Got a copy of Magnus Mills' The Forensic Records Society and got started on it right away.
A group of men meet at the back room of their local pub every Monday at 8pm, on the dot. Everyone must bring three 7' singles, and they take turns playing them and listening in silence. No commentary or criticism is allowed -- the point is to listen, drink your pint, and then go home. If anyone is late, they aren't allowed in.
However, the strict rules of the society begin to irritate some members, and soon other rival record societies spring up: the Confessional Records Society, the Perceptive Records Society and the New Forensic Records Society.
Mills writes quite short novels, seemingly mild and mundane descriptions of ordinary British life -- but there is always a sense of absurdity and of things being somehow off-kilter. There is also always a very subtle sense of menace under the surface. This sinister streak in the narrative will usually begin to come to surface as the story progresses, and completely take over by the end.
I'm enjoying this, but it's not the best thing he's ever written. Anyone interested, I suggest you start with The Restraint of Beasts.
