Thursday, January 22, 2009

Tales from outer suburbia

Author: Shaun Tan Publication Date: 2008 Who'll want to read it? Anyone What's it all about? This is a book of short stories incorporating beautiful and extremely detailed illustrations. It is a book that reminds you of all those fantastic theories and questions you had when you were a child like "Does the world end at the edge of the last map in the street directory?" or "What would happen if a whale landed in your front yard?". There a stories about secret gardens, stick men, exhange students, saving turtles and missiles.
Shaun Tan has done an amazing job and if you aren't already in love with his work, I am sure you will swoon with pleasure at his latest creation. Publisher: Allen & Unwin

The Time Traveler's Wife

Author: Audrey Niffenegger Publication Date: 2003 Category: Fiction Who'll want to read it? People who like love stories with a bit of honesty and bite. I know that sounds strange when the book involves time travel, but the story felt very real to me.
Point of no return: After reading the prologue. Classic line: "(... it seems foolish and self-important to just declare one's own death as an out-and-out fact.) About this death of mine ... " What's it all about? Henry (a librarian) has a genetic ...erm... disorder, that causes him to time travel involuntarily. Clare (an artist) is his wife. She first meets him when she is six, and he is 36. He first meets her when she is 20, and he is 28. There are a lot of different relationships in this book, a lot of different kinds of love - passionate, unrequited, romantic... It is a very honest look at two people's lives and the way they deal with a very difficult problem.
Publisher: Harcourt