Anathem by Neal Stephenson

The first reviews of this book I read were rather odd, and can be summarized as “This is an admirable book but will anybody love it?” Now that I’ve read it I think the ambivalence was due to the great wads of philosophy and theory in the book, as well as the length. I loved Anathem myself, but I did have to stop reading occasionally to digest the theory.

I also loved the idea of the monastery like setting where the inhabitants concentrate on the life of the mind (not the spirit or soul, though it rates the occasional fleeting mention). And current events outside are only filtered inside occasionally, so everyone automatically has a very long view of events and history. I especially liked the history branch, who went around pointing out when this idea or theory had come up before, an essential group when you have 7000 years of recorded history - this book is not set on Earth, by the way.

I liked Stephenson’s The Diamond Age also, though the lack of any denouement in it was a bit surprising. Anathem however has lots of denouement, and a plot that is quite easy to follow, and better characterisation than The Diamond Age also. An admirable book, but set aside some serious time to read it! And don't read any reviews before you do, they mostly give away too much plot. When I had finished I missed reading it and getting lost in another world.

Anathem first published 2008

A Cavern of Black Ice by J.V. Jones

Don’t bother reading this book. There is too much torture and death, all described in unnecessary detail, and always from the POV (point of view) of the dying or being tortured person. Ages is spent on situations that have little to do with the overall plot, but are there to set a character in motion, unfortunately in immense detail and length. The teaser incident described on the back cover blurb happens on page 348! A sure sign of a bloated book.

It also has lots of my pet hate, the current POV character’s emotions and attitudes mentioned in detail very often. I gave up on reading the whole book and started skipping madly, but nothing much happened in terms of plot. There was lots of travel and deaths, and also many mentions of ravens, flagged early in the book as significant. The cover perfoms the astonishing feat of being worse than the book.

A Cavern of Black Ice first published 1999

A Pound of Paper by John Baxter

I purchased this at the Cathedral fete, which is always notable for the plant, book and jam stalls. I was very amused reading it. Baxter's concentration on one part of his life, book collecting and the people he met through it, makes this far more interesting than the usual autobiography. The glimpses of the rest of his life were interesting, too. I know autobiographical works are filed with non-fiction in libraries, but at home I always file them with fiction. Usually the style is much more like fiction than non-fiction, as it is here.

It seems in the world of rare and collectable books, it is far more Seller Beware than Buyer Beware. Personally I don't care about books signed by the author or first editions, it is the words that are important to me, but I can see the attraction to other people. Definitely an enjoyable read.

A Pound of Paper first published 2002