Books Read in January

(Btw, I'm completely stealing this concept from Adam.) 

I'm going to try a new thing where I write about the books that I'm reading each month outside of the Great Book list.  Hopefully it will be interesting for others to read, but if nothing else it will serve as some kind of log for myself. 

American Gods, Neil Gaiman - A Hugo winner of about ten years ago, this is a fantasy novel about a man who gets involved in a war between gods of older mythologies (Norse, Egyptian, etc.) and newer American gods such as media and technology.  Very interesting detail work throughout and a lot of travel in my neck of the woods.  This is a reread for me.
Some Remarks, Neal Stephenson - A collection of essays and articles from one of my favorite authors.  Interesting stuff throughout, but the piece that really stuck with me was this one, regarding the ways that our culture has drawn the curtain on challenging stuff.
Podkayne of Mars, Robert Heinlein - Another reread for me.  I picked this one up mostly because of a part of the book that deals with an interplanetary cruise liner.  It had been some time (ten years? fifteen?) since I last read Podkayne.  The female protagonist thinks that being a woman will hold her back from her career.  Extremely dated book now.
The Wes Anderson Collection - Essays and articles on Wes Anderson and the movies that he's made.  He's one of the few directors whose new movies make me want to run out to the theater.  Also, lots of gorgeous pictures of sets and behind the scenes stuff.

I dipped into a lot of other things, but that's about all I can really say that I read this past month.