2009 books

14) Peter Adolphsen, Machine, 2006
I had doubts this novel could be made to work without also giving off a whiff of pretentiousness. Well it does, slightly, but it's only the moment the narrator is revealed towards the end that saves the novel in its entirety. Machine is the story of the heart of a prehistoric horse, which over millions of years eventually becomes a drop of oil in a car's engine, which then goes on to become the cause of something else. I wouldn't call this metafiction, not quite, but the novel curves in on itself sufficiently enough to indicate that Adolphsen is trying to subvert something. He writes with a voice that reminds me of Joseph Heller when being both direct and enigmatic; his characters are believable and the minor digressions and infodumps are perfectly crafted and entirely relevant. Breathtakingly good overall, brilliant in places.

Navel Observatory Time

Well, I've had a shower, and I've decided to put social networking on hiatus for an indefinite period. I'm reverting to private e-mail, the telephone and good ol’ face-to-face.

Things said in conversation on two occasions to two friends in the last couple of weeks have not gone down at all well when translated almost verbatim to a social networking context. Time to step back and take stock, and apologies are offered to the offended parties.

I will still be uploading to Flickr as and when.

Bye for now.