(courtesy Hachette Australia) This will come as a news to absolutely no one but the world is not exactly full of moments which end neatly and perfectly and with everything tied in a bright red bow. It’s also not fantastically good at giving people the happy endings they deserve, and Continue Reading
Books
Book review: Big Gay Wedding by Byron Lane
(courtesy Macmillan Publishers) Fiction is, strictly speaking, the stuff of make believe and imagination, of dreamt up people and not even a shred of coincidence between people living and those who have most certainly shuffled off this mortal coil. But the truth is, and any writer will tell you, that Continue Reading
Retro book review: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Classic books are hailed as classic for a reason. It’s not simply that they’ve been around for a while; plenty of tiles have and people struggle to remember titles, plots or even that they exist at all. The ones that really imprint themselves on peoples’ minds, or that really cement Continue Reading
“Every good thing in this world started with dreams… so you hold onto yours.” Wonka drops its second fabulous trailer
(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTBased on the extraordinary character at the center of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl’s most iconic children’s book & one of the best-selling children’s books of all time, Wonka tells the wondrous story of how the world’s greatest inventor, and magician, and chocolate-maker became the Continue Reading
Book review: My Father the Whale by Gina Perry
(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers Australia) There is a power in confronting past hurts and grief but understandably doing so can send seismic shocks through our life that have no guarantee of a happy ending when all the agonising dust has settled. That’s the stark truth that confronts Ruby in My Continue Reading
Book review: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson
(courtesy Hachette Australia) It is said that you shouldn’t never judge a book by its cover (we all do, of course, but shhh, we’re not supposed to, so mum’s the word there). But what about a title? Is that fair game for appraising how clever, fun and interesting a book Continue Reading
Book review: The Blighted Stars by Megan E. O’Keefe
(courtesy Hachette Australia) Character is everything in an epic space opera. Some may disagree, and no doubt will, claiming that its very storytelling DNA is given over to massive moments and breathtakingly huge narrative twists and turns and that it’s that which defines it and makes it so undeniably thrilling Continue Reading
Book review: Happy Place by Emily Henry
(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) One of the things that no one tells about getting older is that all those people you knew and valued and loved when you were younger might not be the same people as you move further into adulthood. If you think about it logically, that makes Continue Reading
Book review: Everyone in My Family Have Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) Is it possible to improve on Agatha Christie, or indeed, any of the great mystery writing greats? Many would say no, but then there’s a fair chance they haven’t read the brilliantly sleuthful concoction that is Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson, Continue Reading
She’s gloriously unique: Thoughts on watching One-of-a-kind Marcie
(courtesy IMP Awards) One of the great joys of Peanuts, the warmly iconic comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, is how he always loved and revered the underdog. He was realistic enough to know that underdogs didn’t always have the easiest time of it, but in Charlie Brown, Linus, and Continue Reading