The last books I’ll be buying for a while

The last purchase until income flows regularly again

Top to bottom:
David Eagleman ~ Sum. Stephen Fry apparently twittered that if people weren’t enchanted by this little book, he’d eat 40 hats. It was good enough recommendation for me and the first few chapters have issued stunning, clever challenges on what might happen when you die. Ever been bored by the mundane — prefer to try re-living your life having years of showers without break, eating a lifetime’s worth of food in one long sitting, sleeping your life’s sleep uninterrupted instead? Or if heaven was comprised of only your friends and chosen acquaintances? Consider the mundanity and lack of novelty. His cheeky take on if God were truly egalitarian is worth the cover price alone. I’m dipping into a chapter a day to make it last longer.

Pettina Gappah ~ An Elegy for Easterly. I can’t remember how I discovered this book, but I found a yellow sticky note with the title scrawled on it. This is a book of short stories about life in Zimbabwe under Mugabe’s influence and so far has been packed with eloquence, rage, dark humour and hope among fear.

Krissy Kneen ~ Affection. Most-publicised Australian memoir for some time. Can’t wait to dip into 40-year-old Krissy’s recollections of lived and unrequited desires before the invisibility of middle age sets in.

Bob Mason ~ Magic Circles. Bob did a PhD in the lyrics of the Beatles — that is enough street cred for me and a source of envy that I didn’t think of something so cool to study. This book is an accumulation of the music, lives and lyrics of the Beatles and their peers.

Kurt Vonnegut ~ Armageddon in Retrospect. I’ve been sitting on this book for a while: I’m wary of posthumously-produced works that the creator hasn’t had control over (Jeff Buckley’s estate, anyone?) but I’ll get around to reading the dozen stories and speech in this compilation.