What I'm reading ...

I have started Down Among the Dead Men: A Year in the Life of a Mortuary Technician by Michelle Williams. I wanted some non-fiction and this has been sitting on my “shelf” for a long time, so I thought I’d give it a go. Here’s the blurb:

Michelle Williams is young and attractive, she has close family ties as well as a busy social life - but she is far from usual. She is a mortuary technician and her job involves dealing with those things in life that many people do not wish to experience directly.
Yet life in the mortuary is neither gruesome nor sad. Told with good humour and common sense, we are introduced to a host of characters - the pathologists, many of them eccentric, some downright mad; the undertakers, the hospital porters and the man from the coroner's office who sings to Michelle every morning. The incidents too ensure that no two days are ever the same. From the tragic to the hilarious they include:
The fitness fanatic who was run over as he did pressups in the road on a dark night; The decapitated motorcyclist; The guide dog who led his owner on to the railway tracks - and left him there; The forty stone man for whom an entire refrigerated lorry had to be hired because he wouldn't fit in the mortuary cooler.
Over the course of her first year Michelle has to deal with situations and emotions that few of us will ever experience, and does so while retaining a sense of humour and a sense of perspective.

The Second Sleep - by Robert Harris

I glanced at a few reviews of this book before starting. This is something that I do not usually do, as I do not want to read “spoilers”. However, the only thing that they did tell me was that this book is not what it seems. It is not a historical novel. I will say no more.
As always with this author, I enjoyed the quality of writing and attention to detail. The characters were quite strong, I felt, and the story had a continuous stream of happenings and revelations to keep me interested. There are aspects of the story that make you wonder about the world that we live in, but this is presented with a little spark of humour that works well.
Initially I was a little disappointed with the ending, though I was pleased to find it had one, as many books seem to just stop. I did something unusual: I re-read the last two chapters just to make sure I fully understood the nuances. I can confirm that a sequel is very unlikely. There is an aspect of the story where I would have liked a more definitive explanation, but I suspect that the author felt that the way it is makes it more thought provoking.

What I’m reading ...

I have started The Second Sleep by Robert Harris. When I heard that he had a new book and read some details, it was irresistible. Here's the blurb:

1468. A young priest, Christopher Fairfax, arrives in a remote Exmoor village to conduct the funeral of his predecessor. The land around is strewn with ancient artefacts – coins, fragments of glass, human bones – which the old parson used to collect. Did his obsession with the past lead to his death?

As Fairfax is drawn more deeply into the isolated community, everything he believes – about himself, his faith and the history of his world – is tested to destruction.

The Turning - by Tim Winton

The first thing that struck me, after reading just a few pages of this book, was the quality of the writing - beautifully descriptive without being flowery. I enjoy reading in a different English - in this case Australian - there are unfamiliar words and different nuances in the language usage.

I found the linking of the stories very interesting and it was this that kept my attention. I rather regret not taking notes so I could keep track of some of the recurring characters and events. I thought that the book might be described as a kind of literary cubism - showing things from multiple points of view.

I will certainly be keen to read more by this author.