Jeanette Winterson, "Weight: the myth of Atlas and Heracles"

I liked this book very much. The first image that Winterson evokes is that of sedimentary rock, layers upon layers of history, of stories, laid down on top of each other. And her book is like that. On one level it is simply what it says on the tin: the myth of Atlas and Heracles, of how one of them had to hold up the universe while the other did what he had to do. But there is more to it than that: there is the standard Greek mythology, yes, but there is also something that might be autobiographical (one can never quite tell with Winterson), and there is lovely physics stuff - look:

When the universe exploded like a bomb, it started ticking like a bomb too. We know our sun will die, in another hundred million years or so, then the lights will go out and there will be no light to read by any more.

'Tell me the time' you say. And what you really say is 'Tell me a story.'

Here's one I haven't been able to put down.

What pleased me most came very near the end, so I won't say what it was and spoil you - I will just say that it was very unexpected but yet perfectly logical. I loved the blending of ancient and modern ways of understanding the universe. Recommended.

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/8017721/