Books

Bright, bookish Oscar Lowe has escaped the urban estate and made a new life for himself in Cambridge as a care assistant, where he has forged a close friendship with Dr. Paulsen.

French Children Don’t Throw Food by Pamela Druckerman, Random House, $29.95. The idea of Paris is enough to make those of us who don’t live there go weak at the knees — the Renaissance lofty garrets filled with starving artists, the oh-so-chic slender women who seem to get sexier as they age, the sophisticated bars […]

They need their mum to help them find a date, but have the unlucky in love contestants on Please Marry My Boy always been so unlucky in love? Have you ever dated one of the contestants on the show? If you have ever dated Brendan Smith, Tony Turco, Matt Kenny Vlad Lalic tell us abou […]

He says she’s lazy, she says he’s a bully…the war of words between these celeb fatties is getting nasty. Controversial paparazzo Darryn Lyons makes no bones about it – he does not like equally controversial former Biggest Loser host Ajay Rochester. “We don’t get along at all,” he confirms. Darren says Ajay is a “manipulative […]

After the Darkness by Honey Brown, Viking, $29.95 There’s a sense of foreboding craftily interwoven with the darkness of sexual desire running right from the first to the last sentence in this achingly powerful suspense thriller. Although it takes a while to realise how every tiny observation and throwaway comment forms a tile in the […]

How to be a Man , by Glenn O’Brien, Hardie Grant, $29.95 A handsome volume to encourage gentlemanly behaviour — the ideal gift for the modern man seeking advice on hair (“nothing perfectly symmetrical”), clothes (“real men wear good socks”) and how to deliver a stinging insult (“be precise and specific; anyone can launch a […]

The Flight Attendant’s Shoe by Prudence Black, New South, $49.95 On a chilly international flight the other day, I asked the harried attendant for a blanket. “No blankets on this plane”, she said, before scuttling off with my $3 for a bottle of water. Ah, the glamour. If it’s tough on passengers, think what it […]

How I Became A Famous Novelist, By Steve Hely, Black Inc, $19.95 Pete Tarslaw is a washed-up but well-read loser who works out that the easiest way to make a fortune (plus impress his old girlfriend) is to write a best-selling novel. He analyses what works, draws up a list of rules (note to self: […]

George Harrison: Living in the Material World by Olivia Harrison published by Abrams $49.95 He was the quiet Beatle. The spiritual Beatle. Not as charismatic as the pretty ones, John and Paul, and on stage he would sometimes stare out at the screaming girls and look as though he would rather be elsewhere. George Harrison’s […]

Women’s Stuff by Kaz Cooke, Viking; $59.95 Not so much a book as a 770-page compendium of womanhood, jam-packed with sensible advice on everything from food to moods to workplace bullies to money management (including a caution against sugar daddies). There’s almost no condition, disorder or problem it doesn’t address, which gets a bit overwhelming […]