The sky was grey and featureless, and the wind lashed down the deserted streets of the city.\u00a0 Those that survived the plague huddled for warmth in their homes, and burned whatever they could in metal bins to provide heat.\u00a0 The electricity had finally failed months earlier after a protracted death in which the ailing substations died one after another, some in a shower of sparks and some with barely a whimper.\u00a0 The air smelled of burned metal, faeces and decay.\u00a0 A rat twitched in the gutter, its life nearly spent, as evil smelling water, iridescent with rainbow hues of green, pink and yellow, surged past it.\u00a0 The sickness seemed to have been more devastating to the rodent population than it had been to the human citizens so, whilst men and women could still be seen scurrying nervously between one shelter and another, rats were now a very rare sight indeed.\u00a0 There was good eating on a rat, it was said, but rats that showed signs of infection were wisely avoided.<\/p>\n
On this evening though, the streets were not quite as deserted as they first seemed.\u00a0 One man strode briskly through the dead leaves and abandoned crisp packets that decorated the pavements.\u00a0 His hands were thrust deeply into the frayed pockets of his coat, and his collar was turned up against chilly evening air.\u00a0 A casual observer might have commented on his scruffy hair, or perhaps his handsome aquiline nose.\u00a0 When pressed, that un-named observer might have recalled the purposeful manner with which the man covered the distance.<\/p>\n
Most buildings were dark, having neither candles nor oil lamps.\u00a0 One was different though, and a warm glow spilled out of its un-shuttered windows.\u00a0 A sign hung over the door, showing a ruddy faced, red coated, bewigged nobleman.\u00a0 Gold lettering named him as the Lord John Russell.\u00a0 It was into this building that the man walked, and greeted another man who was sitting in a prominent position, with a drink on the table by his side. \u201cHello, Jon\u201d, he said, \u201cHow are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMmph\u201d, said the man sitting down, \u201cmmph fine.\u00a0 Bu\u2019 \u2019ve g\u2019oh too fache.\u00a0 Ow\u2019wer you, Pax?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m okay\u201d, said the man with the aquiline nose. \u201cCan I get you a drink?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, but make it an orange juice and lemonade please\u201d, said Jon, \u201cand make it quick.\u00a0 I\u2019m bored with all this tiresome dialogue.\u00a0 I thought that something exciting was going to happen with the diseased town and the rat.\u00a0 Incidentally, do you like the way my toothache has mysteriously cured itself?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, no\u201d Jon continued, as Pascal began to splutter out a reply \u201cplease don\u2019t answer that.\u00a0 I don\u2019t really care \u2013 and I\u2019d much rather be reading the minutes\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI see\u201d, said Pascal tersely. \u201cThese would be the minutes of the meeting we\u2019re just about to have, would they?\u00a0 The minutes for a meeting that the others haven\u2019t yet turned up to? Okay \u2013 but you can get your own drink, and I\u2019m not responsible for any changes to reality that this will invariably cause.\u201d\u00a0 With that, he turned in the direction of the door and pulled a ring out of his pocket.\u00a0 The ring was silver and fairly plain, ornamented only with strange runes that he claimed meant \u2018Peace, Hope & Love\u2019 in some strange and forgotten language.\u00a0 The truth was that he didn\u2019t really know what the runes meant, and he was merely parroting the explanation given to him by his sister some years previously.\u00a0 He put the ring on his finger, gripped it with the other hand and purposefully twisted it through 180 degrees \u2013 and disappeared.\u00a0 There was nothing dramatic about his disappearance; he just ceased to exist.\u00a0 He ceased ever to have been and, as he did, the sun came out and the streets of the town bustled into life.\u00a0 In that instant, the electric lights came on and the candles went out without so much as a twist of smoke or the oily smell of burnt wax.<\/p>\n
Jon was sitting at a table in the pub.\u00a0 He still had toothache \u2013 not all the side effects of the vanishing were good.\u00a0 The recently disappeared Pascal reappeared \u2013 but this time more conventionally, on foot and through the open door.\u00a0 Over the next half hour, others appeared to join them \u2013 first Sangeeta, then Sarah, and finally James.\u00a0 So claimed the minutes, at any rate.\u00a0 This is what else they said.<\/p>\n
They commented on the absence of one time member Paul Frew.\u00a0 By general consent, his name wasn\u2019t spoken \u2013 the others feared meeting the same fate.\u00a0 Paul had disappeared some months earlier on a clandestine mission to the library.\u00a0 Some feared that he had gotten lost in the labyrinthine maze of books \u2013 but others, the mysterious Pascal included, believed that he had been eaten by a ravenous librarian after trying to return a tome that was more than two years overdue.<\/p>\n
Ilona was similarly missing, although she had been seen more recently.\u00a0 From her infrequent communications it was learned that she was fighting a losing battle with a particularly ill-tempered copy of Cloud Atlas, one that was determinedly trying to suck her brains out.<\/p>\n
The reason for Claire\u2019s absence was well known.\u00a0 She had nobly rendered herself immobile after running out of bookmarks.\u00a0 Rather than risk creasing the spines of her charges, she nibbled off one of her own feet in order to use her toes to mark pages.\u00a0 A medal of some kind will be shipped to her if we can get one struck before she bleeds to death through her leg stump.<\/p>\n
Of the older members, and now honorary members, Sharon was also missing in action \u2013 believed buried under a massive pile of beach fiction, somewhere in Queensland.\u00a0 Vic bravely fighting her way through Waterstones, trying to decide which of the many books had the prettiest cover.<\/p>\n
\u201cI chose it\u201d, declared Jon, talking about\u00a0Cloud Atlas<\/a>, \u201cbecause I\u2019d read two of the authors previous works.\u00a0 I really enjoyed David Mitchell\u2019s other work, so this was too good to miss.\u00a0 It felt like a bit of a rewrite of\u00a0Ghostwritten<\/a>, but it was more structured and a superior story.\u201d<\/p>\n The League\u2019s resident art historian sipped thoughtfully from his glass of orange juice and lemonade.\u00a0 \u201cI liked the way man\u2019s cleverness and violence leads to his own downfall \u2013 and I loved the nuclear power station thriller.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s all very well\u201d, retorted Sangeeta, making a welcome return to The League of Extraordinary Bookreaders after her recent absence, \u201cbut the journal at the beginning of Cloud Atlas was very dull.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cActually\u201d, she confessed, \u201cI haven\u2019t finished reading it yet.\u00a0 Please could you hold up a sign warning me of any plot spoilers you plan to throw into the conversation?\u201d\u00a0 The other members duly assented to this request.\u00a0 \u201cI was gripped\u201d, Sangeeta continued, \u201cfrom chapter two onwards, and I particularly liked the subtle links between the stories and the huge jumps from one time to another.\u00a0 It\u2019s a unique book and I\u2019m looking forward to finding out where the story leads.\u00a0 I\u2019m slooshing around Sloosha\u2019s Crossing at the moment, but I keep needing to re-read earlier chapters to remind myself what\u2019s already happened.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an excellent book,\u201d she finished, \u201cDavid Mitchell is clearly a very imaginative chap.\u00a0 Is he on drugs!?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very influenced by pop-culture, isn\u2019t it?\u201d, said James, the Leagues resident intellectual wit.\u00a0 He pushed his half rimmed glasses up his nose, leaned back and harrumphed.\u00a0 \u201cI mean, it rather reminded me of 2001 \u2013 A Space Odyssey, if you know what I mean.\u00a0 Mass extinctions and what-not.\u201d<\/p>\n Sarah exchanged a sympathetic glance with Pascal.\u00a0 \u201cI think his batteries need changing\u201d, she said.\u00a0 \u201cHe often burbles when he\u2019s low on power.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, no\u201d, said James, \u201cI mean the way the book often went off at a tangent and became difficult to follow.\u00a0 It always explained itself in the end though\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt always explained itself, did it?\u201d said Pascal irritably. \u201cWell, I wish you would.\u00a0 You\u2019re making no sense at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Ignoring the rude interruption, James continued; \u201cIt\u2019s like a jigsaw puzzle you see, where one randomly plonks pieces down and eventually builds up a picture.\u00a0 A bit like\u00a0Magnolia<\/a>, which is a very good film with Tom Cruise in.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was great\u201d, said Pascal, the Leagues resident encyclopaedic brain. \u201cI didn\u2019t like the cover though.\u00a0 Once I got past that obstacle though, I was gripped from the first story to, well, the end of the first story!\u00a0 It\u2019s a compelling novel from the first page to the last.\u00a0 The sub-plots were fantastic all the way through, but I couldn\u2019t see the relevance of the birth mark and\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou cretin!\u201d, said Sarah scornfully. \u201cAll the main characters in the book are the same soul \u2013 that\u2019s what the birthmark signifies.\u201d\u00a0 She sniggered in a self-congratulatory manner.<\/p>\n \u201cOh\u201d, blustered Pascal.\u00a0 He stuttered as his brain attempted to digest this new information.\u00a0 \u201cBut\u201d, he said, regrouping magnificently \u201chow can that be true given that only one story can be guaranteed true in the \u2018book universe\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 He held up a hastily scrawled sign warning of a plot spoiler. \u201c\u2019Sloosha\u2019s Crossing\u2019 is the top level of the story, and can be regarded as true.\u00a0 \u2018An Orison of Sonmi\u2019 is analogous to The Bible, and can be regarded as being about as factual.\u00a0 It all goes downhill from there.\u00a0 \u2018Timothy Cavendish\u2019 is a film that may or may not be factual, and \u2018Luisa Rey\u2019 is a thriller.\u00a0 The soul theory unravels.\u201d\u00a0 He grinned, and secretly thanked his magic ring for giving him the ability to alter time in such a way that he could come up with a good riposte to Sarah\u2019s criticism.<\/p>\n \u201cI liked the way elements of the story seemed to be derived from other sources, greatly increasing its believability.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI liked the cover\u201d, said Sarah, the Leagues most glamorous glider pilot, leaping to its defence.\u00a0 \u201cI thought it was pretty, and it made me want to buy the book even before Jon suggested it for book club.\u00a0 I loved the style, the detail and the spellings.\u00a0 By the way, did I mention that I thought the cover was nice too?\u201d<\/p>\n James interjected to agree.\u00a0 \u201cI liked the way &c. was used instead of etc. in the first story\u201d, he said.\u00a0 Pascal geekily pointed out that & is merely a ligature, a combination of e & t, or et.<\/p>\n \u201cFascinating,\u201d said Sarah impatiently, and continued \u201cI particularly liked the conspicuous branding throughout Sonmi. I found the unfinished stories a little confusing until\u2026\u201d She paused, and scrabbled for the \u2018Plot Spoiler\u2019 sign.\u00a0 Sangeeta hastily trust her fingers into her ears. \u201c\u2026until I realised that the endings of the unfinished stories would be revealed later in the book.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can still hear you\u201d, Sangeeta complained.<\/p>\n The others in the league smiled.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t a lot that could be done about that, after all.\u00a0 \u201cI thought that all the stories were true in the context of the book\u201d, said Sarah, \u201cit was a very well constructed story, but all rather far fetched.\u00a0 I struggled with the journal and with Sloosha\u2019s Crossing, but I raced through the other stories\u201d.<\/p>\n The League all congratulated Jon on an excellent choice \u2013 again.\u00a0 As they did, the astral plane warped and twisted and all felt a presence speaking to them. \u201cSorry, sir\u201d, the voice said, \u201cnext month I will be sure to complete my homework\u201d.\u00a0 Ilona continued eerily, \u201cSorry, I found it really hard to get into \u2013 not helped by the fact that I had a fainting incident last month and so I gave up reading on the train.\u00a0 To show my dedication to The League I shall live dangerously and read on the train again, besides my blood tests came back clear.\u00a0 I will use your psychic emanations to decide whether Cloud Atlas is worth persevering with past page 50!\u201d One day Jon will put a foot wrong but, on balance, it seems that that time has not yet come.<\/p>\n Sangeeta stood up impatiently.\u00a0 \u201cDrinks anyone? Be quick \u2013 I\u2019m dying to hear what books everyone read this month\u201d.\u00a0 The orders were duly placed and, as if by magic, drinks appeared on the table.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t think you\u2019d be interested\u201d said Jon, who\u2019d been uncharacteristically quiet.\u00a0 The rest of The League suspected that discomfort caused by his toothache might be the reason for his silence.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I read nothing.\u00a0 Nothing other than Printing as an Instrument of Change in the 14th Century \u2013 it\u2019s a belter!\u201d<\/p>\n Sangeeta had been rather busier in her reading.\u00a0 \u201cI read\u00a0South of the Border, West of the Sun<\/a> by Haruki Murakami.\u00a0 It\u2019s about a man who, as a child, is friends with a girl who has a limp.\u00a0 They\u2019re both single children and this bonds them together.\u00a0 He is obsessed with the girl, but they move apart.\u00a0 The man marries someone else, and when he meets the girl again later in his life his family falls apart.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI also read a hilarious chick lit story, I think it\u2019s called The Secret Diary of a Shopaholic, but I may be wrong because I\u2019m psychically being told that there is no such book.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s called\u00a0The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s by Sophie Kinsella.\u00a0 It\u2019s about someone who cures her problems with retain therapy \u2013 it\u2019s a laugh, and I highly recommend it as a beach read.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEleven Minutes<\/a> by Paulo Coelho is about a Brazilian girl who emigrates to Geneva and becomes a prostitute, and meets a painter who she falls in love with.\u00a0 It\u2019s alright, but not wonderful.\u00a0 It\u2019s sexually explicit and not even slightly deep and meaningful, despite what the cover claims.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Reading Group<\/a> by Elizabeth Noble is about a group of women in a reading group, their lives and the books they read.\u00a0 They have no special superpowers though, unlike us. Their lives do end up mirroring the books they read.\u00a0 It\u2019s very girly and the women\u2019s husbands usually end up having affairs \u2013 so there is a bit of sex in it.\u00a0 Another beach read.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe No.1 Ladies\u2019 Detective Agency<\/a> by Alexander McCall Smith is really good.\u00a0 It\u2019s about a Botswanan woman who sets up a detective agency with her fathers legacy.\u00a0 It\u2019s light, amusing and fabulous.\u00a0 I also read Tears of the Giraffe which is in the same series and about the same detective.\u201d<\/p>\n James confessed that he hadn\u2019t read as much as Sangeeta.\u00a0 Sarah needed to take over the minutes at this point as Pascal lost the plot completely, and with it the ability to breathe.\u00a0 There was a very good reason for it though \u2013 and it concerns a certain\u00a012th Man<\/a>.<\/p>\n This bloody obsession Tony has for sticking things into the wicket is really getting quite out of hand. As a matter of fact earlier this season, he borrowed a magnificent gold and onyx fountain-pen of mine and to this day it remains buried some six or eight inches somewhere under this fucking pitch, and now here today, we\u2019ve seen the Australian batsmen having to contend with Tony\u2019s bloody car keys sticking out of the turf just in front of the popping crease down at the Member\u2019s end.<\/p>\n James continued on the Cricketing theme \u201cI read\u00a0Someone Who Was<\/a> byBrian Johnston<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great, great book about a lovely chap.\u00a0 It\u2019s such a positive book \u2013 it\u2019s about his life and, doubtless, Cricket. Pascal has Johnners CD\u2019s \u2013 doubtless he\u2019d lend them to anyone who\u2019s interested.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Smoking Diaries<\/a> by Simon Gray gets bogged down in the little details.\u00a0 It\u2019s stream of consciousness writing and all the stories are true.\u00a0 It\u2019s written by a friend of\u00a0Harold Pinter<\/a>.\u00a0 Inner weaknesses are revealed as his 20 year old self interviews the 60 year old. I think this would appeal to Pascal and Jon \u2013 but I wouldn\u2019t recommend it to anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBy the way,\u201d James said, \u201cI haven\u2019t read it recently, but Death to the French is also a good book!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSpeaking of French,\u201d said Pascal, \u201cthat\u2019s my excuse for not having read anything this month.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been too busy trying to learn the damn language.\u00a0 Stick a babel fish in my ear, please, I\u2019m hopeless!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI read\u00a0The Wonder Spot<\/a> by Melissa Bank, and the best bit of it was the blurb which was written by my sister\u201d said Sarah proudly.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s chick lit set in the Jewish community of New York.\u00a0 The pink dress that the heroine had to wear to her bat mitzvah stuck in my mind.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of well written, and it\u2019s sort of enjoyable.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCitizen Girl<\/a> by Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin is even less interesting than The Wonder Spot.\u00a0 Actually, it\u2019s an appalling book.\u00a0 It\u2019s about an ill-tempered girl.\u00a0 I felt sorry for her boyfriend.\u00a0 It claims to be darkly feminist, but it isn\u2019t.\u00a0 It\u2019s just pointless.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI had better luck with my last book, I can highly recommend it.\u00a0 It\u2019s\u00a0The Chimney Sweepers Boy<\/a> by Barbara Vine.\u00a0 It\u2019s really well written, a real page-turner.\u00a0 A girl is asked to write a biography of her dead author father by his publisher.\u00a0 I was disappointed to find out subsequently that Barbara Vine is Ruth Rendell\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh well,\u201d Pascal sighed.\u00a0 \u201cYou see what happens when you mess with reality?\u00a0 You wanted more poetic minutes \u2013 and this is what you got.\u00a0 A mess.\u00a0 I might just have to give you them straight next month.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 With that, he turned and began to leave the pub.<\/p>\n \u201cHey\u201d said Sangeeta, \u201cwhat about my book?\u00a0 It\u2019s my turn to choose, remember?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSorry, Sangeeta\u201d, said Pascal contritely, \u201cI forgot.\u00a0 I\u2019d forget my own head if it wasn\u2019t screwed on.\u201d<\/p>\n