COOKBOOK REVIEW: MEZCLA – RECIPES TO EXCITE by IXTA BELFRAGE Penguin Random House Australia July 2022 Hardcover, Rrp $55.00 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 91% In Australia we are deprived the opportunity to visit many of the world’s finest restaurants, but that doesn’t mean we have to remain in the dark about global food trends and […]
COOKBOOK REVIEW: BAKED IN ONE by ELOISE HEAD & CRUMBS & DOILIES by JEMMA WILSON Penguin Random House Australia February & March 2023, respectively Hardcover, Rrp $45.00 & $49.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar Both 85% I’ve grouped these two little rippers together due to them being from the same publisher, being published so close together, […]
COOKBOOK REVIEW: DARK RYE & HONEY CAKE by REGULA YSEWIJN Murdoch Books February 2023 Hardcover, Rrp $55.00 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 92% I called Regula Ysewijn’s previous book, Pride & Pudding – subtitled “the history of British puddings both savoury and sweet” – indispensable, and found that its “lush and evocative descriptions of the way […]
COOKBOOK REVIEW: GLUTEN FREE BAKING MADE SIMPLE by CHERIE LYDEN Murdoch Books April 2023 Hardcover, Rrp $49.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 95% With coeliac disease so prevalent, plus thyroid problems such as Hashimoto’s Disease making gluten not only problematic, but actually dangerous, for many people, Gluten Free options are essential in a modern kitchen. All […]
BOOK REVIEW: NO COUNTRY FOR GIRLS by Emma Styles Hachette Australia August 2022 Paperback – rrp AUD$32.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 80% Wanted for murder, Charlie and Nao embark on a road trip with a bag of stolen gold and a corrupt cop in hot pursuit. They didn’t murder the guy (well, not exactly), and […]
COOKBOOK REVIEW: MOTHERLAND – A JAMAICAN COOKBOOK by MELISSA THOMPSON Bloomsbury Publishing January 2023 Hardcover, Rrp $52.00 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 85% As is becoming more prevalent, Melissa Thompson’s debut cookbook features a lot more than simply recipes. With a Jamaican mother and a Maltese father, Thompson was born in England and has been a […]
COOKBOOK REVIEW: GLOBAL SMOKE by CHERYL ALTERS JAMISON & BILL JAMISON Allen & Unwin June 2023 Paperback, Rrp $45.00 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 70% Cheryl Jamison has written a slew of award-winning books – including four titles winning the coveted James Beard Cookbook Award – and along with recently passed husband Bill has turned her […]
BOOK REVIEW: MATTHEW PERRY – Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing Hachette Australia Nov 2022, paperback Rrp AUD$34.99 Reviewed by Trulie Pinnegar 80% Matthew Perry’s memoir is heartfelt and soul searching, raw and honest… yet even after reading, I am wondering – what is he seeking? Is it forgiveness – and if so, forgiveness […]
BOOK REVIEW: RUNNING UP THAT HILL – 50 Visions of Kate Bush by Tom Doyle Allen & Unwin November 2022 Paperback, rrp AUD$32.99 Tom Doyle hangs a lot of his framework here on a couple of interviews he conducted with notoriously private songstress Kate Bush, and rightly so, given that she has granted so few […]
BOOK REVIEW: LIVING ON A THIN LINE by Dave Davies with Philip Clark Hachette Australia July 2022 Paperback – rrp AUD$32.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 79% Dave and Ray Davies of the Kinks are one of the earliest example of extremely talented brothers in a band with irascible natures and acrimonious relationships. The Gallaghers of […]
BOOK REVIEW: CHRIS DUFFY – ALADDIN SANE 50 Welbeck Publishing Group March 2023 – Hard cover Rrp AUD$79.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 95% Published to mark the fiftieth anniversary of David Bowie’s ground-breaking Aladdin Sane album back in paleolithic 1973, this is as deep a dive into the artwork of that iconic album cover as […]
BOOK REVIEW: A BOOK OF DAYS by Patti Smith Bloomsbury Publishing November 2022 – $39.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 95% Lumped in with the punk scene when she first came to prominence in the ‘70s, Patti Smith has evolved in our consciousness to something far more unique: a poet, an artist, an author, a musician, […]
BOOK REVIEW: THE McCARTNEY LEGACY Volume 1 1969-73 by Allan Kozinn & Adrian Sinclair Dey St Books | Harper Collins Australia February 2023 Paperback, rrp AUD$36.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 95% The McCartney Legacy Volume 1 is as exhaustively researched, meticulously documented a biography of four pivotal years in the life of one of humanity’s […]
BOOK REVIEW: I WILL FIND YOU by Harlan Coben Penguin Random House March 2023 – rrp AUD$32.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 84% Harlan Coben’s latest novel came about by asking himself, “What if you were accused of the worst crime possible? What happens if, after losing everything and being imprisoned, you find evidence that could […]
BOOK REVIEW: HER FIDELITY by Katharine Pollock Penguin Random House August 2022 Paperback – rrp AUD$32.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 80% Katherine Pollock has based her debut novel on her own experiences working in independent record stores in Brisbane and Sydney for years. A female record store employee was once as unusual as a male […]
BOOK REVIEW: THE LIVES OF BRIAN by Brian Johnson Penguin Random House Australia October 2022 – $35.00 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 88% As AC/DC’s other great frontman, Brian Johnson has thrilled audiences around the world since 1980, but his 2009 first autobiography Rockers And Rollers was a strangely incomplete affair. Billed as “an automotive autobiography” […]
BOOK REVIEW: HOW TO WRITE ONE SONG by Jeff Tweedy Allen & Unwin April 2022 Paperback, rrp $19.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 99% You don’t have to be a fan of the man or his music – though reading the book led me into really intently listening to Wilco for the first time, and greatly […]
COOKBOOK REVIEW – JAPANESE HOME COOKING by MAORI MUROTA Murdoch Books July 2022 Hard cover, rrp $49.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 85% Cookbook Maori Murota’s latest cookbook is an incredible, important and essential reference tome that does exactly what it says on the tin, covering Japanese Home Cooking. Her name should be familiar, her best […]
COOKBOOK REVIEW: PRIDE AND PUDDING by REGULA YSEWIJN Murdoch Books May 2022 Hard cover, rrp $55.00 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 92% Cookbook The last person you might expect to have assembled a definitive and historical tome of British puddings is a Belgian, but Regula Ysewijn is a renowned culinary historian, author and photographer, and this […]
COOKBOOK REVIEW: CHINESE-ISH by ROSHEEN KAUL & JOANNA HU Murdoch Books July 2022 Hard cover, rrp $39.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 90% Cookbook Immigrants Rosheen Kaul and Joanna Hu don’t just label the food they present here as ‘Chinese-ish’, but also themselves. With convoluted bloodlines and upbringings taking in Kashmiri, Singaporean, Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian, Nyonya, […]
