the end of mr y

I'm reading The End of Mr Y at the moment, where the somewhat penniless Ariel gets involved in thought experiments and physics on behalf of a missing professor. There's bits of Schroedinger's Cat, Derrida's post-structuralist de-centering of the intellect and a chatty, modern form of narrative style. In case some of that sounds barmy, perhaps it is; I don't know yet as I'm only about 40 pages in, but its certainly a good read.

I like the process by which I acquired the book, too. I'd had it recommended. Then someone said I may receive a copy. I didn't, so I added it to my list of things to buy. Then, prior to a business meeting nearby, I was alone in a book store coffee shop, reading a newspaper, which I'd bought earlier. "Special Offer" it said, only "£2.99 at WH Smith's". I had ten minutes before the meeting, so left the bookstore (past a pile of the full-priced books), and around the corner to the nearby WH Smith's. Yes they had it. Yes I could buy it for the special price, but I had to buy the newspaper again. I argued, but then asked the assistant to re-swipe the newspaper already in my possession.

In the cosmos of this book's narrative, it sort of feels right that the book was discovered and earned in this way. Reading the first couple of chapters would explain this further. If I'd seen the prototype tardis outside the book store sooner, then maybe I could have re-arranged the sequence and saved a further 80 pence.