I’ve got back into reading books recently, i used to read quite a lot when i was younger, and then stopped for ages because i chose video games and tv instead. over the last few months, i’ve had at least two books on the go, some fiction, some non-fiction. i’m not really sure what i want this blog to be about, whether it’s a breakdown on my favourite books ever, or just about what i’ve been reading lately. i’ll start typing and see where i end up.

One of the two books i’m reading at the moment is the first Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book. this sort of solves my dilemma from the previous chapter, i’m reading it currently, and it’s one of my favourite books ever. i love douglas adams, and even though this book was written 30 years ago (i think), it still seems modern. and to make it even better, it’s one of the only e-books i’ve got, so i’m reading HGttG on my iphone, which is essentially a hitchhiker’s guide to the world. i got the trilogy in five parts for christmas when i was about 16, but thought, what the fuck is this? it seems well geeky, so didn’t read it for ages, until i was bored the next christmas in fact. and i loved it. my favourite is probably the one (SPOILER ALERT) where he learns to fly, and is flying around london (END OF SPOILER ALERT). my least favourite is the one where he makes sandwiches (that doesn’t need a spoiler alert, because it’s not very good).

I bought the rest of his stuff soon after that, the Dirk Gently books are quite fun, but not as good as hitchhiker’s. Last Chance to See is a great book, it’s a shame stephen fry annoys me quite a lot, so that i didn’t watch much of the recent tv series. boo hoo stephen, your fucking iphone is out of batteries, i don’t give a fuck, go fall over and break your arm again.  it really is a great book though, it’s all about him and his mate going around the world seeing animals that are about to be extinct. i keep meaning to re-read The Salmon of Doubt, maybe i’ll do that over this christmas, it’s a collection of all the last stuff he did before he died, including bits of the third dirk gently book. there’s a new HGttG book out this year, but written by not him, obviously. i can’t believe they’ve let someone do that, i’m just going to ignore it from now on.

The other book that i’m reading at the moment is The End of Mr Y, which is by someone called Scarlett Thomas. This is probably my least favourite book of hers, that i’ve read anyway. it’s basically about this english phd student who finds this book and it’s got a really strange thing going on. it sounds incredibly childish, in fact, me and bonse were talking about whether it’s a childrens book the other day. i’d say it’s childrens book for adults, which i don’t think there are enough of, i don’t want to read about some kid dying in a concentration camp, or getting beat up by his parents, i want to read about some girl that loves learning stuff and goes mental. it’s not just the story that makes me like her books so much, she talks about quantum physics/language/complex maths, and explains it all really well, and it normally fits quite well in to her stories, although sometimes it’s massively forced, but it’s great that she does it. last night i went to bed thinking that there might actually be a god, not because her story was that good (it definitely isn’t), but because of the way she explained the big bang/quantum theory in a way i’ve never thought about before.

The other books that i’ve read by her are Not Going Out and PopCo. Not going out was the first one i read, because it was recommended to me in the back of a douglas coupland book. it’s basically like the film bubbleboy, but set in essex, and about a million times better. there’s this 20 something year old guy who can’t go outside because he’s allergic to the sun, and his next door neighbour was this big brainiac in school, but now she’s just working in pizza hut and is scared to do anything. actually, it’s more wizard of oz set in essex, the bubble is just one of the costumes i guess. that isn’t some big thought i’ve had, she basically says “this is the wizard of oz story”, but i’d forgotten that until now. and they have to drive to wales to go see a magic healer man. it’s great, and always makes me want to drive around britain. me and my mates went on a great road trip once, but that’s for another blog, or maybe i’ve already told it before.

Her other book, PopCo, is really good too. it alternates between the story of a woman, one when she’s 10ish and it’s the 80s (i think), and one when she’s 20 something, and it’s modern day. she’s this child genius (again), and does all these cool code breaking things with her grandad, who used to work at Bletchly Park (which nearly got shut down as a museum this year, but thankfully didn’t basically because of stephen fry, something good he’s done at least). and the other part is about how she’s got head hunted to work for this cool toy company (popco), but then weird things start happening. i’d really recommend all her books to anyone that hasn’t read them. i keep meaning to buy her older books, but never get round to doing so.

God, i’ve written a lot already, but can’t see myself writing another book blog for a while, so i’ll carry on. it might get a bit disjointed though, because i’ll be stopping soon to finish work.

Thinking about those three books always reminds me of another english book, it’s called The Raw Shark Texts, and i can’t remember who it’s by. it’s about this guy who loses his memory, and every few days, he’ll lose it again. it’s not amnesia, but they don’t know what else it could possibly be. i won’t ruin it for you, but it’s basically about the power of words and thought, and treats them as if they can manifest themselves into real physical things. it’s really good, i’m not usually a man who likes thinking about words (i’d rather think about physics), but this made me really think about them.

Thinking about Scarlett Thomas also gets me thinking about Douglas Coupland, pretty logical since he made me first read scarlett thomas’ books. He used to be my favourite author, and i’ve probably read more books by him than any other author, other than stephen king probably. The first book of his i read was Girlfriend in a Coma, the main reason i read this was because i’d just started getting into the smiths a little bit, and had seen people talking about it on punktastic, so picked it up. i loved it straight away, i loved how it started off just about this seemingly mundane life, and then there’s his girlfriend in a coma for 20 years and other things that make it a lot less ordinary. then about two thirds of the way through the book, it all just completely changes direction (i won’t ruin it). i’m sure there’s some much deeper meaning to all that goes on, but i just love a good story.

I’ve read too many of his other books to keep proper track, i think i’ve read all of them, apart from the non-fiction ones about canada/vancouver, which i do want to read at some point. highlights off the top of my head include, All Families are Psychotic, about a family that’s really messed up, the daughter is a cripple who is an astronaut, the brother is a pisshead, and the other brother is a weirdo. the parents are both fucked up too. another one is Eleanor Rigby, another song title, i know, it’s about this woman who was a bit weird as a child and then grew up to be normal, then her long lost/abandoned son finds her when he’s grown up. His recent books haven’t been as good, a lot more pretentious, although his latest one Generation A (a reference to his most famous book, Generation X), is really good. it’s about these 5 people who are all stung by bees, pretty ordinary. except that bees have been extinct for 5 years or so. it’s a really good book, although the ending is either a massive cop out, or again, deeper than i care to think.

I have read books that aren’t set in space/the last 20 years, a lot of the classic american stuff are some of my favourite books, but i think that is definitely for another blog, 1500 words is plenty for one.

Apologies if you did read all of that, for someone that has read quite a few books, you’d expect my english to be a lot better, and not just use the words “really”, “good” and “great” shit loads.