"The Devils' Alliance"

The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact with Stalin, 1939 - 1941 (Roger Moorhouse)

Kind of the European version of Japan 1941. As you can guess from the title, this book covers the strange period of time where Nazi Germany and Stalin's USSR were allies, starting just before the pact was signed and ending with the German sneak attack in June 1941. This is obviously a pretty depressing book, but as a look at a often-ignored period of time, it's fascinating; I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at how cynical Hitler and Stalin both were given that they both agreed to the titular devil's alliance, but here we are. My only caveat is that this is something of a niche title. I found the book very interesting, but a 432-page history of two years about World War II where World War II isn't happening between the subjects is kind of a hard sell. That said, this is probably an excellent appetizer to read before a solid history of the European front in WW2.

Grade: B+

"The Damnation of Pythos"

The Damnation of Pythos (David Annandale)

I'll cut right to the chase here: This is not a good book. There's enough material here for a middling short story, and stretched out to novel length, it's a real slog; I only finished it out of some misplaced sense of devotion, and it was a struggle not to skip pages as nothing happened for the middle 80% of the book. Most of this is waiting for something to happen, which is exactly as thrilling as it sounds; when it does finally kick off at the end of the book, it turns into a long, sub-par action scene that just kind of fizzles out. I can't even recommend this to 40k superfans; there's much better books to spend your time and attention on.

Grade: D-

"The Dark Knight Manual"

The Dark Knight Manual: Tools, Weapons, Vehicles & Documents from the Batcave

Almost exactly what it says on the cover; this is a book about the, uh, tools, weapons, and vehicles Batman uses in the Christopher Nolan movies. The star of the show is actually the "documents" of the title, which are neat feelies (think of the letters from Griffin & Sabine, if you've ever read those); being able to flip through the police report on the Joker or Harvey Dent's hospital file is really neat.
My only caveat is that there's not a ton of material here; the MSRP of $40 is just a bit much, working out to $20 an hour if you're a slow reader (I finished the entire book in two bathroom breaks). Pick it up if you see it in the bargain bin, otherwise it's a little tough to recommend.

Grade: B

"The Cuckoo's Egg"

The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage (Cliff Stoll)

This is a real-life detective story that I had a really hard time putting down. The book kicks off when the author notices a seventy-five cent billing discrepancy in his mainframe system (this is back in the 80's when people were paying for computer time), and a little digging ends up turning up, well, I'm not really sure I should say.
I can say that I really liked this book; it's mostly about computer crime, but I wouldn't worry about it being too esoteric (I mostly find it charming - the mainframes these guys are chasing each other through have a faction of the power of your phone.) I would recommend skipping the back cover, which gives away the mystery, but otherwise I have nothing but good things to say.

Grade: B+