I am the most casual of causal soccer fans so my opinion is shallow and weak. But I’m picking Germany to win the World Cup. Diane and I watched parts of the World Cup games–mostly the U.S. games–but I’ve been impressed by Germany from the start of World Cup play. I wouldn’t bet the house, but I have a Good Feeling that Germany will win this game. Who are you rooting for?

The cover of Charles Stross’s The Jennifer Morgue shows Bob Howard, an operative of the super-secret agency The Laundry, underwater. I really like this cover because the cover artist’s depiction of Bob Howard looks a lot like my son, Patrick (with his glasses). I have a lukewarm relationship with Charles Stross. His science fiction novels fail to entertain me. But I do have a fondness for Stross’s “The Laundry” series. Think 007 meets H.P. Lovecraft. There are plenty of spells and geas and wards. The plot of The Jennifer Morgue involves an evil billionaire who wants to restore a Lovecraftian alien entity. Plenty of mayhem results. If you’re in the mood for a spy novel with Lovecraftian overtones, The Jennifer Morgue is fun. GRADE: B+

For today’s FFB Femme Fatale Special, I’ve chosen Jean-Patrick Manchette’s cool and clever noir novel, Fatale. Jean-Patrick Manchette is one of France’s best crime writers. This New York Review of Books edition, with an Afterword by Jean Echenoz and translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith, presents Aimée as an avenging angel who manipulates men and leads them to their doom. If you’re in the mood for a noir novel with blustering action and heart-pounding intensity, you can’t go wrong with Fatale. It doesn’t get much better than this.

You could not pay me enough money to do what Geoff Dyer does in Another Great Day at Sea: Dyer spends two weeks aboard an aircraft carrier. Dyer tells us about the maze of passageways, the noise, the stress, and the exhilaration of life on an aircraft carrier. Dyer is a Brit (although he now lives in Venice, California) who is saddened by the fact that England does not have an aircraft carrier. But Dyer is more that willing to praise the staff of the USS George H. W. Bush. Dyer captures he danger of life on an aircraft carrier as well as its excitement. As a guy who has a love/hate relationship with water, the thought of living on a floating city freaks me out. If you ever wondered what life aboard an aircraft carrier was like, Dyer’s book tells all. GRADE: B+

Robert Stone wrote one of my favorite novels, Dog Soldiers, so it pains me to report that Stone’s latest novel–Death of the Black-Haired Girl–isn’t very good. For starters, the black-haired girl named Maud (who names their daughter Maud in the past 20 years?) is killed on page 127 of this 281-page book. From page 127 on to the end, the book explores the impact of the black-haired girl’s death on her father (a NYPD cop), her lover (a college professor), her therapist (a former nun), and her roommate (an actress). Dull, dull, dull. GRADE: C

David Tennant plays a barrister who has never lost a case. But Tennant stumbles into the Dark Side when he reluctantly agrees to defend a man charged with torture and murder of a young woman. Tennant gets his client off on a technicality. But things don’t end there. Tennant’s wife sees the former client starring into the window of their home. Tennant feels he and his family are being stalked by a possible serial killer that he helped escape Justice. I enjoyed this psychological thriller. I missed it when it was shown on PBS, but I caught up with it on AMAZON. If you’re a fan of psychological (and scary) thrillers, The Escape Artist delivers. GRADE: B+

This is the first novel by Jo Nesbo that I’ve read, but it won’t be the last. I found the pages of The Son flashing by as I read this book in one day. For a 500-page book, The Son was a quick read. The book opens with a young man in prison. He thinks his father was a mole in the police department working for a crime syndicate. But then, the young man finds out what he believed was false. He breaks out of prison and engages in a series of vendettas to avenge his father’s death. This sounds grim, but Nesbo manages to spring several surprises in what seems a deceptively simple plot. If Jo Nesbo writes a sequel to The Son I’ll read it. GRADE: A-

As many of you know I eschew the outdoors. I loathe yard work. My allergies make me a virtual prisoner during the late Spring and Early Summer. But, fortunately, Diane doesn’t share my outdoor attitudes or allergies. And Diane decided this was going to be the year to rip out the old shrubbery in front of our house and replace it with new, more deer-resistant shrubbery.

So Diane contacted a local nursery and negotiated the terms of our new landscaping. A crew came out with a cool mini-backhoe and removed the old, overgrown shrubs. The guys also trimmed our trees, added new soil and mulch, and planted the new shrubs. Above, you’ll see the “before” and “after” photos. I still think AstroTurf is the answer.

Snowpiercer is set on a train that circumnavigates the Earth. Civilization crashed when a New Ice covers the planet in ice and snow. But the remnants of humanity ride on a bullet train where the 1% resides in the luxurious front of the train while the 99% fight for survival in the back of the train. So, as you can see, there’s some serious social criticism going here. Chris Evans, looking nothing like Captain America, leads the rabble in an uprising. The battle from train car to train car explodes with violence. Surprises lurk in the convoluted plot. If you’re in the mood for an unconventional dystopian science fiction movie, give Snowpiercer a try. GRADE: B+