Slow Man by J. M. Coetzee

The Blurb On The Back:

Paul Rayment is on the threshold of a comfortable old age when a calamitous cycling accident results in the amputation of a leg. Humiliated, his body truncated, his life circumscribed, he turns away from his friends.

He hires a nurse named Marijana, with whom he has a European childhood in common: hers in Croatia, his in France. Tactfully and efficiently she ministers to his needs. But his feelings for her, and for her handsome teenage son, are complicated by the sudden arrival on his doorstep of the celebrated Australian novelist Elizabeth Costello, who threatens to take over the direction of his life and the affairs of his heart.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

This starts out as a character study with an interesting premise and mid-way turns into a rumination on the relationship between authors and their characters (and specifically whether authors direct their characters or whether characters dictate to their authors). If you're a writer, you'll get more out of this than if you're a reader.

The Boys’ Club by Amanda Swift

The Blurb On The Back:

Joe is twelve and VERY worried about girls. Girls turn boys into dribbling wrecks. Girls make you ditch football practice and your mates to go snogging in their bedrooms for hours. Joe knows. He's seen it happen to his brother.

Joe wants none of it. And he doesn't want his friends to change either. So he comes up with the Boys' Club: a top-secret organisation where boys can be boys and girls have NOTHING to do with them. But in reality life's a little more complicated than that - and things do change. And, with the arrival of Alex, a new face around school, Joe's life is about to change more than most ...

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

It's a shame that the book doesn't explore the possible gay angle more because that was the obvious thing that came to my mind. But this is nevertheless an enjoyable story, one likely to appeal to 9 or 10 year olds and there's some good humour in it.