calmThen there's The Glass Books Of The Dream-Eaters by GW Dahlquist, which I bought partly because it has one of the more bonkers titles I've seen recently. It's hard to describe this one. It takes place in 19th Century Europe, and it's set in an imaginary city and country which appear to occupy roughly the same position as London and England, although with many differences - although the rest of the world seems unchanged. I'm not sure whether the right word for it is Ruritanian or Graustarkian, but anyway it has stuff in common with Conan Doyle and Rider Haggard and Sax Rohmer and Anthony Hope, bolted onto some worldbuilding that reminded me a little of Perdido Street Station. There is derring-do, breathless, unlikely escapes, mysterious trains, a dirigible. I don't know if anyone out there has seen The Assassination Bureau, with Diana Rigg and Oliver Reed, but that kind of catches the flavour of it.
At the centre of the book is a science-fictional device - the theft of personality - and the attempts of a mysterious Cabal to use it to their own nefarious ends, and three unlikely heroes who oppose them. My one quibble is the inclusion of some fin de siecle eroticism, which I didn't think suited the book.
It's a long book, but it does canter along, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There's apparently a sequel, whose title escapes me, but I think I'll track it down when it comes out in paperback.
And finally for this roundup, Simon Hoggart's The Hands Of History, which rounds up his Guardian Parliamentary sketches covering the Blair Years. We don't get 9/11 or the death of Diana, because they're in a previous book, but the rest is a joy to read. I've gone on about Hoggart before, so `nuff said. I can't see it being of any more interest to those of you on the other side of the village pond than a similar roundup of sketches about the House of Representatives would be over here, but I spent many a smiling moment with it.
