Such Stuff As Dreams: The Psychology of Fiction by Keith Oatley

I don't think my brain has worked this hard for over a decade since I left university, but like riding a bike it's amazing how much comes back to you. Oatley has written a tantalising book about the relationship of readers to all kinds of fictions, not just books but also movies and television.  Moving beyond reader-response theory Oatley theorises that when we read we create a simulation in our minds of the fictional world, a dream which we enter into and interact with, and draws on science to show that reading about an action such as kicking activates the same area in our brain as doing that action for ourselves.  He speaks of the social aspect of writing, in particular function, both in terms of speaking to others about what we are reading and with regard to how fiction can help us negotiate the social world for ourselves by presenting us with a myriad of scenarios the total of which could not be contained in a single lifetime.  As a voracious reader I loved this book but was left wanting more, what are the regions of the brain that have been implicated in reading, what can neuroscience tell us?

Reading Round Edinburgh: A Guide to Children's Books of the City by Lindsey Fraser and Kathryn Ross

A fascinating wee book providing visitors with a (long) walk around the Edinburgh streets combining children's authors talking about Edinburgh, extracts from their stories which feature parts of Edinburgh, and commentary and maps of the different areas. Has reignited my love of Mollie Hunter and given me loads of places to take Cj when next through.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

AZ: "Michael Berg is 15 when he begins a long, obsessive affair with Hanna, an enigmatic older woman. He never learns very much about her and when she disappears one day, he expects never to see her again. But, to his horror, he does. Hanna is a defendant in a trial related to Germany's Nazi past and it soon becomes clear that she is guilty of an unspeakable crime. As Michael follows the trial, he struggles with an overwhelming question: what should his generation do with its knowledge of the Holocaust? "We should not believe we can comprehend the incomprehensible, we may not compare the incomparable... Should we only fall silent in revulsion, shame, and guilt? To what purpose?"

A book group read, and a good fascinating one, although it only really came alive in the second half. Makes us ask ourselves hard questions about what we would have done in Hanna's situation. About it part the effects of the Holocaust on the next generation and in part about the sexual awakening of a 15 year old boy, about levels of responsibility and absolution. And, in a way, about the power of reading and redemptive power of words.

The Olive Readers by Chrstine Aziz

AZ: "I cannot recall the exact moment when I decided to become a Reader. This is unusual for me, as I am always precise about beginnings...Imagine a future without a past, a time without memory, a state in which nationality, ancestry, tradition, language, history have no place. Governing this world is a hyper-organised system of corporations, a network of companies, each responsible for a particular product, each with a workforce conditioned to one end...But, somewhere, a clandestine group is operating to preserve the past...In the Olive producing region of Olea, the Readers are smuggling and storing books in a secret library hidden away in the house of Jephzat and her family. When her sister disappears under suspicious circumstances, and her parents are hastily relocated by the Company, Jephzat is ordered to remain behind. Alone and facing the suspicion and hostility of the villagers, she falls in love with Homer, an olive picker she once rescued from the hands of Company Commissioners - and a long-time member of the Readers. As Homer introduces her to the library, and her hunger for knowledge grows, so do her questions, and soon she finds herself closely involved not only in the recovery and preservation of books, but in a secret plan which endangers Jephzat herself..."

Read for the book group and wouldn't have kept going on this fascinating dystopia otherwise. Felt the end chapters a bit unworked but the rest a profound meditation on the precious nature of reading and personal history. Nationalism does cause problems but a sense of place and your place within the world is also essential.