A History of Modern Italy - Anthony L. Cardoza

Italy from late 1700's to 2016.  Nice concise account of unification and the formation of the Italian State.  You get a sense of who the people are whose names are on so many streets in Italian towns.  (Basically, important figures in the struggle for unification.)
Yet another example of a state that can't seem to escape its historical political culture.  So many conflicting interests - regional competition; state vs. church; competition for dominance within a specific region; district or town; winner take all approach with accompanying corruption and crime; corrupt elites in all areas of leadership who mainly look out for themselves.  Been like this for 1000 years, and no one can seem to change it.  Politicians serious about change are always chased out in the end.  The wealthy and powerful elite doesn't seem to have modified their greed and grasping ways since the heyday of 19th century capitalism.
One thing that leaves me angry is how the current populist parties like the Northern League, etc. can dare to suggest that Italy's problems are the result of immigration!  In fact, they are self-created and self-perpetuated, and have been decades, centuries even, in the making.

In a House of Lies - Ian Rankin

Latest Rankin book.  Very good!  All kinds of stories woven together and crossing each other.   The denouement remains a mystery right until the end.  Rebus is even funnier and more ironic as he ages and speaks from retirement.  No real central issue or theme that I can see - except perhaps the perennial "bureaucratic process is no match for raw intelligence".

Il mare colore del vino - Leonardo Sciascia

Scrittore italiano della Sicilia.  Questo libro è una collezione di storie brevi che raccontano diversi aspetti della vita nella Sicilia - società, mafia, incontri sociali, rapporti tra donne e uomini, religione e superstizioni.
Bello scrittore.  Voglio leggerne più.

J. D. Salinger: A Life - Kenneth Slawenski

A very respectful biography that avoids getting bogged down in the rumours and seamier sides of his biography associated with accusations made by one of of his former women.  Slawenski covers the known, verifiable biographical points of Salinger's life in so far as they can be determined in a man who was so obsessed with personal privacy.  The biography actually spends a lot of time examining his body of work.  Slawenski discusses many short stories that seem to have disappeared, and sketches what he knows about the contents of some of them.  He also looks in detail at all his published work and traces the development of Salinger's ideas in each one.  What becomes clear is that Salinger's work was essentially a spiritual journey which seems to have, in large part, come out of his horrific experiences during WW II, experiences that seem to have destroyed his faith in people and society, and left him damaged spiritually in some way.   His work can be seen as some attempt at healing.
I wonder at the same time if he ever really got out of his ego box.  His work shows a deep love for children and an understanding of their openness or innocence, or their clarity of vision of the world around them in some basic way.  Yet, it becomes clear he was not such a great father...  As you read about his later life, it almost seems as if he retreated into the world of the Glass family that he created, as an idealized substitute for the reality of the family and people around him. 
Worth reading if you like Salinger's body of work.

England and Other Stories - Graham Swift

Some good stories in the collection, but overall not as good as Waterland and Wish You Were Here.  Not as complex, but I suppose that is a limit of space with short stories.