BOOK REVIEW: FRIDAY ON MY MIND by Jeff Apter Allen & Unwin August 2020 Paperback, $29.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar Biography 90% Oz rock biographer Jeff Apter takes a deep dive into the life of George Young, who might arguably be the most influential and pivotal Australian music industry figure of the twentieth century. Not […]
BOOK REVIEW: WILD AND CRAZY GUYS by Nick De Semlyen Picador June 2019 Paperback, $32.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar Non fiction, movie, comedy 79% Nick De Semlyn catalogs the leap from Saturday Night Live’s iconic TV comedy stage to film stardom for many of its major players in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. John Belushi, […]
BOOK REVIEW: FACE IT by Debbie Harry Harper Collins Australia October 2019 Hardback, $45 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar Autobiography 79% Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry delivers a fascinating memoir with Face It, but somehow, in all the retelling of her life and times, she still manages to retain her privacy and mystique. She’s an enigmatic figure, […]
BOOK REVIEW: THE LIFE & TIMES OF MALCOLM MCLAREN by Paul Gorman Hachette Australia May 2020 Paperback, $34.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar Non fiction, movie, comedy 82% Most fans of the Sex Pistols and their one-and-only album – the explosive soundtrack to an entire movement detonating a hole in England’s social fabric – Never Mind […]
BOOK REVIEW: HBR’s 10 Must Reads on AI, Analytics, and the New Machine Age by Harvard Business Review Harvard Business Review February 2019 Paperback, $37.99 Reviewed by Natalie Salvo Non-Fiction / Computing & I.T. / Computer Science 90% Rocking The Harvard Business Review is a trusted authority that publishes insightful articles online and in books. […]
BOOK REVIEW: Don’t Hide the Madness – William S. Burroughs in Conversation with Allen Ginsberg edited by Steven Taylor Three Rooms Press January 2019 Hardcover, $39.99 Reviewed by Natalie Salvo Non-Fiction / Biographies & True Stories 60% Rocking Don’t Hide the Madness is a book that seems promising. Two founders of the Beat movement, Allen […]
BOOK REVIEW: Beauty by Bri Lee Allen & Unwin November 2019 Paperback, $19.99 Reviewed by Natalie Salvo Non-Fiction Books / Literature, Poetry & Plays / Literary Essays 70% Rocking Where Bri Lee’s debut book, Eggshell Skull, was a behemoth, her follow-up tackles a large topic. In Beauty, she grapples with society’s unrealistic pressures placed on […]
BOOK REVIEW: The Clergyman’s Wife by Molly Greeley Allen & Unwin December 2019 Paperback, $29.99 Reviewed by Natalie Salvo Fiction Books / Modern & Contemporary Fiction 75% Rocking The world doesn’t really need another novel inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. But Molly Greeley does such a good job of staying true to […]
BOOK REVIEW: Just Kids Illustrated Edition by Patti Smith Bloomsbury Publishing October 2019 Hardcover, $59.99 Reviewed by Natalie Salvo Non-Fiction Books / Biographies & True Stories 100% Rocking Young love is precious. It is thirty years since photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe’s passing, and a decade since Patti Smith wrote their love story, but these heightened emotions […]
BOOK REVIEW: Ghost Species by James Bradley Penguin | Hamish Hamilton April 2020 Paperback $29.99 Reviewed by Steph O’Connell Fiction / Speculative Fiction / Climate Fiction 80% Rocking An exquisitely beautiful and deeply affecting exploration of connection and loss in an age of planetary trauma. In the night, she wakes. Something has woken her but […]
BOOK REVIEW: The Warlow Experiment by Alix Nathan Serpents Tail August 2019 Hardcover, $29.99 Reviewed by Steph O’Connell Fiction / Historical Fiction 30% What kind of person keeps a man underground for seven years? And who would agree to be part of such an experiment? The year is 1792 and Herbert Powyss is set on […]
BOOK REVIEW: The Age-Well Project – Easy Ways to a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life by Annabel Streets and Susan Saunders Little, Brown Book Group May 2019 Paperback, $32.99 Reviewed by Natalie Salvo Non-Fiction / Family & Health / Popular Medicine & Health 80% Rocking The fountain of youth does not exist so what does one […]
BOOK REVIEW: Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals by Rachel Hollis HarperCollins Focus April 2019 Paperback, $28.99 Reviewed by Natalie Salvo Non-Fiction Books / Self-Help & Personal Development 50% Rocking In some ways it feels like Girl, Stop Apologizing is a book everyone should read. There is nothing wrong […]
BOOK REVIEW: Acid for the Children – The autobiography of Flea, the Red Hot Chili Peppers legend by Flea Headline Publishing Group November 2019 Paperback, $32.99 Reviewed by Natalie Salvo Non-Fiction Books / Biographies & True Stories / Arts & Entertainment Biographies 90% Rocking Flea from The Red Hot Chilli Peppers is renowned as a […]
BOOK REVIEW: Mercury and Me- An Intimate Memoir by the Man He Loved by Jim Hutton with Tim Wapshott Bloomsbury Publishing August 2019 Paperback, $22.99 Reviewed by Natalie Salvo Non-Fiction Books / Biographies & True Stories / Arts & Entertainment Biographies 65% Rocking Rock stars like Queen’s Freddie Mercury and David Bowie often seem other-worldly. […]
BOOK REVIEW: The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave Picador January 2020 Paperback, $29.99 Reviewed by Steph O’Connell Fiction / Historical Fiction 100% After a storm has killed off all the island’s men, two women in a 1600s Norwegian coastal village struggle to survive against both natural forces and the men who have been sent to […]
BOOK REVIEW: So Lucky by Dawn O’Porter HarperCollins October 2019 Paperback, $34.99 Reviewed by Natalie Salvo Fiction Books / Modern & Contemporary Fiction 75% Rocking No one thumbs their noses at the prospect of luck. In fact, some people even label certain individuals “lucky” because they seem to live a charmed life. Author and broadcaster, […]
BOOK REVIEW: Nelson – Pumpkins and Aliens by Andrew Levins, illustrated by Katie Kear Puffin Books March 2020 Paperback, $12.99 Reviewed by Steph O’Connell Middle Grade / Humour 65% Rocking Meet Nelson . . . he’s an ordinary kid, just like you. Everyone thinks he’s shy but, really, he’s just bored. Nelson hates vegetables. […]
BOOK REVIEW: The School of Life – An Emotional Education by the School of Life Hamish Hamilton September 2019 Paperback, $32.99 Reviewed by Natalie Salvo Non-Fiction Books / Philosophy / Popular Philosophy 70% Rocking The work performed by The School of Life is important. This institution educates people on matters of emotional intelligence and equips […]
BOOK REVIEW: The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel Hodder & Stoughton March 2020 Paperback, $32.99 Reviewed by Steph O’Connell Crime / Mystery / Fiction 95% Rocking From the bestselling author of The Roanoke Girls comes a new novel with the same incredible atmosphere, strong sense of place and dark heart. The Familiar Dark will blow […]
