The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

The book explores the theme of Asperger’s Syndrome in a light-hearted way.  Don Tilman is thirty-nine and a professor of genetics at a university in Melbourne. He is aware that his brain is wired differently from most people.  He struggles in social situations and has to plan every minute of his day to a strict timetable.  If, on occasion, he has to deviate from his timetable it causes him lots of stress.  He has heard that men live longer if they are married so he compiles the wife project, a scientific test to find his perfect partner.  Then in walks Rosie and his structured life is thrown into chaos.  Rosie enlists Don’s help to find her real father and together they embark on the father project.  The story is told from the point of view of Don and, seeing the world through his eyes, made for an interesting read.    

Two Women by Laurie Lee

A short read – I finished it in an evening.  The book is composed of photographs and prose demonstrating a man’s love for his wife and daughter.  The book opens with this evocative sentence, which sets the scene for a haunting narrative: “The photographs in this book are of the two women who have occupied most of my late adult life, enclosing it in a double embrace, like bookends.”   I always enjoy Laurie Lee’s poetic way with words and this was no exception.