2010 books

41) J.G. Ballard, The Disaster Area, 1967
Another Ballard collection. It has fewer outstanding stories than other collections I've read, although the ideas behind many of them are still particularly original interpretations of various themes. 'Mr. F. is Mr. F', has a 'life lived in reverse' theme with a particularly bizarre and impressive twist at the end. Many years ago I read the Anton Chekhov story 'The Bet' which is rather unforgettable, and the sleep deprivation idea behind Ballard's 'Manhole 69' is derived from it. However the most admirable story here is undoubtedly 'The Impossible Man', in which Ballard departs from his usual 'dry martini' style to tell of a teenager about to undergo restorative surgery after an amputation. It's not one of his 'surgical stories' and it's barely SF, but it feels perfectly judged and you don't have to work particularly hard to figure out where he's going with it, as is the case with several other tales here. 'The Impossible Man' is one of the best Ballard shorts I've read so far.