What I'm reading ...

I have started The Things We Learn When We're Dead by Charlie Laidlaw. I have no idea what inspired me to look at and acquire this book, but it does look fascinating. Here’s the blurb:

On the way home from a dinner party, Lorna Love steps into the path of an oncoming car. When she wakes up she is in what appears to be a hospital – but a hospital in which her nurse looks like a young Sean Connery, she is served wine for supper, and everyone avoids her questions. 

It soon transpires that she is in Heaven, or on HVN, because HVN is a lost, dysfunctional spaceship, and God the aging hippy captain. She seems to be there by accident… or does God have a higher purpose after all?

Despite that, The Things We Learn When We’re Dead is neither sci-fi nor fantasy. It is a book about memory and how, if we could remember things slightly differently, would we also be changed?

The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah - by Benjamin Zephaniah

A good read. The main thing that I like about biographies is gaining insight into other people’s lives. The more different their background, the better, in some ways. I had a good feeling that Zephaniah did actually write this book - it has a genuineness to it that I enjoyed. I also learned a lot, because, even though he lived most of his life in the same country as me and over the same timescale, his world was different from mine. Having said that, there were familiar things, like popular music etc. and topical events, that kept it in context. I would now like to go to one of his performances ...

What I'm reading ...

I have started The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah: The Autobiography. Time for a change from fiction. Here’s the blurb:

In the early 1980s when punks and Rastas were on the streets protesting about unemployment, homelessness and the National Front, Benjamin’s poetry could be heard at demonstrations, outside police stations and on the dance floor. His mission was to take poetry everywhere, and to popularise it by reaching people who didn’t read books. His poetry was political, musical, radical and relevant.
By the early 1990s, Benjamin had performed on every continent in the world (a feat which he achieved in only one year) and he hasn’t stopped performing and touring since. Nelson Mandela, after hearing Benjamin’s tribute to him while he was in prison, requested an introduction to the poet that grew into a lifelong relationship, inspiring Benjamin’s work with children in South Africa. Benjamin would also go on to be the first artist to record with The Wailers after the death of Bob Marley in a musical tribute to Nelson Mandela.
The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah is a truly extraordinary life story which celebrates the power of poetry and the importance of pushing boundaries with the arts. 

Ajax Penumbra: 1969 by Robin Sloan

This was an enjoyable “back story” to the last book. It is logical to read it afterwards, as some of the forward references would make no sense otherwise. I enjoyed the setting: 1969 is a time that I can just about remember and the story mostly takes place in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, which is an area that i know well. There are references to sci fi books that are familiar: Dune and Foundation. I was surprised that nobody mentioned the moon landing, which was rather big news at the time.

Once again, I wonder if i have learned anything. Was the land on the edge of the bay reclaimed in the way it is described?

What I'm reading ...

I have started reading Ajax Penumbra: 1969 by Robin Sloan. This is the [short] prequel to the previous book that I read. It seemed logical to forge ahead. Here’s the blurb:

San Francisco, 1969. The summer of drugs, music and a new age dawning. A young, earnest Ajax Penumbra has been given his first assignment as a Junior Acquisitions Officer - to find the single surviving copy of the Techne Tycheon, a mysterious volume that has brought and lost great fortune for anyone who has owned it. After a few weeks of rigorous hunting, Penumbra feels no closer to his goal than when he started. But late one night, after another day of dispiriting dead ends, he stumbles upon a 24-hour bookstore and the possibilities before him expand exponentially. With the help of his friend's homemade computer, an ancient map, a sunken ship and the vast shelves of the 24-hour bookstore, Ajax Penumbra might just find what he's seeking…

Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore - by Robin Sloan

Most of my choice of reading is dictated by stuff I hear on the radio or driven by my book club. But sometimes I get a recommendation from a friend, which is always interesting, as it can say a lot about the friend; people’s taste in books can be quite an insight.

I really enjoyed this book. It is nicely paced and I got into it very quickly. Before long it was unputdownable. The story is complex, but not excessive. The characters are quite diverse, but well drawn. My only reservation is that, when I read a novel, I like to think that I might learn something. Without having a clear idea of the author’s integrity, I cannot be sure. In this case, my awareness of the programming language Ruby was raised, but did I learn anything about how Google actually operates?

In any case, my choice of what to read next was clear.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. This was recommended by a friend, who had stumbled across it randomly in a bookstore. I thought that it sounded intriguing. Here’s the blurb:

Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a San Francisco Web-design drone - and serendipity, coupled with sheer curiosity, has landed him a new job working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. But after just a few days, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests. There are only a few customers, but they come in repeatedly and never seem to actually buy anything, instead they simply borrow impossibly obscure volumes from strange corners of the store, all according to some elaborate, long-standing arrangement with the gnomic Mr. Penumbra. The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes, and soon he's embarked on a complex analysis of the customers' behaviour and roped his friends into helping to figure out just what's going on. But once they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, it turns out the secrets extend far outside the walls of the bookstore...

La Belle Sauvage - by Philip Pullman

My optimism with this book was well founded - I enjoyed it very much. I always have reservations about “fantasy” books - stories where the world is similar to ours, but not quite the same. However, Pullman is very skilful in this genre. The concept of the dæmon intrigues me. The author never explains it, but the place of these companion beings is gradually elucidated in the book.

The story has all the right features: It is well paced and has clearly drawn characters. As it progresses, there is the odd surprise.

I seem to recall that His Dark Materials was billed as children’s literature. I wonder about this book. Amazon seems to think “Teen and young adult”. There is some language and themes that are not very child friendly.

At the end of the book, I look forward to the publication of the next volume, which I will most likely buy at the introductory Kindle price - the equivalent to buying a newly-published hardback. In the meantime, should I have another read of His Dark Materials?