Tangerines - Zaza Urushadze

A Georgian film set during the war with Abkhazia.  Beautifully filmed in a beautiful setting.  A film that looks at the futility and stupidity of war.
Well-acted.  Script excellent.
Understood a lot of words in the script, maybe because of Russian?

American Witness: Art and Life of Robert Frank - R. J. Smith

Interesting book about Frank.  A very unique character.  Seemingly no interest in fame or success, or money for most of his life.  A strange combination of visionary (maybe) and crank.  A body of work in photography that attempts to explore the inner world through images of the external world - a way to record interactions, reactions, feelings?
Hard also to know if he is focused solely on his art, or if he is just incredibly self-involved and self-centred when you read about his family life, interactions with others.  Common problem or question for a while now with many big name artists.
Still, the book offers some interesting insights into how he works, the arc of his body of work.  He does say and purse some things that I would agree with:  It's just a photograph.  I am not interested in beautiful.  How to minimize control in taking a picture - photos as a form of discovery.  Not wanting to repeat what he has already done.

The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner - Stephan Komanderov

A Bulgarian film about a young man who loses his memory.  His grandfather takes him on an epic journey by tandem bicycle to try and restore his memory and his sense of self.  A bit "Zorba the Greek"ish in that the theme is how to be truly alive and free. 
Ties into Bulgaria's oppressive modern history - the grandfather is a very human figure who rejects and stands up to authoritarian power exercised impersonally by those in power, whether in Germany or Bulgaria.
You also get a look at the life of refugees from the Eastern Bloc at that time, camps where they were exploited as a way to make money by those operating the camps. 
He uses the game of tavla (backgammon) as a metaphor for how you get on in life - a version of the "play the hand you're dealt" idea.

Fairly light, but well-done.  Some beautiful scenery as they make their bike journey.  (So also a bit of a road-trip movie.)

A Separation - Ashgar Farhadi

A film set in modern day Iran.  Recounts the break-up of a marriage - the conflicts bring in many of the current issues facing Iran:  religious vs. secular; poor vs. middle-class; social roles and power between men and women.  The interesting thing is everyone's life is a mess, all the characters, no matter which side of the divides they fall on.

Interesting but not outstanding - confirms my general lack of interest in films about families.

Welcome to the Poison Chalice - James K. Galbraith

A collection of essays by Galbraith on the Greek financial crisis.  He comes at the issues from the same perspective as Yannis Varoufakis.  A bit repetiive, as the is essays and articles are addressing the same issues for different publications.
The best point he makes (apart from the total economic nonsense of Bruxelles approach to the crisis) is the true concern of the leading EU and IMF politicians and leaders:  #1 political survival and career  #2 protect the banks  #3 maintenance of EU system status quo  #4 populations of countries in crisis

Worth at least dipping in to.

The First Person - Ali Smith

A collection of short stories.  She plays with the person of the narrative voice.  Some of the stories not so engaging, but the last one is excellent.

The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear - Tinatin Gurchiani

Georgian documentary film.  Wonderful naive technique - hand-held camera, some long stationary shots around the city as people move in and out of the frame, moving shots from cars, trains and buses.  An almost random look into the lives of several people from 13 to 50, who present themselves for a screen test. Each section begins with an interview (against a wonderfully textured old wall), and then moves to some kind of sequence related to the life of the interviewed person.  From villages of old people to techno clubs of the young, from bucolic to emotionally disturbing.  Also has a wonderful, though unobtrusive, musical sound track.
Brilliant

My Happy Family - Nana Ekvtimishvili

A Georgian film set in Tbilisi.  Explores the patriarchal society and tangle of intergenerational family relations and roles in contemporary Georgian society.  Beautifully filmed with a great sound track (ambient noise, not music).  The mother, who rents an apartment by herself so she can live alone, is a great character.  The need for stillness and peace as the chaos of the world presses in from all sides.

L'homme qui souriait - Henning Mankell

Polar avec le détectif Wallander.  Wallander a beaucoup de texture comme personnage, comme les autres dèailleurs.  Intrigue compliquée et difficile à déceler.  A en lire plus.