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).

The Fog on the Hill

Oh dear. What started out very promisingly as an expose of the last seven years of Labour goverment in New South Wales, turned into Sartor's election manifesto. The first four chapters were interesting, but the rest is really only for students of polical science.

The Brotherhood

This was different to what I was expecting, but good.

Based around one single event, when Tasmania's super-cop gets killed in the line of duty, we see the aftermath through the eyes of a number of people; from the commissioner (aka the Prince of Darkness) down to the suspect himself.

Y.A. Erskine herself is an ex-cop so she write with an insiders perspective (I only hope Tasmania's finest are really as corrupt and backward as depicted here). It was a great read and I look forward to more from this author.

Dead Until Dark

This is the book that inspired the TV series True Blood. Now, the problem with reading the book that inspired a TV series is that sometimes the book doesn't live up to expectations (hello Dexter). So how did I find this?

It wasn't bad. Different enough from the TV series to be interesting, but I'm not sure if I'm going to read the rest of the series.

The Fittler Files

About the book:
The Fittler Files is a review of the 2011 rugby league season from round one through to the grand final, covering all the big events both on and off the field. Not simply a rehash of the regular, NRL-sanctioned press conferences and news, this is a genuine inside look at rugby league from a trusted and well-connected team. Written with Brad's brand of honesty and humour, and including over 100 photographs.

My thoughts:
Very enjoyable review of the 2011 NRL season by someone who was there for just about every game. Freddy's thoughts on the current state of the NRL and its future were also refreshing to hear. Hopefully there'll be future editions for subsequent years.

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.

Steve Jobs

About the book:

From bestselling author Walter Isaacson comes the landmark biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. In Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography, Isaacson provides an extraordinary account of Jobs' professional and personal life. Drawn from three years of exclusive and unprecedented interviews Isaacson has conducted with Jobs as well as extensive interviews with Jobs' family members, key colleagues from Apple and its competitors, Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography is the definitive portrait of the greatest innovator of his generation.

My thoughts:
When Steve Jobs' asked Walter Isaacson to write his life story his reason for doing so was that (a) Isaacson wasn't an Apple insider and (b) no one could accuse it of being an inside job. For someone who was a renown control freak it was a surprising move, but I think the book comes off better for it. It's an honest portrayal of Jobs who at times does not come across as a very nice person (to put it politely). But I think he may have approved (sadly Jobs died weeks before this was published and, as far as I know, never saw the final text).

While Jobs may not have been a nice person, he was responsible for some of the greatest innovations in technology for the last 50 years. While I'd like to say I'm writing this on a MacBook (I used to have one but some swine stole it, along with my two iPods a few years ago), I am writing it on a Windows PC who's look was influenced by the Mac's original GUI. And at the same time I'm downloading tracks off iTunes to play on my new iPod. And I've got friends who rave about their iPhones and iPads. Jobs changed the world in ways few people and. And for that we should be thank full.