Stephenie Meyer’s debut novel is a kicker. It’s fast paced and includes all of elements which make a young adult novel great (a handsome love interest, a teenage misfit, danger, rebellion and fast cars).

Seventeen year old Bella leaves her mother and sunny Pheonix for the dreary Olympic Penninsula in Washington state. Aside from summer, Bella really hasn’t spent much time in Washington and does not find the cooler climate all that agreeable – until she meets Edward.

Edward is exceptionally good looking and more elegant than any other teenager Bella has met, but it seems that the beauty only runs skin deep as Edward relunctantly partners Bella in biology.

Edward is as graceful as Bella is klutz and soon Bella finds that Edward’s uncanny knack for being at the right place at the right time hides a deep, dark secret. Despite Edward’s not-so-normal lifestyle, Bella falls head over heals for him. Which leads her to rebel against her father and her peers.

When Bella’s life if threatened, her relationship with Edward is put to the test and Bella must choose which direction she wants her life to take.

Deliciously romantic in places, and thrilling in others, I highly recommend this to any fan of fantasy stories or just plain, well-written young adult fiction. I am currently waiting for the second book of this trilogy to arrive, but have already tried checking it out from the library. 

I would never have picked up this novel except that I am required to read it for class. That said, I think that it is a very enjoyable read that draws the reader into the characters’ insecurites and  consequenes of their choices.

The book begins with Gemmy wandering out of the scrub in a settlement north of Queensland in the 1850s. Since being cast overboard, Gemmy has lived with the native Australians, learning their language and habits before wanting to find out how the settlers live.

What Gemmy finds is that he is now in no-mans-land as not ‘white’ enough to be accepted by the community. Those offering him shelter, food and company soon find themselves as out-cast as Gemmy is and struggle, along with Gemmy, to make other put their fears behind them.

The writing is amazing, and at times I struggled to put this one down. I truly felt the fear of living in a new settlement in the 1850s, along with the courage shown by particular characters. I would recommend this to anyone who has an interest in colonial Australia. 

William Goldman’s The Princess Bride is an excellently written take on the traditional fairy tale. According to Goldman, he has abridged S. Morgenstern’s original tale of true love and high adventure, thereby improving the quality of the story. In reality, S. Morgenstern is a pen name used by Goldman to create a particular method in which to tell his tale.

Buttercup, who after many years of observing Westly in his role as the family farm hand, falls deeply in love with him. Westly, sensing a need to prove himself to Buttercup, quits his job as farm hand to make his fortune in America. Unfortunately, Westly’s ship never arrives in America.

On hearing the sad news, Buttercup vows never to love another, although she does agree to marry Prince Humperdinck in a marriage of convienence. And so begins the adventure of kidnapping, masked crusaders, fencing, fighting, romance and power, all while Buttercup struggles with her decisions.

This is clearly a page turner for anyone aged nine to ninety (just like those puzzles say) with more twists and turns than any other story I have read. If you need more proof that this is one book worth picking up, the edition I have is a 25th anniversary reprint, and the movie has millions of fans worldwide.

I received this for Christmas. I hope that it’s not for my dogs to read because it is full of great ideas for dogs to train their owners, not all of which I approve. Generally, I am against censorship, but on this occasion, my two 18-month-old dogs manage to cause more than enough trouble without any more ideas.

Although I haven’t even really began to read it yet, I recommend it for all pet owners as it is a funny addition to any book collection!

Friends of mine have criticize this twelveth novel of Murakami as ‘boring’ and ‘missing a resolution’, but I disagree. I love the pace of the novel (albeit a short novel by usual standards), and found this very relaxing to read. I feel I understood the underlying story of the somewhat estranged sisters, a troubled Chinese immigrant and a trombonist debating his future. I particularly liked the ending, and felt that this edition of Murakami was all-too-short. 

I am so intrigued by the distinct, beautiful style of Murakami and I am going to ask a native Japanese speaker (who is a dear friend of mine) to see what she thinks of the Japanese version. 

In summary, bring on number thirteen Mr Murakami.

It seems that Mailer was an advocate of the ‘Here for a good time, not a long time’ lifestyle. He was married six times, fathered nine children, is rumoured to have abused alcohol and drugs and liked to carry his college boxing career into his professional life more than once. Mailer recieved a suspended sentence for stabbing his second wife at a party and feuded with fellow well-known authors such as Truman Capote and Gore Vidal.

Although Mailer did not win a Pulitzer Prize for his first novel The Naked and the Dead, this is widely regarded as the best account of World War II and catapulted Mailer to celebrity status at the tender age of 25. It is based on his personal experience of war.

Mailer won the Pulitzer Prize in 1967 for Armies of the Night, an account of the 1967 march on the Pentagon by anti-Vietnam War protesters, established him as a political spokesman for the Woodstock generation. His second Pulitzer was for The Executioner’s Song detailing the execution of Gary Gilmore in Utah.

Mailer was not only a talented writer, he began studying aeronautical engineering at Harvard University at 16. Mailer’s most recent book The Castle in the Forest recount’s Adolf Hitler’s childhood was released this year.