Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

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Genre - Fantasy

This is the beginning of a wonderful science fiction fantasy novel. It takes place in a medieval time with swords, knights and gallantry. Yet its also very very dark at times, totally character driven each chapter flows from one to the other you love them or hate them and sometimes they die. You could say its like the Sapronos during the dark ages where the winters are very long and the summers short, it starts with an ancient darkness rising beyond the wall that will threaten the very civilization whilst they fight amongst themselves for kingship this involves murder, betrayal, incest!!

Be warned you will not be able to put this book down, especially if you wanting to be transported on these cold winter nights.

I recommend it to teenagers as well.

---- Reviewed by Leonie, Ringwood

Me and Mr Booker by Cory Taylor

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Genre - Teenage

Teenage genre but I think this is one of those books that crosses to the Adult boundaries.

Well written, its a modern story set in an Australian town of a young sixteen year old girl desperately waiting for her life to begin when there isn't really anything happening. Anyone with a small town upbringing can relate as you really empathise with the character as she battles within a very dysfunctional family environment that drives her into the arms of a middle age man...maybe a sexual predator that seduces her into thinking he is the love of her life thus experiencing some kind of life experience and meaning.

---- Reviewed by Leonie, Ringwood

Kaitlyn by Kevin Lewis

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Genre - Family

Kaitlyn is about a boy who is removed from an abusive home and not his sister and how it affects everyones lives.

---- Reviewed by Tracey, Boronia

When I found you by Catherine Ryan Hyde

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Genre - General

I could not put this book down. It is about a guy who finds a baby in the woods, he wants to keep him but the grandmother comes forward and takes him. Then years later he turns up on his door step. A great read.

---- Reviewed by Tracey, Boronia

Ed note - written by the author of Pay it Forward --webgurl

The Professor by Charlotte Bronte

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Genre - General

I thought this was her last novel but its actually her first, very different from Jane Eyre but its seen now as a prequel to Villette.

The story describes a man's journey who is without place or wealth in society, and how to make a living and find work that will encompass his whole soul and mind yet not comprise his moral principles. The narration is very descriptive yet the clashes with society and personal conflicts is still a very relevant piece of story telling for today.

---- Reviewed by Leonie, Ringwood

A Widow's Story by Joyce Carol Oates

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Genre - Non-fiction

A very raw and honest portrayal of grief written after the sudden death of her husband of 30 years they rarely spent a night apart.

A prolific writer of novels yet this is a true account warts and all of her emotional and physical journey through the dark landscape of grief that keeps you turning the pages.

Highly recommended.

---- Reviewed by Leonie, Ringwood

The Body in the Clouds by Ashley Hay

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Genre - General Fiction

A rather lovely story featuring the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Three men see a man falling from the bridge and miraculously he survives. But each man sees this event from different times - the beginning of colonization, the building of the bridge, and in 2010 - and in vastly different ways. This is a story about stories and how those stories play such an important part in your own identity and sense of home.

---- Reviewed by Judy, Rowville

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

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Genre - Science Fiction

This was a fascinating story. I loved the oh so very believable future world that Bacigalupi imagined. Set in Thailand in a future world where the sea has risen, genehackers and manmade plagues abound, people are hanging by their fingernails to their very existence. But what impressed me was that this was not an idealist's world. People in this future are competitive, destructive and selfish. They do not seem to have learned from how they have almost destroyed the earth. They fight amongst themselves, scheme and plot to make money at the expense of the general population and the earth itself. From that point of view, this wasn't an uplifting story, but I enjoyed it nevertheless!

---- Reviewed by Judy, Rowville