Gaz

I decided to read this, partially as a St. George supporter (though Brett Morris is my favourite player out of the current squad) but also because we've got Gasnier coming to speak at work in a few weeks time. It's a very readable, if unsurprising as it covers the mains parts of Gasnier's life and career. I did skip the final chapter though which was really his family and friends providing character references. But calling it "the autobiography of a league legend"? Really? I think there are players more deserving of that title.

My week with Marilyn

About halfway through reading this I went and saw the film which probably wasn't such a good idea and it spoilt the ending!

Anyway, this edition of Colin Clark's memoirs are both volumes in the one. The first concentrates on the making of The Prince and the Showgirl; the second, his week helping Marilyn Monroe get through the filming. Of the two I preferred the first part, only because my enjoyment of the second was marred by having seen the film (which is really good - Michelle Williams is excellent).

Jack of All Trades, Mistress of One

About the book:
Things were never quite the same once Aunty Jack roared onto our television screens in the 1970s, threatening to rip our bloody arms off. In this funny and moving memoir, Grahame Bond celebrates and at times curses his most famous creation and tells of how he found an imaginary family of other brilliant writers, actors, musicians and performers along the way. Jack of All Trades is jam-packed with extraordinary characters, many of them real if unknown Bond relatives, and a good number of them Aussie TV icons. We become acquainted with Bonds beloved parents as he grows up an only child in Marrickville, meet his sadistic Uncle Jack and his legendary boxing grandfather Benny Doyle, before watching him burst into the life of a performer via Architecture Revues at Sydney University. With digressions into advertising and lifestyle television, and blockbuster stage shows like Boys Own McBeth and 2JJs Nude Radio, Grahame Bond has always been an extraordinary entertainer.


My thoughts:
Wow! This had to be one of the best bio's I've read in a while. Funny, interesting and honest I'd recommend this book to anyone.

You'll be Sorry When I'm Dead

About the book:
He was wearing a pair of leather pants that clung like terrified orphans to his muscular thighs, and a revealing black mesh t-shirt. The outfit seemed at odds with the cream-coloured settee and floral print curtains.
From stalking and eventually meeting her Young Talent Time idol when she was twelve, to a particularly abhorrent encounter at a high-quality swingers night, and a mildly perverse obsession with Bob Ellis, there is nothing Marieke Hardy won't write about. Welcome to a chronicle of broken hearts, fervid pursuits, passionate friendships, deranged letter-writing, the allure of the bottle, the singular charms of musicians, the lost song of youth, and three very awkward evenings with varying prostitutes-exactly zero percent of which the author's parents will want to read. Add to that a slightly misguided attempt to give real-life friends and ex-lovers a 'right of reply' to the stories they appear in and it's fair to say an extended stint in the Witness Protection Program beckons.
Confessional, voyeuristic, painful, hilarious and heartfelt, You'll Be Sorry When I'm Dead reveals the acerbic wit, unflinching gaze and razor-sharp insight of a writer at the height of her powers-or the unhinged fantasies of a dangerous mind with not enough to do.

My thoughts:
Never read Marieke Hardy before, though I know her and her family by reputation (her father was the script producer on City Homicide amongst others. And her grandfather was Frank Hardy, author of Power Without Glory amongst others). I was surprised by how open and honest she is in discussing her life experiences. It's a bit patchy in parts, but otherwise enlightening and entertaining (I guess I'll have to watch Laid now).