Reading, writing and remixing.

For anybody even remotely interested in language my first book rave is a great choice. Actually I'm bound to say that as I'm slightly biased: I'm the one picking the book.


Cobralingus by Jeff Noon

Take passages of text, filter through imaginary "filters" (such as "anagramethane","decay", "find story" or "ghost edit") in the same style as recording studio tools and continue until an end result is found.

This on it's own could be a little dry if it wasn't for the fact it's from Jeff Noon. Anybody who's read from Vurt onwards will know that even his most straight works feature an almost subtly subversive use of language.

There's something wonderful about a book written by somebody that seems to have a love of words that encourages the reader to pursue the same. This is that sort of thing - only done with a twist or two.

You'll hear many more mentions of Noon by me - I'm an unashamed fan of his work. Eight books in, not a single weak link and a breadth of content carried with a recognizable style.