Books; Atonement, The Shallows and Books of Blood.

Having thrown Ian McEwan into my "Crotchety Old Man" writer basket, I made a point of avoiding his books. Even after watching the film version of Atonement, with the gorgeous Kiera Knightly having a darb in that absurdly sexy green dress, I was wary. But I was wrong.

Atonement grabs you from the start. Or at least it did me, but then again I have a soft spot for child villains. Even the sort-of unwitting ones. Although in my opinion. Briony knew exactly what she was doing. But even if that's not your thing, and I hear some people found the start a tad slow (not all of us have a soft-spot for English toffs swanning about, stewing in their own psyches) there's  a brilliant war section later on. I've never read the war described in such tawdry horror.

The Shallows has been every TV loathing Luddites' go-to for the past year or so. And with good reason. In case you don't know, the book discusses how the internet, like the television, radio, and even the clock before it alter our perception of the world around us. To summarise, the book offers the oft made point that the internet gives more information but less depth, not to mention ruining our attention span with even greater efficacy than television. Ya ya the usual oldies hum-drum, followed swiftly by a "back in my day..." . But what I found most interesting was how the internet actually alters the brains set-up. Following the idea of neuro-plasticity (basically, use it or lose it (or more correctly, use it or lose it and be able to get it back, sort of, and with great effort)) the book shows how the internet ruins our capacity to remember.

This was especially potent after a few weeks of terrible Pub Trivia nights. Even the most recent news items and events escaped me. The book goes further, to suggest than our inability to remember affects our ability to think deeply, not only in terms of dissecting information and making good decisions, but in empathizing as well. It's easy to flick over when something horrific comes on the news; but its even easier to click away into one of an almost infinite variety of instant gratifications. Not to mention leave a nasty, bullying, moronic comment and then click away.

Then again I'm not suggesting going back to the old days with the Victrola, the Bible and a good dose of binge drinking. There's a reason we invented the internet, the same as the video games and movies. Because sometimes reality blows. I'm just going to try and narrow my focus onto things that I actually want to pay attention to, and not to things my simple, Magpie brain is drawn to, what with their flashing buttons and shiny pictures. Stop it! Temptress.

Finally, the juicy stuff. I've been big fan of Clive Barker from way back. Mainly because he was so saucy. The man made his beginning combining sexual fetishes and neuroses, Biblical references, Mythological Gods and Demons and flat out gore into racy short stories. They are collected in The Books of Blood. They're heaps of fun. Although I wouldn't recommend them as an introduction to him. The writing seems dated now. Perhaps because it doesn't have a certain irony to it? Or maybe it's just because the man sometimes sacrifices his characters to his own wit. Hence the prison inmate (soon to be the victim of a hectic Shadow monster) is given to eloquent reflections on the human spirit. It's a bit much to take. Everyone is too clever. I mean, if I were in said situation, I think my train of thought would read "oooooh mamma (expletive expletive) ohhhhh (expletive) Mama (expletive)!" for about three pages. Not that I'm asking for that, but, you know.

Anyway. I suggest you look into his hefty and brilliant books such as Imajica (a one of a kind fantasy realm. There are no dungeons and dragons here- more like hermaphroditic assassin lovers, a sea that sometimes turns to concrete, and a city constructed atop an inverted pyramid) Galilee (funky black Jesus from BC to Now) or The Great and Secret Show (Angels and Demons duke it out at the local mall, taking the entire town along for the ride). Also there's his fantastic kids series Abarat, which I've been banging on about for years only no-one will listen.