This is the story of Edith Piaf written by her half-sister. It shows passion, dedication and a time and place so different from my own. The author, Simone Berteaut, began working in a factory at the age of eleven. I worked alongside my father as his dental nurse from the ...
"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me." C.S. Lewis
Est. 2009
I’d apologise for the lack of title and author in the photo but this is often how they printed books back in 1946, they’d include a dustjacket with more details. This is all I have, I think it’s really lovely and the flower is actually mentioned inside the book. This ...
Last week we went to Canberra and spent a few days there. There was no internet in the room and hotspotting off my phone was ever so slow, we could go to the common areas and use the internet there but this was something I didn’t want to do too ...
Cary Grant is one of the most well-remembered movie stars from the 20th Century despite the fact he hasn’t appeared in a movie since 1966. If you haven’t seen Arsenic and Old Lace, His Girl Friday or Topper then your education is sadly lacking and I suggest you go and ...
eat first, talk later by Beth Yahp Yahp has the sort of writing experience I’m jealous of. She lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Sydney, if she were in lecturing at Deakin in Burwood then she’d end up being one of my lecturers. I find that a bizarre thing that ...
Reilly Ace of Spies by Robin Bruce Lockhart I uncover the most fascinating books and then when researching them I find some more interesting stuff. This book was originally published in 1967 under the title Ace of Spies. It was written by the son of one of Reilly’s co-workers so he ...
People Before Profit by Ken Koopman Here we are, a book I haven’t had to read for uni! So excited! If you’re gluten free you’ll have probably heard of Bob’s Red Mill, this company makes good gluten free flour as well as many other products. This is the story of ...
Rabbi Jacob Danglow by John S Levi Jacob Danglow was a long-serving Rabbi of St Kilda Hebrew Congregation. Tall, athletic and handsome many people found it hard to believe he was a rabbi. He was an inspirational man , ‘the Rolls Royce rabbi’ to his friends and ‘Anglo Danglow’ to his enemies. ...
My Dear Friends: The Life of Rabbi Dr Herman Sanger by John S Levi Somehow I’ve ended up writing the history of my synagogue and one of the people I’m interviewing suggested it would be a very good thing to read this book, so I did and I agree. I ...
Kafka by Robert Crumb & David Zane Mairowitz I have a friend who insisted I borrow this book despite me not wanting to read graphic novels. She insisted and I couldn’t say no but it still took me months to get around to even opening it and that only during breaks ...
When I was young I read a series of books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, reading a whole series back then wasn’t quite as easy for me as it is now. I had to either borrow from the library, track them down at a second hand book shop or hope someone ...
Anacaona, Golden Flower, Haiti, 1490 by Edwidge Danticat I picked up this book from the library the other day in the hopes of doing a Mondayitis from it, I may still do a Mondayitis tomorrow as I think it quite fitting for such a culture but I wanted to write ...
Anyone living in Australia will have heard of the Packer family, they’re rich, influential, rather involved in media, and they’re a fascinating study. I’ve recently read Sir Frank: The Frank Packer Story by R. S. Whitington and also The Rise and Rise of Kerry Packer by Paul Barry, absolutely fascinating ...
And now for something completely different, a biography about one of the best comics in the world, Benny Hill! I will finish scribbling a few words about my travels over the next couple of weeks but as I finished this book last night I thought I’d go back to the ...
I’m going to begin this today with a disclaimer. I have not written a biography and do not plan on doing so, this is just one possible method of structuring it brought to mind while reading an article by Russell Brand on Margaret Thatcher. You can read it yourself here and ...