HIGH FIDELITY By Nick Hornby

Published : 1995
Pages : 253
Overall Mark : 9/10

After his girlfriend Laura leaves him for another man, Rob Fleming decides to look back at his top five relationships and try to figure out where he’s been going wrong. As he meets up with his exes one by one, he starts to realise that many of the relationships didn’t just fail because of him, and that with each failure there were two people to blame. So, when Laura’s father dies, Rob takes the opportunity to try and be the better man and attempts to face his fear of death which has lead to his fear of commitment.

This is a great little book, and not just because we’re given the skewed view of a sole individual whose opinions soon begin to become our own. Rob’s belief that his only failing is his fear of commitment sounds like a small thing, but this fear impacts on not just his relationships but his work situation as well. Mixed in with his musical snobbery, this makes for a fun filled yet emotional rollercoaster which we are invited to take part in, and also given the opportunity to reach some of our own conclusions thanks to the partly open ended ending.

THE STARS MY DESTINATION By Alfred Bester

Published : 1956
Pages : 258
Overall Mark : 8/10

After drifting in space for a number of weeks as the only survivor of his ship, the Nomad, Gully Foyle is rescued by a group of people who set about tattooing his face with stripes similar to that of a tiger. Foyle soon decides to seek revenge on the crew of a spacecraft named the Vorga, which passed him by and ignored his distress call, by using his ability to teleport – a universal ability which most of the population can perform – to find them and kill them, but as his journey brings him ever closer to those responsible, he starts to discover some interesting facts about both them and himself.

This is a great little sci-fi novel, with a lead character which you sympathise with whilst also taking an instant disliking to. Bester manages with expert ease to build a framework around Gully Foyle and the rest of the supporting characters which is both believable and strangely accessible, whilst creating scenarios and settings which are both fantastic and highly imaginative.