1903 / Audiobook / 232 pages / USA
****
I didn't dwell on what brutal messages the author might have been imparting; just enjoyed the fusion between harsh realism and sentimental myth-making and a pragmatic brevity that more novels should embrace.
1944-51 (collected 1952) / Audiobook / 224 pages / USA
****
It takes a few tales before this chronicle of humanity's downfall and the rise of the mutant animals starts to come together, but it all adds up to a more compelling whole than most fix-up novels achieve. Simak's less convinced of the indomitable human spirit than many sci-fi writers, and while his fantastical transhuman solution might not seem particularly helpful, you can stretch some real-life analogies out of it, if that's your bag.
1979 / Ebook / 302 pages / UK
****
It was unlikely that reading the original children's novel as an adult was going to be as affecting as the classic cartoon was back in the '90s, but the adaptation turned out to be largely faithful. One improvement was gender-swapping some of the relentlessly male characters for a bit of balance, I don't know what Colin had against girls.
Jim Fusilli, The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds2005 / Audiobook / 121 pages / USA
****
An album so universally revered that even I like it, this song-by-song analysis from a veteran music journalist is passionate, astute and interesting. Many lesser writers in this series tend to fall down at that third part.
2006 / Ecomics / 104 pages / UK
***
Another decent tale of corruption and betrayal set in a steampunk alternative history where most folk happen to have the head of an animal. It's been so long since I read the first one that I can't really remember how it compared. I think that one was funnier.
