The Gone-Away World | 
pickThe unnamed narrator is a firefighter in a post-apocalyptic world. In the first chapter he and his crew are called out to a fire, but then change to a flashback for more than half the book.
Up until the big reveal about 2/3 of the way through, we followed some very, very funny detours but I don't think the actual story was enough to carry the reader on by itself, particularly as I kept losing track of who was who.
PICK with reservations.
too busy battling the Evangelist‘s blazing determination to ban on religious grounds several of the texts students are required to study that year. Gulliver‘s Travels survives the scissors, as does A Christmas Carol, but Modern Short Stories in English is consigned for ever to the forbidden zone. Sadly, it is so dull that not even this recommendation can make any of us read it more than once.
2024 Science Fiction Favourites.
Harkaway and Scalzi remain confirmed top authors.
pickWow. Um, I kind of feel like I can't talk about all the reasons I love this book because they're MAJOR spoilers. I will say: hang in there. You're going to be introduced to a rowdy group, an intriguing set of circumstances and an imminent mission, and then that will be put on hold to tell the majority of someone's life story, get acquainted with those introduced, and then you pick up at where you left off 1/?
Praying while agnostic?
It‘s Day 4 of the @bookriot #Riotgrams Challenge! Today‘s prompt: stacks on stacks! I have way more books than space on my bookcases, so there are stacks all over my house. As a wise person once said on a t-shirt: “Floor: The biggest shelf.”📚❤️📚
pickWordy ,very funny, clever and thoughtful , often all at once , the only thing against this book is that it isn't Angelmaker or Tigerman . For a debut novel this is a right stunner and cements NH for me as the third sexiest author in British literature.
pickNick Harkaway‘s debut novel Gone-Away World will leave you gasping for air from all the excitement and verve it has to offer. Each turn of the page is a maniacal joyride into the post-apocalyptic wasteland, populated by characters woven together with such imagination. Epic, hilarious, and unapologetic, Harkaway‘s novel is a great addition to scifi. - Dominic, our new web developer at Strand! #staffpick
This book is all kinds of weird. In the best possible way. Why have I never read this before?
#booklove 📖💚
October wrap-up:
7 books finished
2338 pages
1 paper book
2 e-books
4 audiobooks
Favorites pictured above
This was the slowest reading month I have had in well over a year... work was (and still is) taking way too much of my time. 😂
Still, I read some excellent books in October.
I have a LOT to read in November and December if I‘m going to finish all of my challenges, though. 😳
pickTotally bonkers and so full of ideas that I needed to pour some out of my overflowing brain! Highly quotable as well; Harkaway's writing is brilliant.
pickThis book is awesome!
So original, fun, complex, weird, and funny. Gorgeous, creative writing and a colorful cast of characters make this unlike any other post-apocalyptic dystopian-ish novel I‘ve ever read.
My reading time this month has been seriously limited, so I did a book/audio combo - definitely heavier on audio, because Kirby Heyborne is one of my fave narrators (he also read the Zebulon Finch books). ❤️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
So, earlier today, I was out for my #audiowalk and all of the sudden this book totally blew my mind.
It‘s been mind-blowing and awesome all along, but at about 80% done... wow.
I will definitely be finishing this one this weekend!
#duckquotes just for you @DuckOfDoom 😄
Post-Thanksgiving #bookandbreakfast: pumpkin pie and tea. Finishing up the #goneawaybuddyread today. My cousin and I discussed the book. It starts in medias res, then backtracks to explain the story so far. She thought the backtracking took too long to get to the present, and the ideas didn't quite coalesce into a satisfying whole. But she did like the reference to Crazy Joe Spork 😉
Update on my #goneawaybuddyread: my cousin has finished the book, and I think I am liking it more than she did 😶 Possibly because there aren't nearly as many ninjas after the first three chapters, and it gets into military ops. I'm finding it's a book I need to sit with for extended periods, because there is so much going on. Harkaway has no shortage of ideas!
My job has been nuts for the last two weeks. Between all the extra hours and the kids‘ stuff, plus trying to plan ahead and stay sane on the Whole Life Challenge, I don‘t have enough time for reading. I also haven‘t had time for Litsy and that makes me sad. 🙁
But! I am squeezing in as much of this weird and delightful audiobook as I can. I love Kirby Heyborne‘s narration so much! And that makes me happy. ❤️
My "quote of the chapter" continues, "Eventually, the mere fact that something or someone has been investigated eleven times becomes suspicious." The student elements our narrator has been hanging out with are frequently arrested for demonstrating, and this police record may harm their job prospects.
Finished chapters 3 and 4 of my #goneawaybuddyread on the plane home from London. Chapter 3 sees our narrator in university and becoming your typical rebellious youth joining student movements.
My Chapter 4 quote will come later, and some thoughts on the first four chapters as a whole in a spoiler-tagged post.
Of COURSE I am two chapters behind on my own #goneawaybuddyread 😁 Too much wandering around Oxford and taking pictures. Home tomorrow, though; the plane ride will provide some good reading time.
In this chapter, we're introduced to the ninjas via the narrator's flashback through his childhood and teenage years. Loved the dynamics of the Lubitsch family. Also interesting to see the narrator's perspective of his head teacher shift from childhood to adulthood.
#goneawaybuddyread
Finished Ch 1 of my #goneawaybuddyread. I like how Harkaway provides enough explanation to bring us up to speed (the Jorgmund Pipe) and hints at unusual things to hopefully be explained later (the Found Thousand). Some great lines about bureaucracy and the compartmentalizing required to be a good corporate employee. This may be a more appropriate read than I had intended.
Starting my #goneawaybuddyread on this #signedsunday. (I found this paperback edition in the Hay Cinema Bookshop, Hay-on-Wye, and my jaw literally dropped when I saw the signature.)
My cousin and I both bought the pink-and-green fuzzy-covered edition of The Gone-Away World shown here. We're going to do a buddy read over the next few weeks, with the aim being to finish by Canadian Thanksgiving. If you'd like to join us, here's our rough schedule. Tag me and/or use the hashtag #goneawaybuddyread in any posts.
Day 15 of the #RiotGrams challenge: favorite twist! I feel like even admitting that there is a twist in this book is too spoilery, so let us never speak of it again. 💚💖🖤
Not only does it fit #pinkcovers but it's also FUZZY!
I really hate this cover, but I love this book. It's a great apocalyptic read once you get past the first chapter.
Don't worry, the paperback is orange and white.
#riotgrams
I have never been a fan of deckle edges. To me they feel unfinished #feistyfeb #deckleedge
pickHot damn do I love this book. Started rereading it in June a little at a time between books and figured I might as well finish it up before the year ends. It's still my favorite.
You have to describe it in the voice of Stefon from SNL because this book has EVERYTHING: mimes, war, gong-fu, con artistry, ninjas, corporate espionage, anarchists, pirates, and honestly it's so funny and the writing is just amazing, I can't recommend it highly enough.
pickPositives: excellent maintenance of the POV, compelling read, plot could really happen and I'm surprised that we haven't managed to make ourselves Go-Away, neat little plot twists and turns, reminds me King's The Mist (the story, not the movies) and Sixth Sense, and ninjas. That's right, ninjas. Negative: philosophical "rants" that I feel are meant to make the book weirder but they really just detract from it. I'm torn between pick and so-so.
I can't decide if the author is trying too hard to be weird. However, I'm half-done and the book is now bereft of ninjas so I'm annoyed. Also increasing my annoyance are the odd philosophical sections that make no sense. This is why I think the author is trying too hard.
I'm really getting into the story of the narrator's life. And ninjas. They're almost as awesome as tacos. But these lines from the book are definitely something I can relate to. They're what convinced me to keep going with the book in the beginning when I wasn't sure if this book was worth the time.
I saw someone ask someplace if the cover was fuzzy. All I can say is that it does appear to be fuzzy but I'm reading a library copy that's safely ensconced in plastic so I'm not 100% sure. I really want to read Too Many Curses but, alas, I have too many library books out that are due back before it so I'm reading this one instead. Also, ninjas.
Doing another since I think the world needs to see the glorioussness of this cover. And it's also a bat-shit crazy book with a sucker punch of a twist. Image stole without shame from Google. Okay, some shame.
#textonlycovers
#booktober
Day 3 of #booktober is #textonlycovers and I found two on my tbr shelf.
Maybe it says something about my out-of-control book hoarding that I can keep doing these challenges without even checking my other shelves? 😳
More book mail today because I have a problem. 😳
Another Thriftbooks order... I've seen good things about the Far-Away World, and I needed Half the Sky for Our Shared Shelf. 😃
pickIt's #FunFridayPhoto time! Today's photo: the book you recommend the most!
I am fairly certain that I have recommended this to most of Maine and NH in person, and certainly told the internet about it eleventy million times. This book is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s. It's very Vonnegutty, with a healthy dollop of WTF-ery, and I love it with the heat of a thousand suns. 💚🤘🏻📚
#septphotochallenge
#uglybookcovers
Not only am I traumatized by the colors, but it's FUZZY! Someone I trust told me to ignore the cover (and I would add get past the first chapter) and I would love it. It's my favorite dystopian novel. At the library we ordered the paperback and it's a much easier sell.
#minimalisticcovers #augustphotochallenge I still haven't read this one but I definitely will someday 😀
I've got a feeling The Gone-Away World is going to be making several appearances in my #augustphotochallenge...
For #day4, my fave #bookishsquad has to be the Haulage and HazMat Emergency Civil Freebooting Company of Exmoor County (corporate HQ, the Nameless Bar, CEO Sally J. Culpepper, presiding) 😀
