BOOK REVIEW: AC/DC AT 50 by Martin Popoff Motorbooks International May 2023 Hard cover, rrp $85.00 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 83% Martin Popoff is a rock music book writing machine, pumping out tome after tome as if he never sleeps or sees daylight, which can sometimes detract from his many, many words of content. He […]
BOOK REVIEW: EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT by Benjamin Stevenson Penguin Random House October 2023 Paperback – $32.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 82% Benjamin Stevenson’s Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone was a big hit in 2022, with the rights being sold quickly for a HBO film adaptation. In it, Ernie Cunningham […]
BOOK REVIEW: PERILOUS TIMES by Thomas D Lee Orbit Books May 2023 $32.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 91% Thomas D Lee’s debut novel (endearingly dedicated to his high school English teacher Mrs Parker “because I said I would”) sees several Knights of the Round Table colliding headfirst with ecological cataclysm and a group of enviro-warriors. […]
BOOK REVIEW: SIR HEREWARD & MISTER FITZ by Garth Nix Allen & Unwin August 2023 Paperback – RRP AUD$32.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 70% Garth Nix should be well known to fantasy fans – especially through his YA writing – with his myriad of titles selling over six million copies around the world, and 65+ […]
BOOK REVIEW: JAWSOME 1 by R TIMMIS Albert Street Books (Allen & Unwin) August 2023 Paperback – RRP AUD$15.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 75% Who could possibly guess that Finley the Reef Shark and his schoolmates Hunter the Tiger Shark, Gnash the Great White and Gilleon the Lemon Shark were members of ultra famous rock […]
BOOK REVIEW: THE HOUSEKEEPERS by Alex Hay Hachette Australia July 2023 Paperback – RRP AUD$32.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 88% The Housekeepers is a thrilling, page turner of an epic revenge saga which introduces us to a motley band of Robin Hood-styled servants who decide to take what’s rightfully theirs from their ex-employer, Mr de […]
BOOK REVIEW: EAGLES – DARK DESERT HIGHWAY by MICK WALL Hachette Australia May 2023 Paperback, Rrp $34.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 95% Gold standard rock writer (amongst many other things over a storied career) Mick Wall eschews the traditional rock and roll bio tropes of meticulously detailed dates and times and quotes and, well, formality […]
COOKBOOK REVIEW: TEKEBASH & SABA – RECIPES FROM THE HORN OF AFRICA by SABA ALEMAYOH Murdoch Books March 2023 Hardcover, Rrp $45.00 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 85% Named after the author’s mother, Tekebasha, and herself, Saba Alemayoh’s book is part food memoir, part tribute to her mother and the cuisine of Tigray (in northwestern Ethiopia) […]
COOKBOOK REVIEW: INTOLERANCE-FRIENDLY KITCHEN by GEORGIA McDERMOTT Penguin Random House Australia March 2022 Paperback, Rrp $34.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 95% Georgia McDermott expresses the fears of many gluten intolerant people in her introduction to this book: “A life of bland, boring food seems to be the foregone conclusion when considering a life without onion, […]
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 […]
