Yesterday I finished Gaudeamus by John Barnes.

An odd little book. Basically, a bunch of tales told to the protagonist by a friend, tales involving magical physics devices, aliens and telepathy. Are they true or false? Even the protagonist doesn't know. And to add to the weirdness, the protagonist is the author himself. I'm not sure why that is - maybe Barnes is trying to create a feel like some of the early pulps or Burroughs books, where the story is purported to be true and dictated to the author.

The story itself is just OK - nothing special, but somewhat amusing. The characters who tells the story might be a little offensive to some people, in the words he uses and the ways he refers to people, and the author himself takes some swipes at science fiction fans along the way for some reason. Other than that, not much to say about this book. It falls in the middle of books by Barnes I've read, between ones I've liked and ones I've hated.