The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera
1984, 1999, Faber and Faber, London
0571200834
311p.

This is a story about loves and infidelities; about the relationships between people and the differences in them that define their relationships.

It is very hard to describe this book; I wouldn't say that I loved it but I did like it. It made me laugh out loud sometimes and sad at others. The philosophy got a bit strange but the characters were well-drawn.

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The Ten O'Clock Horses by Laurie Graham

The Ten O'Clock Horses
Laurie Graham
1996, Black Swan, London
0552996564
256p.

Ronnie Glover is a painter and decorator living in 1960s England and is dissatisfied with his place in life. He begins an affair with a rich married dance teacher.

When I first started reading this, I couldn't get into the writing style. But I stuck with it and when I started to get the voice of the novel I really really enjoyed it and couldn't put it down. The characters are well drawn, and the dialogue is incredibly realistic. The reader can feel the emotions of the characters on a deep level.

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The Sooterkin by Tom Gilling

The Sooterkin
Tom Gilling
1999, Text Publishing, La Trobe
1876485027
212p.

Set in convict-era Tasmania, a woman gives birth to a strange creature which resembles a seal pup.

I found this to be better than what I was expecting. It's a great little story and I loved the characters. The writing style is just a little bit different but very easy to read. I really enjoyed it.

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The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

The World Without Us
Alan Weisman
2007, Virgin, London
978075351239
275p.

A look at what would happen to the earth if all human life disappeared at once.

I found this to be a very interesting book. The author predicts what would happen in the future by taking a look at what happened in the past, so you get some history as well as science. I like information and this book sure had a lot of it. I learned many new things. :)

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Alien3 by Alan Dean Foster

Alien3
Alan Dean Foster
1992, 1993, Warner Books, New York
0751506672
186p.

Novelisation of the third Alien movie in which Ripley crash lands on a prison planet and discovers a xenomorph has also come along.

This is not a bad story, I really enjoyed the movie and the novel is very similar. However, at times it read like there was more than one author - it could have done with a bit more editing.

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The Gift by Roger Dunn

The Gift
Roger Dunn
1988, McPhee Gribble Publishers, Fitzroy
0140110631
136p.

Little novel based on an Australian children's mini-series in which two children win 1000 acres of bushland in Western Australia.

It was an enjoyable story - the characters were well fleshed out and it had good morals. I like that it was set in a recognisable Australia.

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The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

The Sirens of Titan
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
1959, 1979, Dell Publishing, New York
0440179483
319p.

A man and his dog are caught up in a chrono-synclastic-infudibula halfway between Earth and Mars and are scattered throughout the Solar System, appearing and disappearing on different planets at regular intervals. To explain any more would complicate things and this novel is a journey for the reader so I wont bother!

I really really really enjoyed this. Vonnegut has a seriously wicked sense of humour. And there was so much going on within the story. I wish they wrote science fiction like this again.

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