When You See The Robot, Drink.

Back at work this week after a couple of weeks break. Currently teaching Year of Wonders to my senior students. Putting lots of energy into fighting their mid-year apathy. It's a book I actually enjoyed a lot more than I'd anticipated. If only I could get my students to finish reading it.

My younger class, all boys, seem to be enjoying studying Futurama as much as I enjoy teaching it. I'm always amazed at how well this particular episode (Love and Rocket)  is written. It's thematically densely packed, and has an incredible assortment of historical and pop cultural references. All I need to do is keep alert for the occasional parents that believe it's not a real text 'cos it's from TV.

Still not in love with Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.  It is reasonably easy to teach though. Not a book I'll ever choose to read again.  Of course I'll have to re-read it every time I have to teach it.

Still, we're getting some Spec Fic into the curriculum, even if others around us don't recognise it for what it is. Now to get them studying Blade Runner, or A Scanner Darkly.

Read As Much As You Can.

I know I've briefly mentioned Paul Haines before, but I've now read both of his books and I cannot recommend them enough. I picked up Slice of Life late last year but it took me while to get around to it - not for any reason except I have a lot of books I need to get around to. Which reminds me. The next two books I read will have to be texts I teach, not books of my own choosing - Year of Wonders and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. After that, of course, I'll be back into the stack next to my bed.

Slice of Life was wonderful. I loved almost everything about it. There was only one story in there that didn't 'click' with me, and funnily enough a friend of mine picked the same story as the only flat spot. But overall it was an absolute joy to read through so I hunted out Paul's earlier book, Doorways for the Dispossessed.

A few stories appeared in both books, but I could live with that - they tended to be the better stories so I happy to re-read them anyway. The selection of stories didn't feel as unified and their ordering didn't seem to flow as well. (I presume he had a smaller body of work from which to choose) There were a number of typos throughout the book - but fortunately that didn't distract too much. It's also obvious his writing isn't as developed as in the later stories, but it was still a great read. Both are recommended!

Another book I picked up was another collection by a local author. I'd read good things about this book, it had some great endorsements on the back by a couple of authors I know personally and a couple of others I've read, and it's on a local imprint that I respect. Unfortunately, it seemed like the book contained every single word he'd ever written. I enjoyed a number of the stories, but too many of them relied on poor puns and jokes that were nowhere near as funny as the writer thought they were. The book should have been around half its size, and then we'd have had a book I'd be recommending.

Why don't I mention it by name?  Because the guy is a good writer and I liked enough of it that I don't want to put people off. I know writing styles often come down to a matter of taste and preference, and I recognise that this book is one that has merit and while I was disappointed in aspects of it, others might love the parts I didn't.

And because I'm only starting out in this field and I don't want to 'dis' local writers, editors and publishers.