We choose our books several months ahead. Here are the books we'll be reading in the coming months. December 2ndThe End of Mr Y - Scarlett Thomas
When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of "The End of Mr Y" in a second-hand bookshop, she can't believe her eyes. She's read about its author before, the outlandish Victorian scientist Thomas Lumas, and this is his most notorious, and rarest, book. It is also believed to hold a curse. Anyone who's ever read it, including Lumas, has disappeared without trace.With "Mr Y" under her arm, Ariel is thrust into an adventure of faith, physics, love, death, and everything in between.Part gothic mystery, part time-travelling love story, "The End of Mr Y" lies somewhere between "Shadow of the Wind" and "Dr Who". Scarlett Thomas sends us on a wild and irresistible quest into our deepest selves and our biggest questions.
January 6th The Gum Thief - Douglas Coupland
Meet Roger, a divorced, middle-aged 'aisles associate' at a Staples outlet, condemned to restocking reams of paper for the rest of his life, and his co-worker, Bethany, who's at the end of her Goth phase and realising she's facing fifty more years of shelving Post-it notes and replenishing the Crayola boutique in Aisle Six. One day, Bethany discovers Roger's notebook in the staff room. When she opens it up, she discovers that this old guy who she's never considered to be quite human is writing mock diary entries pretending to be her - and weirdly, he's getting it right. Coupland reminds us that love, death and eternal friendship can all occur where and when we least expect them and that, even after tragedy has hit, one can still find solace in the comedy
We'll be choosing more books soon. Come back and see what we'll be reading in 2009.
When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of "The End of Mr Y" in a second-hand bookshop, she can't believe her eyes. She's read about its author before, the outlandish Victorian scientist Thomas Lumas, and this is his most notorious, and rarest, book. It is also believed to hold a curse. Anyone who's ever read it, including Lumas, has disappeared without trace.With "Mr Y" under her arm, Ariel is thrust into an adventure of faith, physics, love, death, and everything in between.Part gothic mystery, part time-travelling love story, "The End of Mr Y" lies somewhere between "Shadow of the Wind" and "Dr Who". Scarlett Thomas sends us on a wild and irresistible quest into our deepest selves and our biggest questions.
