BOOK REVIEW: THE JAMES BOND SERIES by Ian Fleming PLUS: James Bond: The Authorised Biography by John Pearson New South Books October 2003 By Shane Pinnegar Bond novel series: 90% James Bond: The Authorised Biography: 85% New South Books’ classy reissue of Ian Fleming’s fourteen Bond novels – all of which were originally published between […]
BOOK REVIEW: 42 – The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams edited by Kevin Jon Davies Unbound, 2023 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 84% Kevin Jon Davies has trawled through Douglas Adams’ archives – “over 60 boxes full of notebooks, research, letters, scripts, jokes, speeches, to-do lists, hard drives and even poems” – for this strangely […]
BOOK REVIEW: NO SECRETS by Graham ‘Buzz’ Bidstrup Harper Collins Australia, September 2025 Rrp $35.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 88% Graham ‘Buzz’ Bidstrup’s memoir is a treat for fans of The Angels, the pivotal Oz rock band he joined in 1976, not long after they had evolved from first The Moonshine Jug & String Band […]
BOOK REVIEW: SERIOUSLY SILLY – THE LIFE OF TERRY JONES by Robert Ross Coronet/Hachette, 2025 Paperback Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 88% Monty Python keypin Terry Jones’ life is wonderfully scrutinised by long-time colleague and friend Robert Ross, a “comedy historian” who has done similar works covering Peter Sellers, Marty Feldman and Sid James, and was […]
BOOK REVIEW: LAST RITES by Ozzy Osbourne with Chris Ayres Sphere/Hachette 2025 Paperback Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 93% The main problem I had with 2010’s I Am Ozzy was that it didn’t sound enough like Ozzy’s voice: the stories were rehashes of those we’ve heard many times before, and it felt, to be honest, like […]
BOOK REVIEW: THE PEN IS MIGHTIER by Edward Tudor Pole Old Castle Books February 2026 By Shane Pinnegar 84% Eddie Tudor Pole has lived quite the life, from Sex Pistol-adjacent punk rocker to armour-clad sword-waving popstar to star of stage and screens big and small to rocking troubadour. He also had a very disturbing and […]
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, […]
