"Of what import are brief, nameless lives... to Galactus?"

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

I fell in love with Junot Díaz after the first few minutes reading this book. Simple as that. I actually ran to get his collection of short-stories, that's how much in awe of his writing I was.

And why was that?

It's, in a word, fresh. A mix of street-hardened spanglish (not bastardized, mind you, just an abundance of Latin-American Spanish expressions) with nerdcore galore (it's not every book that manages to compare Trujillo with Darkseid, I'll tell you that much!), it just leaps from the page, at times sounding like something that shouldn't be read but lived, if that makes sense.

The main character (for this book deals not only with Oscar but with his family and his people) is, well, a big fat nerd. No two ways around it, Oscar is a gamer, a comic book nerd, a sci-fi geek that simply does not function well within the real world.

And don't we all know someone like that (trust me, I used to work in a comic book shop)?

We are swept in by his family, his problematic sister, his larger than life mother, the saintly grannie (you might call it a cliche, but heck, she reminds me of my grandmother, it's a very Latin trait in a way!), his quasi-brother-in-law but, in the background (the soul of the book itself), there are always the Dominicanos. Their culture, their history, their curses.Díaz makes a point of filling you in on episodes of the Trujillato so that you'll have an idea of how the Dominican soul was broken and how it still affects its descendants to this day, even when they ran away to far off Nueva York.Fukú weights heavily in Oscar and Lola's shoulders. And there's no running away from curses.

This book is undoubtedly a joy to read, although I wonder how other readers will take its usage of Spanish slang and the many, many, MANY nerd references* that more than temper the book marinate it.

A worthy Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner and a solid 5 stars for me!

*And "Grodd" is spelt with two Ds, Díaz, TWO Ds!!

[Bruno]

Preview - The Left Hand of God

We wouldn’t normally do this, but I’ve just read a proof for Paul Hoffman’s forthcoming fantasy debut The Left Hand of God, due in January 2010 and a word is definitely required. All things being equal this new piece of “imaginative fiction” should prove to be one of next years big titles on the fantasy market and probably the cross-over market as well. International rights sold in a heartbeat after it appeared at the Frankfurt book fair and Penguin Michael Joseph are planning to heavily market what they consider to be a very important new author.

Being touted as a blend of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose and Harry Potter, the novel follows the adventures of Thomas Cale, a Redeemer Acolyte raised from toodlerhood in a sort of brutal preparatory academy for fanatical warrior priests. I’m not going to give a single plot point away but trust me; this is riveting stuff, artfully crafted and a joy to read. It grabbed me from the first page and it’s incredibly well developed world and dark sheen of danger, adventure and intrigue kept me hanging on until the end.

So be sure that come January next year you get your hands on what might well prove to be the biggest new name in fantasy.

[Rob]

What we're reading.

Sum is probably the best book I've read this year. Simple as that. Written by David Eagleman (who, being a neurosurgeon and a writer, is a rock star step away from being Buckaroo Banzai), it's a little book of short stories (one could almost call them vignettes) on what happens when you die.

The fact that it's published by Canongate is almost a guarantee of quality per se, but this truly is one of the most original and thought-provoking books I've laid my hands in recent years. Every tale just crackles with uniqueness and it's no surprise that it's championed by people like Philip Pullman and Brian Eno, who went as far as to write a score for it for a live rendition at the Sydney Opera House.

There is a lot I could tell you about Sum, but this absolutely is a book you need and deserve to discover by yourself. But don't trust my word on its own sake, here, read a few excerpts and tell me what you think.

[Bruno]

Sum: Forty Tales From The Afterlives by David Eagleman
Published By Canongate, available in-store

What we're reading.

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the name Robin Hood? Merry Men, Maid Marion, Errol Flynn fencing his way up a circular staircase, tights, feathers and Bryan Adams songs? Whilst modern interpretations of the Robin Hood myth have pervaded popular culture for over two centuries in poetry, literature, theatre and cinema, Adam Thorpe’s latest novel Hodd, is a completely different animal.

The time is thirteenth century England and the tale that unfolds is related to us by Thorpe’s narrator, the elderly monk Matthew, scribbling his confessional memoirs by candlelight around the year 1305. Ridden with guilt for popularising Hodd as a hero of the common man in his younger days, Brother Matthew attempts to set the record straight with a ‘true’ account of Hodds doings. We follow his misadventures as a young would be jongleur, a singer and player of the harp, and companion to Brother Thomas a gluttonous, blasphemous, drunken monk (there‘s always one), who is taken captive by the enigmatic outlaw Robert Hodd (or Robyn Hodde, or Robin Hood) . But none of your feather-in-the-cap-bright-green-merry shenanigans here.

Thorpe’s Hodd is a brutal anarchist, a man who is as at home with acts of sudden motiveless slaughter as he is among the grey, misty confines of his woodland hideout. Not a whisper of any charitable handouts to be found within these pages, Hodd is a man who believes himself above any law of Man or God, fired by his belief in the Doctrine of the Free Spirit (a familiar heresy in medieval Europe which places him beyond sin), Robert and his not-so-merry men selfishly pillage and rape as they see fit.

Little John (another member of Hodd’s criminal brotherhood and a constant competitor for the mantle of leadership) is here too as is Will Scarlett but no sign of the eponymous Marion or indeed many of the other characters that are considered central to the Robin Hood canon. Yes, Hodd goes armed with his famous English Longbow but rather than piping the ace at royal archery contests, we have him, in one early episode, using a well aimed arrow to staple the hand of a helpless quack doctor to a tree branch. Thorpe has much to say about the inequalities of life in the middle ages and paints an unflattering picture of the clergy and landowning nobility of the day, however those of you looking for clearly defined good guys and bad guys will be disappointed.

Overall Hodd presents us with an absorbing and disturbing re-imagining of a familiar folk hero. Thorpe’s use of a pseudo-Chaucerean English and fast lean narrative add much to our immersion in a world where beauty and simplicity of life went hand in hand with constant danger and a keen awareness of the nearness of death. If you like your fiction uncompromising and your novels historical, then Hodd is definitely for you.

[Rob]

Hodd by Adam Thorpe
Published by Jonathan Cape, in store now

What we're reading.

From the outset I should confess that ever since seeing Pan’s Labyrinth three years ago I have been an avowed fan of Guillermo Del Toro’s films. Few directors I have come across seem to have such an understanding of fable, myth, and the traditional tale of wonder. So when I first heard about the forthcoming novel from the Mexican Marvel, written in conjunction with video-store-clerk-turned-best-selling-thriller-writer Chuck Hogan I was, naturally, a little excited.

So does this tale of viral vampires in modern day New York hit the spot? Whilst Booker Prizes obviously won’t be beckoning, this cracking piece of sci-fi horror will certainly keep fans of the genre entertained from start to finish. With plenty of gore, wry humour, and some genuinely creepy moments (one scene in particular, where an evening visit to a neighbour’s house goes badly wrong for one wealthy suburbanite, had me quite unnerved), The Strain does exactly what it sets out to do. With plenty of nods to its source material and a palpable sense of nerdish enjoyment, Del Toro and Hogan are clearly out to frighten and entertain diehard vampire fans and newcomers alike.

The high concept biology behind The Strain’s unique brand of zombie-like Strigoi adds a truly engaging element to the narrative and in a literary landscape where the vampire-as- icon has become increasingly domesticated and friendly, thanks to the runaway success of the Paranormal Romance genre (authors like Stephanie Meyer, P.C. Cast, Sherrilyn Kenyon and Charlaine Harris numbering among the biggest sellers of the past twelve months), it’s refreshing and fun to meet Creatures of the Night who most certainly don’t want to be anyone’s boyfriend, and are solely interested in the one thing a blood-sucker should be interested in, sucking your blood!

[Rob]

The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan
Published by Harper Collins, in-store now, €13.99

What we're reading

If you are a man like me, you’ll be, well, scared of a book that people describe as a romance. We’re manly men, we don’t have time for romances, right?! But what if it’s a romance with time-travelling? Ah, I see your attention perked up.

The Time-Traveller’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger, is such a thing. Sure, it’s too melodramatic and lovey-dovey at times, but it’s a darn good book. Niffeneger manages to write a good time-travelling tale (although in a more personal scale, it’s all done only along the time-lines of the main characters) where we have the clichéd boy meets girl but in this case, Clare first meets Henry when she’s 6 and he’s 36, and Henry first meets Clare when he’s 28 and she’s 20. Don’t worry, it will all make sense.

I don’t want to give out too much about the book (here’s a wikipedia link, but be warned, spoilers ahead!) so I’ll just say that I was surprised with how much I was able to enjoy this romance and still be a manly man.

There’s a film of it coming out soon, if you’re more visually inclined, with Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams, but this is a book I definitely recommend reading before you watch it. Who knows, you might find that them romances can be good books too.

[Bruno]

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Published by Vintage Books, available in-store

What we're reading

The first novel by the creator of the Lemony Snicket series and musician with indie guitar band The Magnetic Fields is a black comedy charting the downfall of Flannery Culp, a world-weary high school senior. The Basic Eight of the title refers to her elite gang of friends, from the glamorous, to the kind, to the jadedly cool – but when the Basic Eight are infiltrated by Flannery’s rival and nemesis, her life spirals out of control, with fatal results.

Written in the form of a journal with faux study questions at the end of each chapter, The Basic Eight is both a witty satire of the American high school genre and a thrillingly cool twist on the Columbo-style murder mystery where the murderer is revealed at the beginning, and the mystery revolves around how the killer got caught. And just when you think the twists can’t get any more treacherous, Handler springs his biggest surprise…

[Jarlath]

The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler
Published by Allison & Busby Books, available in-store at 4.99 (while stocks last)