Packing for Mars – Book Review

In science fiction trips to the stars often seem to be almost routine. The problems that make real space flight so difficult are ignored. I don’t mean nitpicking points like the apparent impossibility of travelling that fast. I’m talking about the real problems. Being stuck in cramped conditions with a handful of people or having to live on pouches of mashed up food. How do you wash when water floats away in balls? And of course there is every schoolchild’s favourite question for astronauts. How do they go to the toilet in zero gravity? In Packing for Mars Mary Roach investigates these problems and a host of others connected with the basic fact that human beings are totally unsuited to life in space. (Read more…)

Zoo City – Book Review

All the fun of a hardboiled detective story but set in an alternate South Africa where mysterious animals attach themselves to the guilty…

Stuart: A Life Backwards – Book Review

In this unique biography Stuart’s life story spirals backwards. We meet him as a homeless man living on the edge of society. As his life unfolds in reverse we trace this chaotic human being back to the “happy-go-lucky little boy” he once was.

Into the Wild – Book Review

By Jon Krakauer

Reviewed by Alan Green

One day Christopher McCandles gave away his savings, got rid of his few possessions, changed his name to Alexander Supertramp and set out looking for adventure. He spent two years travelling around America before he started the final part of his journey. The experience that he had been building up to all along. He headed into the Alaskan wilderness to live his dream of surviving off the land. A way of life he saw as offering perfect freedom in contrast to the lifestyles of all the ‘plastic people’ who just follow the usual paths through life. A few months later Alex / Chris died of starvation, alone in the icy wilderness that he had dreamed about for so long.

Writing Competitions – Booktrust List

While hunting down good reading websites for my day job I found that the nice people at the booktrust have a very useful list of UK writing competitions.

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/short-stories/prizes/

The rest of the site is also worth exploring. There is a writing section with author interviews, advice, and of course the above mentioned competition list. Most of the site is dedicated to reading, so have a look if you’re interested in reading suggestions, book news etc.

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers – Book Review

I’ve added a new book review to our collection.

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers is a story of real life heroism in the face of a terrifying natural disaster, social collapse and government paranoia.

I’m sure you have read other books where the hero is struggling to do the right thing after society has collapsed around them. Read Zeitoun if you want to know what it was really like to live through an apocalypse.