touched on.

How to be both - in the first part, maybe how to be both a man and a woman.  In the second part, perhaps how to be both a child and an adult (George is in some stage of early adolescence I think)

The Shadow Girls - Henning Mankell

Another novel by Mankell from outside his detective series.  This one explores the issue of illegal immigrants in Sweden.  Three characters - one from Africa, one from Russia and one from Pakistan.  An attempt to both tell their stories and get inside their heads.  Looks at issue of culture clashes, incompatibility of values, the tensions in being the child of an immigrant with different family cultural values.
No conclusions, no easy solutions  offered - a look at what is.  Also, an implied critique of the liberal, intellectual, self-congratulatory class with its head stuck up its ass.  The most sympathetic Swedish character in the book is an older man who runs a boxing studio in a poor immigrant area.

A Legacy of Spies - John Le Carre

A clever reprise of the characters, plots and themes of his first two big successes - A Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  In essence, a criticism of revisionist history as practiced by politicians in search of cheap moral points.  The modern mania of judging all of history in the light of our current values and obsessions.  Cheap idealism vs.  pragmatism in international relations.
There is an acceptance of human imperfection in his work that is also set against the strident moral certainties of those in pursuit of power and influence.

Must go back and reread those two earlier works. 

Putin Country - Anne Garrels

An in-depth look at the rise of Putin and his era.  The book focuses on a small town near the border of Kazakstan.  It looks how systemic collapse, corruption and right-wing ideology affects people's lives.  Also, looks at the corrosive effects on communism and Stalin on society and social realations, and how this continues to affect social structures (or lack thereof) in modern Russia. Very gritty.  The city which is the focus of the book also happens to be one the nuclear hotspots of post-Communist Russia, which gives the author a chance to look at how opaque both the Soviet and current governments can be for their citizens.

The Library and Other Stories - Ali Smith

A collection of quirky short stories, all centred on libraries and books.  Interspersed with the stories are interviews with people about the importance of libraries in their lives.  Worth rereading.

The Ways of Strangers - Graeme Wood

This book is purportedly a look into the kind of people that support and sign up for ISIS.  In fact, it ends up being a bunch of interviews with armchair jihadis who sit at home in the West and write rabid material for ISIS websites.  Each one has a valid (?) excuse for why they can't actually go and join the jihad in Syria...   Intellectual wankers who run no risk of getting their hands dirty.  The proposed topic would have been much more interesting...

After the Fire - Henning Mankell

Continuation of previous book, Italian Shoes.

Italian Shoes - Henning Mankell

Mankell is a Swedish writer who mostly wrote detective fiction.  While this work incorporates some elements of mystery and detective fiction - murders, crimes - its main focus is brilliantly exploring the complex and contradictory nature of humans, especially those a bit outside the norm.  Or in this case, perhaps simply older?  Lovely evocation of the Swedish Island archipelago and how much the modern word has changed in a couple of generations.