Autumn Reading

It’s been a while since I posted more about the stuff I’m reading, and since the triptych format seems to have gone down well with my readers, here are the latest three books I stuck my nose into:

“Notes from a Big Country”:ISBN:0552997862	“Spook Country”:ISBN:0670914940	“The Scar”:ISBN:0330392905
I seldom have the opportunity to make a chuckling fool out of myself in public, but “Bryson’s”:Wikipedia:Bill_Bryson books have been compensating for that in spades – and “Notes from a Big Country”:ISBN:0552997862 is no exception. Being a compendium of “Bryson’s”:Wikipedia:Bill_Bryson column for British readers, it conveys the oddness and bemused wonder of his re-acquaintance with US life in short (often hilariously funny) pieces eminently suited for my daily commute.	The somewhat cliché beginning of many “Gibson”:Wikipedia:William_Gibson novels – with the main character taking in the surroundings of his/her hotel room gets a new lease of life with “Spook Country”:ISBN:0670914940, a spy tale whose plot evolves (and comes to a close) in “Gibson’s”:Wikipedia:William_Gibson trademark roundabout style, bouncing off odd cultural niches with the assurance and smoothness one would expect of him. The subject matter, however, and the lack of any cyberpunk derring-do (replaced by a larger emphasis on the characters’ own search for answers), may well disappoint some fans.	Having spent a few engrossing hours inside “Miéville’s”:Wikipedia:China_Mieville universe while nursing a flu recently, I was eager to confirm that the way the experience whisked me away from my aches was wholly attributable to the great writing and not a casual by-product of stupendously tasty chicken soup. My second dive into “Miéville’s”:Wikipedia:China_Mieville vision, “The Scar”:ISBN:0330392905 has, so far, proven an apt sequel (in environ and depth if not directly in plot and cast) to “Perdido Street Station”:ISBN:0330392891, and a good way to spend many a cosy hour in the evenings watching (as it were) its sharp characters playing out their parts against a lusciously imaginative set of backdrops.

As usual, feel free to drop me a note with more book suggestions (do check out my wishlist beforehand, since I keep adding suggestions to it).