Married In Haste by Cathie Maxwell.
Aristocratic Rich Heroine Whose Name I Forgot Already is turning into an old maid when she makes a bet with the other girls at the society ball - which one of them can get a marriage proposal first? At the same time Hero Whose Name I Forgot Already needs a wealthy wife to rebuild his tumbledown manor. Complicating factor: Brother of Rich Heroine, Both of Whose Names I Already Forgot has misspent Rich Heroine's fortune. A pretty standard romance, nothing special.

The Rake by Mary Jo Putney.
This is a romance that does it right. Reggie Davenport is a rake and a drunkard. Alys Weston is a woman with a mysterious and painful past, who has made a new life for herself as the steward of Strickland - an estate which formerly belonged to the Earl of Wargrave, but has been deeded over to Reggie (because it was his mother's estate originally - long backstory here.) Reggie has decided to turn a new leaf and leave his wastrel ways in London, and to move to Dorset where his estate is.
He meets Alys and decides to keep her on as his steward. He's attracted to her. She's attracted to him. But he's a drunkard and she's got her own issues. The story shows us how each of them perseveres through problems, changes, and grows, and how they find love together. I didn't forget anyone's name in this story. Well worth reading if you like romance and well worth reading as a story in its own right.

Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson.
Very interesting tome on why some nations get ahead and have good times, and why some nations are hellholes. The authors use countries with political borders for some of their examples - e.g., North and South Korea. The countries share similar climate, heritage, culture, and racial identity. Yet, due to the imposition of a border during the Korean War, and due to differing political systems, South Korea is prosperous and North Korea is facing famine. Or the difference between Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Mexico - the photograph shows the stark contrast. The authors argue that it's the presence of institutions - the rule of law, property rights, "inclusive" vs. "extractive" institutions, pluralism - that make all the difference. They discuss the oligarchy rule - maybe the leadership of a country is overthrown, but a new set of leaders come in and they do all the same things, except maybe worse. Example: The Tsar's reign in Russia (millions of peasants laboring in servitude, a few incredibly rich aristocrats at the top) was replaced by the Soviets (millions of 'comrades' laboring in servitude, a few incredibly rich 'comrades' at the top, along with a genocide of a few million people along the way.)

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell.
Everybody's favorite B-movie actor ("The Evil Dead", "Army of Darkness", Autolycus on "Xena", and of course Bill Church, Jr., on "L&C") talks about how he got his start in acting, along with some of his buddies (Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and others.) Bruce doesn't take himself too seriously and the book is loads of fun.

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Make Love The Bruce Campbell Way by Bruce Campbell.
In the second book, he gives his unique spin on making a movie with Mike Nichols, Renee Zellweger, and Richard Gere. (Warning: some events may be fictional. In fact, the whole book is probably fictional. But it's funny.)
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When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro.
The blurb: "Born in early-twentieth-century Shanghai, Banks was orphaned at the age of nine after the separate disappearances of his parents. Now, more than twenty years later, he is a celebrated figure in London society; yet the investigative expertise that has garnered him fame has done little to illuminate the circumstances of his parents' alleged kidnappings. Banks travels to the seething, labyrinthine city of his memory in hopes of solving the mystery of his own, painful past, only to find that war is ravaging Shanghai beyond recognition-and that his own recollections are proving as difficult to trust as the people around him." A good book.