Tag Archives: reading

Apollo’s Outcasts – Book Review

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 outcasts

Title – Apollo’s Outcasts

Author – Allen Steele

Fiction – Young Adult (and Adult)

 

 

I’ve been a fan of Allen Steele’s writing for many years now, as I really enjoy his mix of real science and real characters. He writes near-future science fiction about things like building the first moonbase, manned Mars exploration and so on. Instead of the high-tech utopias that some series have, his books have everyday people doing everyday jobs

– except those jobs are a few years in the future, and in space.

The book tells the story of sixteen-year-old Jamey Barlowe’s fight for survival and freedom together with his friends, against a corrupt and authoritarian government. It has politics, intrigue, action and a touch of romance, all together in a can’t-put-down read. Highly recommended for young adults Continue reading →

2013 Asia Society Bernard Schwartz Book Award Shortlist

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Information from http://asiasociety.org/about/awards/bernard-schwartz-book-award, Five books recognized for their outstanding contributions to the understanding of Asia have been chosen as finalists for the 2013 Asia Society Bernard Schwartz Book Award. The finalists were selected from over 100 nominations submitted by U.S. and Asia-based publishers for books published in 2012. The books are: Continue reading →

John Button Prize Shortlist 2013

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Well, it is the election time, so you might be interested in reading books that are shortlisted for this prize – John Button Prize for writing on Australian politics and policy. The shortlist includes 3 titles and they are: 

 
 

Reluctant rescuers:

Friday Brown – a Book Review

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friday

Title: Friday Brown

Author: Vikki Wakefield (CBCA shortlist for 2013)

Michael’s pick

Two matters determine whether an account of young adulthood is interesting. Firstly, the management of expectations. A problem for YA, understood as genre, is that the narrative of self-discovery is fixed at either end. (How many examples could be unearthed where the protagonist ends up none the wiser for their choices.) Authors feel compelled to seed their tales with instructive force, then disguise the medicine with strong flavours. It sometimes descends to a display of street cred, copiously researched. Or too busily studded with eccentricities of character and event. Continue reading →

Man Booker Prize Longlist 2013

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Man Booker Prize Longlist for this year has come up and it is made up by 13 titles.

Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (Fourth Estate)

We Need New Names by No Violet Bulawayo (Chatto & Windus)

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (Granta)

Harvest by Jim Crace (Picador)

The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris (Sandstone Press)

The Kills by Richard House (Picador)

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (Bloomsbury)

Unexploded by Alison MacLeod ( Hamish Hamilton)

TransAtlantic by Colum McCann (Bloomsbury)

Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson (Mantle)

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Canongate)

The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan (Doubleday Ireland)

The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín (Viking)