1) Summerland, by Michael Chabon
I really liked this book, even though it is mainly about baseball, a game which I know almost nothing about. Its parallel worlds and talking animals are close to Philip Pullman, and its fantastic imagining of America is not very far from American Gods, but I think it is better done than either – more confidently rooted in American folklore than Gaiman’s book, and less ideological than Pullman. Also, despite its 500 pages, I found it a surprisingly quick read.
Excellent analysis Nicholas though I wonder whether your North Belfast calculation is correct- its hard to believe that adding an additional three shankhill wards to N Belfast would only have increased the DUP vote in last year’s westminster election by 0.6%.