turn the page

Roger Grierson has a perspective on the Australian music industry that can rightfully be described as unique. Surely there can’t be many other people who start out as part of independent alternative band in the late 70s to eventually become the Chairman of Festival Records and then Senior Vice President of Newscorp Music, before retiring […]

This is a remarkable book, the clearest history of the world I have ever encountered. By exploring how empires rose and fell throughout history, Puri provides both an overview of world history and some basis for understanding international relations today. He does this be dividing this book into seven sections covering America, Britain, Europe, Russia,

To mark the passing of Cormac McCarthy, I read Blood Meridian again this weekend. I first read it in the early 90s, after I was entranced by All the Pretty Horses. That book focused on a 16 year old cowboy in 1949 and could be summarised as a romanticised account of the final passing of

I’ve never met Heather Mitchell, although we have quite a few friends, acquaintances and colleagues in common. I have, though, been aware of her more than 40 years, through her acting work in theatre, film and television. She’s always seemed to me to stand out, a luminous and beautiful presence in a truly impressive body

I haven’t read Robbie Arnott’s previous two books, Flames and The Rain Heron, magical fables that have won multiple awards. This novel, Limberlost, is very grounded and realist but no less magical for that. Ned is a teenager living in a northern Tasmanian orchard during World War II. His older brothers are away at war

It’s not often I give up on a book, but Major Labels has defeated me. The subtitle “A history of popular music in seven genres – Rock R&B Country Punk Hip-Hop Dance Pop” should give you a clear idea of what the book is about. The author covered rock and roll, hip-hop, and pop music

I don’t know about you but I grew up with quiz shows. I came to them after the heyday of radio but I’m old enough to have followed the first Australian TV shows. I can remember seeing Barry Jones make Bob Dyer roll his eyes on BP Pick A Box as he questioned yet another

I very much looked forward to reading this over Christmas, but I have to say I was a bit disappointed. Perhaps I should start by saying I wasn’t aware this is the third book in a trilogy about the Liberal National Government of Australia from 2013-2022 (although probably not planned as a trilogy). The Road

This is the companion novel to The Passenger. Where the earlier (by a matter of months) book was the story of Bobby Western: salvage diver, former race car driver, son of an atomic bomb scientist and person of interest to government agents – Stella Maris comprises 170 pages of dialogue between Bobby’s sister Alicia and

Ever since I was very young, reading has been a way for me to explore the world. As a child in suburban Claremont, Tasmania, books took me to parts of the world it never occurred to me that I could, or would, ever visit. For the Term of His Natural Life was probably the first