Book Review: A Day At Bondi - Eugene Tan

16 years ago, Eugene Tan started sending daily emails, to a small subscription base, containing photos of Bondi Beach. 11 years ago, Eugene quit his office job as a creative director, & focussed all of his attention on Aquabumps, which by then had opened a gallery in Bondi.
Every morning, Eugene rises before dawn and heads down to Bondi Beach, where new and exiting photo opportunities await. Then, through various social media outlets, he shares a select few images for his subscribers, giving those stuck in less desirable places a few moments of bliss.
Released in 2010, A Day at Bondi is a book which showcases all that Bondi has to offer. The book is in chronological order, it starts before sunrise & finishes after sunset.
The photos are shot from every angle, including underwater & above from a helicopter, looking down over the swimmers & surfers (my personal favourite).
 It is showcased in a beautiful 208 paged A3 sized hardcover book. Different types of paper are used for different photographs, to fully achieve the desired effect.

Looking through this book can be bring a touch of summer to even the dreariest of winters days.

Book Review: The Pact - Jodie Picoult

This blog post is a review of another Jodie Picoult novel, my favourite. 
"Jodi Picoult has written a haunting tragedy of two families. The Pact is rich with suspense and compassion, and it will make people question how well they know their own children. It is an intensely moving novel".

-       Luanne Rice, author of HOME FIRES
I believe this quote summarises the novel and captures its essence.

With this riveting psychological drama, Jodi Picoult explores the dynamics of intimate relationships under stress, from the seemingly inexplicable mind of a teenager to the bonds of friendship and marriage. I believe very few writers have such a gift for evoking everyday life coupled with the ability to create a level of dramatic tension that will keep you up reading late into the night (well at-least that was my experience). The Pact is storytelling at its best: wonderfully observed, deeply moving, and utterly impossible to put down.

What is the novel about you ask?

The Pact paints a portrait of families in anguish over a suicide pact between a teenage couple which leaves one of them dead and the other one on trial for murder.

An exert from chapter one of the novel:

There was nothing left to say.
He covered her body with his, and as she put her arms around him she could picture him in all his incarnations: age five, and still blond; age eleven, sprouting; age thirteen, with the hands of a man. The moon rolled, sloe– eyed in the night sky; and she breathed in the scent of his skin. “I love you,” she said.
He kissed her so gently she wondered if she had imagined it. She pulled back slightly, to look into his eyes.
And then there was a shot.

Group Member: Peter

Hi, my name is Peter. I hope in my following posts I can introduce you to some new books to read/look at. 

Favourite Genre? - I mostly enjoy reading non fiction books & biographies.
Favourite book? – Bram Stroker’s Dracula.
What am I currently reading? – Since the warm weather has come back, I find myself looking over Eugene Tan’s A Day at Bondi. Also, I have started reading Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy.