The Rehersal - Eleanor Catton

I am usually intensely distrustful of 'literary' books.  I often find that they put showing-off ahead of telling a good story.  Clever writing techniques do not necessarily lead to good storytelling.  That is not to say that I am a total philistine – I just like my books to be understandable to those of us mere mortals without degrees in English Literature.  The truly great 'literary'...

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The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

There are some periods of history that are particularly fertile ground for works of fiction or film.  How many books have you read set during the Tudor and Georgian ages of England, the Civil War era of the United States, or Revolutionary France?  These are all times of either great extravagance and change or great violence and upheaval, and in these periods the author doesn't lay a lot...

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Walk Me Home - Catherine Ryan Hyde

We live in a society that demands leadership; that is in love with decisive action.  If you go to your local bookshop and look at any book on self-help title, that's what it'll tell you to do.  Make your mind up and make a decision!  The my favourite one is from Teddy Roosevelt: " In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong...

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Unbreakable - Kami Garcia

Anyone who has been to university knows that there are two basic academic groups: the Science students and the Arts students.  There are of course some subjects that straddle this great divide such as Psychology, Geography etc but these are the main two.  Now I hope you will please indulge me if I be a little broad and sweeping.   In general Science students like facts, numbers,...

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