BOOK REVIEW: NIGHT DIVIDES THE DAY – The Doors Anthology by The Doors Genesis Publications via New South Books, May 2025 Hard cover, rrp AUD$115 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 83% The story of The Doors as told through quotes from the band members, producers, record label people and many more is a fascinating trip through […]
BOOK REVIEW: CONAN THE BARBARIAN: BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE by Jim Zub & Jonas Scharf Titan Comics via New South Publishers Paperback, $34.99, August 2025 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 88% Conan the Barbarian may have been Robert E Howard’s most famous and enduring character, but he was far from his only memorable hero. Howard, […]
BOOK REVIEW: A FINE LINE BETWEEN STUPID & CLEVER by Rob Reiner Simon & Schuster Australia, September 2025 Paperback, rrp AU$36.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 110% (Eleven-ty percent) In my recent book ROCKSPLOITATION – Celebrating 69 Hits, Flops & Cult Favourite Rock n’ Roll Movies, I devote a considerable number of pages to This Is […]
BOOK REVIEW: VAGABOND by Tim Curry Penguin Random House Australia, October 2025 Hardcover, rrp AUD$55.00 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 88% Tim Curry is not only iconic but also beloved: an actor whose breakthrough role as the omnisexual alien Dr Frank-n-Furter in first, the stage production of Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show, then the film […]
BOOK REVIEW: COCKTAIL ATLAS by Chris Vola Union Square & Co via New South Australia Hard cover, $69.99, March 2025 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 99% Chris Vola has researched his new Cocktail Atlas impeccably, identifying over 200 mixed drinks from just about every part of the world and providing a brief history of the culture […]
BOOK REVIEW: ANOTHER DAY IN THE LIFE by Ringo Starr Genesis Publications Hardcover Originally published 2019, re-released 2025 85% Ringo takes photos the way he plays drums: no fuss, nothing fancy, just solidly dependable and deceptively simple. Which is a compliment – we don’t subscribe to the folly of undervaluing his contributions to THAT band. […]
BOOK REVIEW: GALLAGHER – The Fall & Rise of Oasis by P. J. Harrison Hachette Australia Paperback, May 2025 Rrp $34.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 90% P. J. Harrison is an unapologetic Oasis fan, but not so much as to cloud his judgement in this analysis of the Gallagher brothers solo, post Oasis years. For […]
BOOK REVIEW: THE IMPOSSIBLE FORTUNE by Richard Osman Viking Fiction via Penguin Australia Paperback, $34.99, September 2025 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 80% After the loss of her beloved husband in the fourth Thursday Murder Club book The Last Devil To Die, Elizabeth has been quietly grieving and keeping herself to herself, but a volatile death […]
BOOK REVIEW: IF WE BUILD THE STAGE CAN WE PLAY Part I by Daniel Marmignon-Delmas Independent, paperback Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 92% Sesu Coleman of subterranean cult New Yawk almost-legends The Magic Tramps talks multiple times in a long, rambling interview here about how history is important – and he’s dead right, that is exactly […]
BOOK REVIEW: DOUBLE TALKIN’ JIVE by Matt Sorum New South Books/ Rare Bird Books, 16 Aug 2022 Hard cover, rrp $39.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 78% By now Axl Rose has taken Guns n’ F’n Roses so far off piste from their original, classic, raw vision that it’s hard to see any of his post-classic […]
BOOK REVIEW: By Your Side by Ruth Jones Penguin Random House, 20 May 2025 Paperback, $34.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 83% Fans of Ruth Jones’ sitcoms Gavin & Stacey and Stella will find much to enjoy in her latest novel, By Your Side. The humour is not as much to the forefront, though, taking a […]
BOOK REVIEW: THE BEATLES by Richard Havers Chartwell Books, November 2024 Hard cover, rrp $45.00 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar You might doubt anyone could bring anything new to The Beatles, given the hundreds (thousands?) of books already out there, but this one provided enough of a new angle to warrant its existence and is sure […]
BOOK REVIEW: THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN Volume 3 New South Books/Titan Comics, 1 Apr 2025 Hard cover, $250.00 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 90% An absolute treasure trove of late 70’s Conan history, this epic volume should come with one simple warning: Reading in bed may lead to black eyes, so hefty is this 2.5 […]
BOOK REVIEW: THE PHILOSOPHY OF BEER New South Books/British Library Publishing, 7 July 2021 Hard cover, rrp $24.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 75% This petite tome is an existential musing on beer’s merits, a casual history and even an anthropological study about the amber fluid’s place in the human race’s societies for the past, roughly, […]
BOOK REVIEW: Rock Legends At Rockfield by Jeff Collins New South Books/Calon Books, 3 Jan 2023 Hard cover, $39.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 78% First written in the mid 00’s and now updated, Jeff Collins delves into a little of the history of Welsh recording studio Rockfield – the little studio that could, you might […]
BOOK REVIEW: HOW TO DISAPPEAR – A PORTRAIT OF RADIOHEAD by Colin Greenwood Hachette Australia, 22 Oct 2024 Hard Cover, rrp $55 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 81% Primarily a collection of Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood’s behind the veil photos of his travels and recording with the world’s biggest art rock band, How To Disappear is […]
BOOK REVIEW: SONNY BOY by Al Pacino Penguin Random House Australia/Century, 15 Oct 2024 Hard cover, rrp $55 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 83% Al Pacino’s memoir is a love letter to acting, presented in a poetic and dramatic style which is exactly as charismatic and riveting as any of his best performances. Starting with some […]
BOOK REVIEW: ORSTRALIA – A Punk History 1974-1989 by Tristan Clark New South Books/PM Press, 1 Nov 2024 Paperback, rrp $39.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 88% Orstralia is as in-depth an excavation into the Australian punk n’ roll underbelly as anyone could hope for, leaving few stones unturned in its exploration of the anarchic musical […]
BOOK REVIEW: WHAT I ATE IN ONE YEAR (and related thoughts) by Stanley Tucci Penguin Random House Australia, October 2024 Hard cover, rrp AUD$45 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 80% Part diary, part exultation of the role food plays in one’s life, What I Ate In One Year isn’t a recipe book – though it does […]
BOOK REVIEW: DON COPPOLA by Amazing Ameziane New South Books/Titan Comics, 9 Oct 2024 Paperback, rrp $45 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 76% A graphic novel/biography exploring the incomparable cinematic life of Francis Ford Coppola, it serves to remind us what incredible, epic art he gifted us, especially through scenes from and behind the camera of […]
