Low Life by Ryan David Jahn

Bookcase 11's Low Life by Ryan David Jahn was a strange book. It started out reminding me of Dostoyevsky and finished like Philip K Dick. The basic idea behind the book is that everyone has a secret world or Low Life, a sort of hidden fantasy  world, that normally stays hidden. The main character of the book's Low Life though begins to interact with the real part of his life, and the two worlds begin to combine.

I used to read a lot of Dick in my late teens and early twenties and this book reminded of of books like Time Out of Joint and The Cosmic Puppets two of my student years' favourites which explore the nature of reality. It's certainly not a straightforward crime novel that's for sure and it wouldn't be out of place on the sf shelves.

All that said, although it was original and different, traits I heartily applaud, I didn't particularly enjoy it and it gets 7/10. I think I would have liked it very much though had I read it when I was 20, but my taste in fiction has changed over the years

I now turn my attention to life outside crime. My first port of call is Book of the Week. In Dorking Library there is always a single book which is nominated by the library, usually a work of fiction, and this week it is The Finest Hour by Lissa Evans. I think it is a historical novel set during WW2 and was longlisted for the Orange Prize according to the cover.

If I like it enough to continue with it, then I'll read it, if not I'm sure another Book of the Week will turn up in the next few months!