A couple of years ago, we published a short piece by Madeleine called “Defining Moments”.  It raised the topic of favourite books – always worth a chin wag.

Last birthday, one of my mates (well, my only mate, really… well, he’s not really a mate, but he used to live next to a mate … or a person with whom I am acquainted)… Anyway, because I was shouting him dinner (actually I was bribing him to come out and eat with me so I wouldn’t have to birthday it up all alone), he gave me a copy of a book that he had gone to the trouble of asking the retailer to wrap for him, but he forgot to also make sure that they had removed the price sticker … which, as we well know then reveals how cheap books are overseas and how dumb we are for not buying a stash of them from overseas to use as emergency birthday gifts.  But I digress.

Luckily, the cost of his dinner was about the same as the value of the book, neatly and by pure accident avoiding the embarrassment of either of us appearing to be a total cheapskate.

The book in question was Rhys Darby’s “This Way to Spaceship”.  A cursory glance at this book reveals a lot about my mate’s world view and his rough sketch of what MY world view looks like.  Rhys Darby writes in the promo on the back page: “If there is just one book that you would take on to a desert island… grab a copy of this book and take it too”.  This is the essence of Darbeyesque humour.  The insightful observation coupled with the bait and switch.

My mate got that right.  I adore the unexpected idiot twist.  Child-like, I love to be told stories and especially to be led up the garden path and to be fooled.

And I also love to hear about other people’s favourite books.  Take me to the spaceship !  Away we go…