An historical sociological novel, A Town Like Alice is a story about a community and how it deals with the coming changes brought upon them by world conflicts. The story follows Jean Paget during the post WWII aftermath. After escaping from Malaysia and in hopes of returning back to her home in England, she inherits a legacy that changes everything. She decides to stay and help the village that took her in by digging a well for them. Soon enough the well begins to attract more developments, compliments of Jean, and it is here that she learns about Joe Harmon, an outback worker. After joining Joe and having so positively experiencing Alice Springs on her way to Willstown, Jean decides to open up a shoe factory like the one she worked for in England. One Thing leads to another and soon many other facilities are made available such as and Ice Cream parlor, Hair Dresser and a Swimming Pool. The effect of Jean's business sense brought about a new goal for the town of Willstown as it began to prosper, bringing in new people, never before seeking business in the humble town.

The Lucky Country
By Donald Horne

The Lucky Country, a commonly used term used by Australians to describe our nation's lifestyle, weather and history. A phrase often used to invoke the the nation's good fortune, from gold rushes in the 1800's, to more recent problematic global events being geographically far enough from Australia to label us as 'the lucky country'. In terms of our nations history, Australia can be seen as a nation that developed at a time when we could gain the many benefits of technological, social, economical and political breakthrough's that were developed in other countries. Those countries were clever: Australia was simply lucky.

An underachiever's diary

Typography:
The text isn't in the best order. The title is on the bottom left and is no larger than the authors name, which is located on the adjacent side. A review line is on the top of the page where the title and/or author is usually located, and outshines the latter. This layout was probably done intentionally as to reflect the 'under achiever' theme of the book.

Image:
The image is non-existent. What can I say. As I mentioned before, it was probably done intentionally to reflect the book's theme.

Image and Text:
Neither the text nor the typeface are worthy of recognition. There is an improved version of the cover for the paperback edition, which improves on most, if not all aspects of the original cover.

Kockroach

Typography:
Typography is straight forward in terms of order. 'Title' and underneath it 'Author'.
The typography has been lain out in a clever fashion. It is slanted so that it corresponds with the image. The title "Kockroach" has been placed under a foot coming down on it like a cockroach being squished.

Image:
The image has done well to convey the book. Though not as straight forward as it may seem at first, once the reader has understood the synopsis of the book, it becomes ever more clear as either; Kockroach will step on the city, or the city will step on him. The cityscape is slightly ruined bythe blur effect.

Image and Text:
The cover for 'Kockroach' is a mix of both image and typography, both being utilised to work with each other, rather than the norm of being seperate. The typography could be hard to read for some, due to the slightly obscure angle.

SHOWBIZ

Typography :
There really isn't anything beyond the authors name and the title of the book, but it is in a layout that is obvious enough for anyone to figure out. To me the font works very well; it has a certain flashy-ness to it that screams out 'spotlight'. Clarity is fine, except it could be a little bit darker, but not too dark that it matches the predominant black of the image.

Image:
The image is engaging. The violent nature is very intriguing, coupled with the title makes for an interesting overall image. The image has conveys an excellent double meaning and represents the synopsis very well.

Image and Text:
I would say that it is definitely an image dominant layout, but all in all, both the typeface and the image work well together.