Solar by Ian McEwan

Well-written, interesting and sciency – what’s not to like? I should note that McEwan excels at writing fiction that contains science, which is a much better framing than ‘science fiction’ with its connotations of weak character development and prose. There were numerous sentences I read aloud to a friend and that is one of my metrics of a quality book. If something is well-written, it can be about anything. The presentation was atypical in that there were not so much chapters as three sections. It is rare to have about 90 pages between full breaks, but it worked nonetheless. Without giving much away, the book is about a physicist who ends up involved in environmental issues, and eventually solar power (as the title implies) and has various relationships with women and other characters that are sufficiently entertaining. I think Saturday was a better book, but that is possibly because I could relate to the content even more.

Oh, and Solar primarily took place in London and referenced locations I had visited for the first time just days before.