Things I've read since New Year's more or less

Working backwards but grouping similar things together with a bit of randomness thrown in for good measure.

The Day of the Jack Russell and Mystery Man by Bateman
He's really Colin Bateman, but his marketing has dropped his first name, so now he's just Bateman. Stupid. However, it's easy enough to get over because the books are fun and the protagonist (never named) is not a type of character I've met before. These are crime fiction books and the Mystery Man, the protagonist, runs a crime fiction bookshop while being a somewhat unwilling private detective on the side, using the tools he's gleaned from reading his stock. I might misspeak - he seems to stock what he's read, ie most of the genre.

They're both normal size books but with huge amounts of whitespace and a seriously large font, so make very very quick reading. On some pages, the rate limiting step is turning the page. Read Mystery Man first and if you like it, go to the jack russell one. I read these because I was bored and came across Bateman while browsing something, I forget what. I liked his book Divorcing Jack, but like these better.

The next two books I bought for my husband for Christmas. They were from Boing Boing's fiction gift guide.

Counting Heads by David Marusek
This was set in a very well realised world, completely plausible(ish, I mean, of course, ok, not exactly "completely"). The plot is good and fast paced, but it serves to explore social issues that arise from the technology of the time. However, it does this without being preachy and in a gripping way, so is forgiven.

I really liked this book, but think that had more to do in the world in which it's set than anything else. I did quite like a few of the characters but none were terribly engaging. The sequel, Mind Over Ship, might be better or it might be worse; neither will be a surprise and we have it on order. It was the book Boing Boing recommended but I'm not a huge fan of starting in the middle of series. I did that with Hyperion by Dan Simmons; started with The Fall of Hyperion, which I loved but then didn't get on too well with Hyperion as I already knew all of the salient points.

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
I didn't like this a lot. Also, it was written in brown ink (!!!) on off-white paper. I'm too old for that.

(There are more books below, I can't fill up space talking about this book, sorry.)








I thought I'd give Christopher Brookmyre another chance, so ordered his latest.

Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre
The plot itself was clever and would have made a good short story. The portrayal of the sixth formers was spot-on, although what do I know? I'm a middle aged mother of two who needs a pair of strong glasses to see back that far. The book was shite.

Unless Jane comes back (the grandmother from All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye), I'm not reading him anymore. Or if I stumble across something new and it gets halfway decent reviews, I suppose.



I went to a Barbara Ehrenreich talk last week and bought her book Smile or Die. I am going to read that after I finish Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.