Foundation by Isaac Asimov

The Empire is falling. For 12,000 years, it has ruled over countless worlds, but now it is about to collapse. Hari Seldon has found a way to shorten the darkness that will result. He assembles a group of scientists and sequesters them on a lonely planet at the edge of the galaxy, purportedly to create and maintain an encyclopedia of all the knowledge in the universe. He calls this sanctuary The Foundation. However, in the years after he dies, his followers come to realize that there was more to his plan…

It feels odd writing a review of a book that probably everyone in the reading world has already read – how have I lived 32 years without reading it myself? Thank heavens I’ve corrected this gigantic flaw in my reading history….

I was interested to see how a sci-fi novel written over 50 years ago would stand up in the face of modern scientific advances. I mean, we all know how dorky the original Star Wars movies look now that their special effects are years out of date. (Ducking from the inevitable protests of fans – I can’t help it, they look goofy.) To me, Foundation felt like it could be a completely modern novel. Asimov was able to project far enough into the future that we haven’t caught up to him yet. The book seemed almost to be more a collection of short stories about the same idea than an actual novel – each section jumped so far into the future that most of the characters had already died. I am interested to read more books in the series to see Asimov fleshes out the different eras of the Foundation that he introduced in this book. I enjoyed it enough to want to read more, but I wouldn’t call it one of my favorite reads for the year. Perhaps that’s the problem with Great Works of Fiction – they never quite seem to live up to the hype.

Finished: 7/19/08
Source: Franklin Avenue Library
Rating: 6/10

Reviewed by Elizabeth

Mums@Home by Sophie King

I received this book as part as a book ring. I have never read Sophie King before and I was not let down by Mums@Home. I would describe this is as chick-lit, very good chick-lit.

Here is the Amazon synopsis:

Love, laughter, and logging on…Calling all mums! What would you do if your husband had a fling? Have you ever had to keep a terrible secret from your kids? Do you sometimes wish you had a life outside being a mum? Are you pregnant and alone? Caroline, Mark, Susan and Lisa are as different as the parenting problems they face and each has their own reasons for logging on to the Mums@Home website for the very first time. At first they are cynical about the site – how can faceless people possibly help or understand what they are going through? But as the weeks pass and their family problems escalate, each of them begins to realise that Mums@Home has become a lifeline – somewhere to go for advice, to be heard, to escape, or to belong…Sophie King captures the zeitgeist once again with this warm, moving and engaging look at modern parenting and finding friends.

This was very well written, I managed to read 200 pages in one sitting. I wanted to get to the end to see how everything would turn out, but when the book ended I wanted there to be more so I could see what was happening in their lives. King put in twists which I did not see coming, which added to the enjoyment of the read.

My favourite characters were in fact the children. Although I loved all the characters and engaged with them all, I found myself forming a soft spot for the children as they had to face difficulties in their adolescent as well as baring the problems their parents were facing.

My only complaint was at the end of every chapter there were extracts from emails to people which were fragmented and sometimes unclear who they were aimed at and from.

A really enjoyable, fun, quick read.

9/10