I’ve always been a reader, from my childhood on, and the allure of getting lost in a good book has never released its grip on me. Since my retirement in June 2022, I’ve been reading a lot. Here are some of my favorite books from the past year; let me know your thoughts about these or others! Fiction 100 Years of Solitude , Gabriel García Márquez – Márquez’s fantastical epic about the Colombian Buendia family is one of the greatest books I’ve read. Cold Mountain , Charles Frazier – Outstanding literary novel about a wounded Civil War soldier’s desertion and return to home. Beautifully written prose. Age of Vice , Deepti Kapoor – Great fictional account of a poor Indian boy’s introduction to the Indian mafia, his rise and fall within, and his ultimate redemption. The Slope of Memory , Jos é Geraldo Vieira – A cerebral tale of a Brazilian writer that is like a mashup of a D.H. Laurence novel and the philosophical dialectic of Plato’s Republic (but much more entertaining than I’m