BOOK REVIEW: PUNK ROCK RUINED MY LIFE by John Robb Manchester University Press – June 2026 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 84% You may not know who John Robb is unless you’re steeped in underground rock n’ roll culture, but reading this relentless memoir will not fail to open your eyes up. He’s been the leader […]
BOOK REVIEW: REWIND: 40 Years of X-Press Magazine by Bob Gordon Vanguard Publishing January 2026 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 95% Looking back at my formative years, I wonder if I would have ended up the person I am today without X-Press Magazine, Perth, Western Australia’s flagship street press. The free magazine was launched in June […]
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 […]
