2010 books
1) Russell Hoban, Linger Awhile, 2006
It's a stretch to call this science fiction, but the idea that underpins it - the physical re-creation of a dead Hollywood starlet from a screenshot captured from videotape - turns out to be a direct if rather warped riff on Frankenstein. And when in the flesh Justine Trimble turns out be a promiscuous vampire as well... well, you get the picture: you don't have to lift the veil very far to see this as dirty-old-man fiction, Hoban hankering after his lost youth. His trademark surreal wit is all here - the liquid mix from which Justine is created is cleverly called a 'suspension of disbelief' - however this probably isn't the best place to begin catching up on Hoban. It's a slight and mildly amusing add-on to his string of London novels, also using a few characters that have previously appeared elsewhere, and feels like reading a reincarnated and relocated Richard Brautigan stripped of his satire. I'm sure I'll find better books to compare more favourably with Riddley Walker and his lovely Turtle Diary.