Volcano Boy by Libby Hathorn

Volcano Boy
Libby Hathorn
2001, Thomas C. Lothian, Melbourne.
073440249X
190p.

This is the story of a troubled teenage boy who moves to Papua New Guinea with his Uncle. Amongst the volcanoes he finds his place.

It is written in a prose poetry style and takes only an hour to read. It is a young adults story, but I'm not sure many in that age bracket would 'get' the poetry style. Although there aren't many words, they take you on a rather exciting and emotional ride with vibrant characters and settings.

I expected this to be a 'neat tricks' novel, but it had a simple story and wasn't pretentious at all.

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Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

Pale Fire
Vladimir Nabokov
Vintage International, New York, 1962
10679723420
315p.

This book is written as a poem and commentary. The poem's author, John Shade, is neighbours with Charles Kinbote, a rather eccentric academic man from somewhere in Eastern Europe. It is Kinbote who writes the whacky commentary.

I love the wry humour of the author. The character Charlie Kinbote is highly entertaining and I never knew where he was going with it (his commentary on the poem) next.

The randomness of this book is engaging.

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Doctor Who: Short Trips: A Christmas Treasury edited by Paul Cornell

Doctor Who: Short Trips: A Christmas Treasury
Paul Cornell (Editor)
2004, Big Finish, Maidenhead
1844351122
239p.

Most of these stories were really good - I liked the recipes and the story of Poor Tom. Very festive, and very Dr. Who.

There are 35 items in total, including recipes, poetry and micro-fiction. It would have been handy to have pictures of all (or the first eight, rather) Doctors handy, so I could picture who was Who in the stories (pun intended).

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