In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 26th Year, Week 50/52

This is a little late because last Tuesday, I forgot it was a Tuesday.  Which is unfortunate and odd because I've only recently decided to carry on with this for my 27th year.  With a slight addition - I'm going to take a shot of my unread pile and update that with crosses and whatnot for books read, or given away - just to track why the damn thing isn't shrinking, despite how much I read.  It may or may not be because I keep buying more books.  Though, actually, I've only bought around fifty this year.

Anyway, 22nd July to 28th July.  Six more books.

Only one I'd read before; RedShirts, by John Scalzi.  It's an affectionate Star Trek parody from the point of view of the titular Red Shirts.  They come to realise that they are characters in a TV show and use the utterly broken narrative laws of physics to ask the writers to please stop killing them.  It's written with a lot of heart, as the best parodys are.  I cried.

This is the book my coworker recommended, which prompted me to go to a bookclub, where I later met Tom.  I have a soft spot for it.

Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days was given to me by a coworker.  Once my friend Paul tipped me off that Michael Palin was part of Monty Python and not an aging politician I was quite a bit more interested in it.

I quite like the original Around the World in 80 Days.  And this trip sounds amazing, an effect which is only added to by the photos.

Day Shift is by the same author as the Sookie Stackhouse novels and includes a few of the peripheral characters.  I listened to it as an audiobook; not a sensible choice, given how I struggle to concentrate on sound.

Americanah is one I got from our local library (Dudley).  It was excellent; the story of a young Nigerian couple, one of whom gets to study in America while the other falls into the more negative options of life in Nigera and ends up in Britain.  The main character write a blog on her observations of racial difference, and the posts were my favourite bit.

How Google Works is essentially a management guide, describing Google's flat (as opposed to linear) hierarchy.  I found it fascinating.  I think I'd quite like to work for Google.

Finally, Capital is one I've had on my unread pile for ages.  I liked it a lot more than I thought I would (which begs the question of why I bought it...).

Capital is the story of one street in London over the credit crunch.  It dips in and out of all their houses and lives in a way that's quite absorbing.  I guess it has the same strength as the Simpsons - it can go follow someone else when anyone character gets too stale.  It stayed lively over 500+ pages.