New Book: A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

From the blurb:
Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

More new books!

The Mall, S. L. Grey
Aleph, Paulo Coelho
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Mary Roach
A Song of Ice and Fire series, George R. R. Martin

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Aimee Bender

Summer reading competition: Wall of Days, by Alastair Bruce

From www.wallofdays.com:

In a world all but drowned, a man called Bran has been living on an island for ten years. He was sent there in exile by those whose leader he was, and he tallies on the wall of his cave the days as they pass. Until the day when something happens that kindles in Bran such memories and longing that he persuades himself to return, even if it means execution. His reception is so unexpected, so mystifying that he casts about unsure of what is real and what imaginary. Only the friendship of a child consoles him as he retraces the terrible deeds for which he is answerable, and as he tries to reach back, over his biggest betrayal, to the one he loved. Wall of Days is a moving parable about guilt, loss and remembering.

Here is an extract from Wall of Days.
BTW, this book was written by Mrs Bruce's son :)

Summer reading competition: The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

From www.BookLore.co.uk:

"Some factual information for you. Have you any idea how much damage that bulldozer would suffer if I just let it roll straight over you?"

"How much?" said Arthur. 

"None at all," said Mr. Prosser.

When space travel writer Ford Prefect tells earthling Arthur Dent at a pub in England that his world is about to end, Dent responds “This must be Thursday... I never could get the hang of Thursdays.” The bartender, within earshot, announces “Last orders, please.” This deadpan gallows humour fills the pages of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and enables the book to be weighty and thought-provoking without being overly sentimental. Themes that would make for long passages of deep existential rumination in another context - the end of the world, inter-dimensional travel, and of course “the Answer” to the elusive question of the universe - are hilariously rendered in pithy exchanges through the collective wit of Adams' characters.


As a work of comic science fiction, The Hitchhiker's Guide lacks the rigor of so-called “hard” science fiction, but it is not mere wordplay either. Such ideas as the Heart of Gold (a ship that uses an “Infinite Improbability Drive” to travel at superlatively high speeds) or Magrathea (a planet inside of which other planets are constructed), while they might be scientifically implausible, nonetheless still provide some great food for thought. Also, there's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy itself, an encyclopaedic travel guide of the cosmos which Ford Prefect writes for, and from which one can learn anything from what to drink in this or that part of the galaxy to why a towel is the most important item in any traveller’s luggage.


With its hodgepodge of intrepid travellers and the uncanny events that befall them, The Hitchhiker's Guide manages to be fun and exciting almost effortlessly. The crew with whom the protagonist Arthur Dent hitches a ride includes, among others, a two-headed, three-armed president-of-the-galaxy-turned-renegade, and a congenitally depressed super-intelligent robot. To top it all off, at the point when the characters set about their impromptu voyage, the possibilities are literally endless (on account of the “Infinite Improbability Drive”). The Hitchhiker's Guide is the apotheosis of adventure story.


In a genre that often lends itself to overwrought serials, where authors ride the wave of a thoroughly original idea to an ineffectual and creatively desiccated end, Douglas Adams' sensational first instalment in his now famous Hitchhiker series goes so far on so little that a desire for much much more is entirely justified.

William Longinetti (19th April 2010)

Summer reading competition: One Child, by Torey Hayden

New York Times Book Review:

Sheila came into Torey Hayden's class for "special children" at the age of 6 after having tied a 3-year-old child to a tree and critically burned him.

ONE CHILD is Torey Hayden's story of her attempt to tap the unbelievable capacity of this tortured child.

Parts of this book - the savage sexual molestation - will enrage you. Parts of this book - Sheila's quiet description of her anger and fears and doubts - will make you cry. And parts of this book - Sheila's gradual realization of her own potential - may make you cheer.

Whatever your reaction, I think you will agree that it has been a long time since you have read a book with the sheer emotional impact of ONE CHILD.

Book of the week: The Society of S by Susan Hubbard

This week's book of the week is a vampire book. And I know what you're thinking, yet another half-baked soppy teen romance, but take courage! This is the best vampire book I've read. Ever. Which is saying something :) Susan Hubbard writes in a flowing, easy to follow style that you can't help but lap up. She leads readers down the well-trodden road of reality before jumping off the path all together and galumphs off into the bush after a sparkling butterfly, readers haring off after her.

Julie Bertagna's Exodus

From Great Books Reviewed:

Mara is a fifteen year old girl with vision and determination, living a subsistence level life on one of the few remaining islands in the North. Storms rage all winter and blistering hot summers send the sea level rising every year. Technology is long defunct in her community, but she has a relic from the past that she uses to explore the ruins of an old-world virtual reality internet equivalent, The Weave. Her discovery of some New World cities built out of the sea bed into the sky, gives her an idea to save her community.

When the refugee convoy reaches the New World city they find that humanity has split into two groups, the intellectual elite live lives totally cut off from the Earth and reality in their techno world, while the outcasts and refugees eke out an existence in the netherworld, among the drowned ruins of the old world city. To save her people Mara has to work an even more daring plan, infiltrate the New World city, cope with its sophisticated technology and find someone she can trust.

Bravery, self doubt, trust, love, and care for humanity are all powerful themes that drive this engrossing story. It is too near the possible truth to dismiss as mere futuristic fantasy, so is not a cosy read, but faith in the ultimate good nature and noble spirit of the few gives hope for mankind’s eventual survival. Read this for a great story, but not if you’re feeling fragile, this is no escapist read.

Lauren Beukes's Zoo City

From SFBookReviews:


Zoo City is an Urban fantasy novel by the South African author Lauren Beukes. 

Zinzi December is a woman with a gift, and perhaps a curse - over ten years ago a remarkable and disturbing event changed the lives of many, and the world in general. Those who have committed the crime of murder, or otherwise killed someone awoke one day to find themselves in the company of a familiar/spirit guide who is bound to them in spirit and soul. Their past transgressions manifest as a physical reminder. This animal is so closely linked that if the creature dies, then they die too, in a suitably nasty fashion. 

In a modern day Johannesburg the "Animalled" are treated as second class citizens, and a form of segregation that has created a "Zoo City" where the outcasts live on the edge of society. But every cloud has it's silver lining, and in the "Animalled" case they often have a special "gift", something individual and in some cases quite remarkable. 

For the tough, street smart Zinzi this means an ability to find "lost" things, and together with her sloth, she eakes out an existence by finding and returning other people's lost property. When she is hired to find a missing person (her least favourite type of job) she soon finds herself dragged into the dangerous, dark underworld of the slums where the criminal class rule and policemen fear to tread. 

The Novel is written as a first person narrative in the present tense, which works very well with Lauren Beukes descriptive, sassy and energetic prose blended with intimate descriptions of the lives and loves of the books very colourful (read quite twisted and a little unhinged) characters. It doesn't take long for the novel to draw you into the character of Zinzi, a lovable rogue who does what she can to survive and piece her life together after a major mistake took her quite far on the road to oblivion, and resulted in her "Animalled" status. 

Zinzi is very much a product of society, discarded but able to pick herself up and keep going when all seems lost, stupid enough to get herself into dangerous situations but smart enough to think her way out. 

The real beauty of this novel is the way that the real world has been carefully altered with just the one small difference of the physical familiar manifestation, but done it such a way that you could really believe that this is actually happening right now in Johannesburg, which is the whole point really. The slums, the murders and the "colourful" characters are all there, along with the very real social problems the book deals with, even post Apartheid, the vestiges of which still cloud politics and South African society itself. There are messages in the novel, and lesson's that we can all learn but they are subtly played just beneath the surface, there for those that care to look. 

At times the witty and lyrical prose is sheer magic, the story captivating and the characters exotic, cruel and beautiful while the backdrop of Johannesburg seeths with hidden, lurking dangers around every corner, Zoo City is quite simply captivating.


-Antony