August 28, 2026 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

(courtesy Allen & Unwin – Australia) OOOO OOOO OOOO Reviewer pictured with author at Dymocks crime fiction panel Books in Bars on Thursday 13 August 2026) OOOO OOOO OOOO

New releases August book review: Everything that is Beautiful by Louise Nealon

This novel was mostly read at Kalimna, Yeranda Cottages, Main Creek (Dungog) NSW, August 2026 Secrets can usually only stay secrets for so long. Somehow, some way, what was holding them in place far away from public gaze and collective knowledge corrodes and falls away and the truth outs, unable Continue Reading

Some friendships are bulletproof: Thoughts on Ride or Die

(courtesy IMP awards) Even if you are a Woman of a Certain Age (and yes, this is directly referenced in the show; I will leave you to work out exactly how), or even a Man of you know, you will still likely be familiar with the phrase “ride or die”. Continue Reading

New releases August book review: I Love the Whole World! by Victoria Hannan

This novel was read at Kalimna, Yeranda Cottages, Main Creek (Dungog) NSW, August 2026 The title of this remarkable novel is your first indication that there is something special in the offing. I Love the Whole World! may sound like the exuberant, chemically-adjusted and enhanced exclamation of someone at a Continue Reading

Graphic novel review: Star Trek: Lower Decks – Second Contact by Ryan North / Derek Charm / Jack Lawrence

This graphic novel was read at Kalimna, Yeranda Cottages, Main Creek (Dungog) NSW, August 2026 The streaming version of the series may be dead and buried but thank goodness the graphic novels are not. Star Trek: Lower Decks remains alive and comedically well in a series of graphic novels including Continue Reading

Peanuts special review: Snoopy Presents: There’s No Place Like Home, Snoopy

(courtesy IMDb) With no new comic strips since the year 2000 when creator Charles M. Schulz died having already made the decision to retire the beloved and iconic home of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy and the gang, it has been up to an array of comic strip collections and Continue Reading

New releases August book review: Billie King by Shannon Kelly-White

This novel was read at Kalimna, Yeranda Cottages, Main Creek (Dungog) NSW, August 2026 Life is so full of quiet, everyday moments that we can forget how momentously explosive it can be, how, that hiding in those self-same nuanced and seemingly unremarkable slivers of time, can sit some of the Continue Reading

Once he was an Avenger … but who is he now? VisionQuest drops an intriguing first trailer

(courtesy First Showing) SNAPSHOTThe Vision (Paul Bettany), rebooted and having escaped those who sought to use him as a weapon, has been in hiding. His quest for new meaning and discreet existence is interrupted when a bounty is placed on his head, forcing Vision to forge real connections and embrace Continue Reading

New releases August book review: Porcupines by Fran Fabriczki

This novel was read at Kalimna, Yeranda Cottages, Main Creek (Dungog) NSW, August 2026 If there’s one thing that is guaranteed to get me diving into a novel faster than you can say “Yes, I’ll buy that book!” (a favourite and enduring phrase of mine) it’s saying that the novel Continue Reading

Movie review: One Night Only

(courtesy IMP Awards) Romcoms are usually fairly straightforward affairs. Two people of any kind of gender mix meet, find themselves attracted to each other, do and say cute things, fall in love, stuff it up a little (or a lot), recover and sail off metaphorically into the sunset, hardly believing Continue Reading

New releases August book review: Country People by Daniel Mason

This novel was partially read at Kalimna, Yeranda Cottages, Main Creek (Dungog) NSW, August 2026 Becoming lost in life is far easier than we might think. Oh, we march from the vivaciously assured certainty of youth, inwardly adamant that we know we are, what we want and how we will Continue Reading