Odysseus The Oath (first in a mythological trilogy 2013) by Valerio Massimo Manfredi

Good enough to keep me reading a story I already know to the end.  Manfredi sticks with the Homeric Odysseus.  And Helen almost gets to be a person.

Ambition and Desire - the Dangerous Life of Josephine Bonaparte by Kate Williams (nonfiction 2014)

The book is just OK - I wasn't excited about finishing it.  Ms. Williams does have a way of boiling down the intricacies of French politics.

Marbeck and the Privateers by John Pilkingon (historical mystery 2014)

Tight suspenseful action continues in this third book about Marbeck.  This story is set after King James takes over from Elizabeth I and begins to make peace with the Spanish.  Anyone who likes a spy or mystery novel will like this.  I'm impressed by Pilkington's three enjoyable mysteries in a row.

Augustus (nonfiction 2006) and Hadrian (2009) by Anthony Everitt

Augustus is certainly a hard nut to crack when it comes to a biography, seeing as he was the most talented propagandist in the history of the world.  He doesn't want us to know the "real" him, that's exactly the point.  But Everitt is great at creating a person for the reader, and great at telling us exactly how he comes to believe Augustus would have been as a man.

On the other hand, Hadrian never comes alive.  Maybe it's because Hadrian himself was a horse's ass and a know-it-all, but the book doesn't make you care.  More than half is mostly about how Hadrian related to Trajan, naturally because that's what we have to go on, but I didn't enjoy it as much.