Thursday 27 May 2010

Colleagues: an apology

I get the feeling I'm stretching the bounds of consideration towards my colleagues, particularly those involved in carrying and sorting the post. Today's haul included three very big, heavy boxes from a certain none-too-principled online book behemoth, and a parcel from an independent bookshop. I shall moderate my purchases before hernias develop.

What came in today?
Finally, Nicola Barker's Burley Cross Postbox Theft because she wrote Darkmans and can therefore do no wrong - ask Cynical Ben if you don't believe me;
Adam Roberts' New Model Army, set in a war-torn near future UK: he's a writer bursting with great ideas and he has a lovely turn of narrative, as he should, being a professor of Eng Lit and Creative Writing. The premise reminds me of J. G. Ballard's Vietnam-in-the-UK short story, 'The Killing Ground', discussed here and Moorcock's A Cure for Cancer;
Alan Warner's The Stars in the Bright Sky, sequel to his warm, funny, lovely The Sopranos (not the gangsters but a bunch of Scottish schoolgirls);
China Miéville's The Kraken - I enjoy his work but I'm never entirely convinced that there's much more going on in The New Weird than entertainment and a gothic imagination;
Scarlett Thomas's The End of Mr Y, because I heard her read at All Tomorrow's Parties a year ago and was impressed;
Mike Berners-Lee's How Bad Are Bananas: the carbon footprint of everything, because I'm wracked (that's how you spell it, kids) with guilt. If there's a chapter on books, I'm ignoring it;
a signed copy Jonathan Coe's The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim, because I've read his other books and they're acute, funny and wise;
Robert Wilson's Julian Comstock: a Story of 22nd-Century America because I'm a sucker for dystopian future novels (even though the present is dystopian enough for anyone: Gwyneth Jones Bold as Love series is the best of all and - huzzah -  she's back online, but Wilson's book looks fascinating. There's definitely a post-nationalist or new nationalist wave breaking)
and finally,
Dan Rhodes's Gold because I heard that it's funny and Welsh-related.

Obviously, I've got looming multiple research deadlines, so these books will merely be extra bricks in the wall I'm going to build in the office to shield me from colleagues' scorn.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

...dusty.

Ewarwoowar said...

All very fascinating, I'm sure, but would you not rather settle down with a Bravo Two Zero or a The One That Got Away?

Ahh, violence. Tremendous, I recommend both.

The Plashing Vole said...

Oddly, violence doesn't do it for me at all. Books which relax me are humorous or SF.

Benjamin. said...

Funny you should say that, I'm currently writing a story on cryogenic development as my character is frozen then re-born 25 years on. I shall send it to you sometime.