A book about Bogans

 

Mint condition. PB. 304pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Based on the popular website, Things Bogans Like is a revolutionary manifesto that lifts the lid on the secret sect of 'the bogan'. You don't have to come from QLD, WA or South Australia to understand this book.

The word bogan has a bad rap; first impressions are still associated with flannelette, VB, utes and mullets. But this would be wrong. The bogan has advanced and needs new explanation, evolution has cursed (or blessed, depending on your thinking) us with a modern version. The bogan with money. The bogan with aspirations. The bogan with Ed Hardy T-shirts. The new bogan will not rest until it owns a plasma TV so large that Rove McManus becomes six feet tall for the first time.

Today s bogan defies income, class, race, creed, gender, religion and logic. Now the bogan is defined by what it does, what it says and, most importantly, what it buys. Those who choose to deny the bogan on the basis of their North Shore home, their stockbroking career or their massive trust fund choose not to see the real bogan. Many bogans are affluent and perhaps are working in that same stockbroking firm and sharing a Corona with you over Friday night drinks. They set themselves apart by their efforts to stand out by conforming as furiously, and conspicuously, as possible.

The authors, six self-confessed snobs, have drawn on their friends, family, neighbours, workmates and that guy who always jumps the queue at the bar, to show the evolution of the much-loved Australian bogan, their modern desires, and how we can either join them or mock them.

This will be a groundbreaking sociological publication and, far more importantly, the perfect Christmas gift for anyone who has ever bought a Buddhist-themed water feature, Ed Hardy T-shirt or watched Today Tonight.

The history of Sesame Street

 

Ex-library. Mint condition. HB. 380pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Now an acclaimed documentary from Screen Media, the New York Times bestselling account of the story behind one of the most influential, durable, and beloved shows in the history of television: Sesame Street.

“Davis tracks down every Sesame anecdote and every Sesame personality in his book . . . Finally, we get to touch Big Bird's feathers.” —The New York Times Book Review

Sesame Street is the longest-running-and arguably most beloved- children's television program ever created. Today, it reaches some six million preschoolers weekly in the United States and countless others in 140 countries around the world.

Street Gang is the compelling, comical, and inspiring story of a media masterpiece and pop-culture landmark. Television reporter and columnist Michael Davis-with the complete participation of Joan Ganz Cooney, one of the show's founders-unveils the idealistic personalities, decades of social and cultural change, stories of compassion and personal sacrifice, and miraculous efforts of writers, producers, directors, and puppeteers that together transformed an empty soundstage into the most recognizable block of real estate in television history.

Ian Buruma on Japanese culture

 

Mint condition. PB. 256pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Both panoramic and intimate, A Japanese Mirror is a rich and surprising exploration of national identity.

In this scintillating book, Ian Buruma peels away the myths that surround Japanese culture. With piercing analysis of cinema, theatre, television, art and legend, he shows the Japanese both 'as they imagine themselves to be, and as they would like themselves to be.'

A Japanese Mirror examines samurai and gangsters, transvestites and goddesses to paint an eloquent picture of life in Japan. This is a country long shrouded in enigma and in his compelling book; Buruma reveals a culture rich in with poetry, beauty and wonder.

Australian history and futures

 

Mint condition. PB. 352pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

The bestselling author of The Australian Moment asks the most important question confronting the country right now – how do we maintain our winning streak?

Most nations don't get a first chance to prosper. Australia is on its second. For the best part of the nineteenth century, Australia was the world's richest country, a pioneer for democracy and a magnet for migrants. Yet our last big boom was followed by a fifty-year bust as we lost our luck, our riches and our nerve, and shut our doors on the world. Now we're back on top, in the position where history tells us we made our biggest mistakes. Can we learn from our past and cement our place as one of the world's great nations?

Showing that our future is in our foundation, Australia's Second Chance goes back to 1788, the first contact between locals and migrants, to bring us a unique and fascinating view of the key events of our past right through to the present day. With newly available economic data and fresh interviews with former leaders (including the last major interview with Malcolm Fraser), George Megalogenis crunches the numbers and weaves our history into a compelling thesis, brilliantly chronicling our dialogue with the world and bringing fresh insight into the urgent question of who we are, and what we can become.

'Megalogenis has emerged as something of a polymath. He slaps history and politics and culture like mortar in and around his knowledge of economics and numbers to build compelling, even thrilling, theses about the country of his birth and where it stands in the world.' Tony Wright, Saturday Age

Biography of Adele

 

Ex-library. Excellent condition. PB. 223pp. $15 including postage anywhere in Australia.

The compelling life story of the Grammy-winning soul singer Adele's soulful voice, catchy hits, and vulnerable personality have won her critical acclaim and huge popularity.

She has topped the charts in 18 countries—but who is she? What is the truth of the tempestuous life that has so influenced her heartbreaking tracks? How did she overcome the challenges that threatened to derail her career?

This compelling book traces her story from her childhood in London, where she began singing at the age of four. During her teenage years she wrote her own music and attended the BRIT school, alongside the likes of Leona Lewis.

After posting demos on the MySpace website she earned a record deal and quickly captured hearts.

Adele remains an unlikely icon. Her looks are unusual in a formulaic world of celebrity image, she suffers badly with pre-stage nerves, and she once canceled a crucial promotional trip to the U.S. because she felt too down to travel.

This is a full, unflinching portrait of a genuine talent and inspiring, uncompromising woman—the curvy girl-next-door who conquered the world.

Helen Reddy on Helen Reddy

 

Excellent condition. PB. 358pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

With her song ‘IAm Woman', Helen Reddy provided the feminist anthem of the 1970s. In this highly anticipated memoir, Helen reveals that she is much more than the entertainer who first graced the stage at the age of four.

Helen Reddy became the first Australian to win a Grammy, to have her own prime-time variety show on a US television network and to have three number-one hit singles in the same year. then, at the height of her career, Helen's world was shattered by the death of both her parents and also the news that she had a rare, incurable disease.

In this riveting, frank and ultimately brave memoir, Helen reveals the emotional highs and lows that have shaped her as an artist and as a complex woman with a rich inner life sustained by a strong spiritual faith.

The real Mrs Brown

 

Excellent condition. PB. 295pp. $18 including postage anywhere in Australia.

The bestselling authorised biography of Brendan O'Carroll, based on extensive interviews Brian Beacom conducted with the hugely popular star of Mrs Brown's Boys.

Who'd have thought a potty-mouthed Dublin mammy with a cream cardigan and elasticated tan tights could storm British TV screens and leave a nation helpless with laughter?

Brendan O'Carroll performs to tens of thousands of people a night in packed-out stadiums across the country. In the last four years, his TV show has become a No.1 ratings success and he's even making a movie.

But Brendan has had to battle hard for success. The youngest of eleven children, his mother was Maureen O'Carroll, a former nun who went on to become the first woman to be elected to the Irish parliament. Brendan adored his strong, widowed mother - and she later became the inspiration for his indomitable character Agnes Brown.

However, the family endured poverty reminiscent of Angela's Ashes and Brendan saw no option but to leave school at 12 to work. He married young and for decades struggled to make ends meet. Eventually, bankrupt and desperate, Brendan went to see a fortune teller who told him she could see his future achieving worldwide success as a comedian and actor. At first Brendan laughed at the notion, but then he thought of how much his friends loved his gags, and decided to give it a go...

This is the magical story of how a loveable Irishman with a wig and a wit as caustic as battery acid surprised everyone - most of all himself - by becoming one of the best-loved comedians in the world.

It is a story of hardship, heartbreak, and talent and will remind readers afresh that sometimes the facts can be even more extraordinary than the fiction.

About the Author

Brendan O'Carroll was born in Dublin in 1955, the youngest of eleven children. He left school aged twelve and over the years worked in a variety of jobs before turning to stand-up comedy in his forties.

Since then the father-of-three has become a bestselling novelist and is now one of the world's most successful comedians. Brian Beacom is an award-winning entertainment writer at the Herald and Times group of newspapers based in Glasgow. He has written four books and two plays.

Inside the hilarious Little Britain

 

Mint condition. PB. 448pp. $18 including postage anywhere in Australia.

By turns intimate, eye-opening and hilarious, Inside Little Britain is the ultimate autobiographical documentary of two of our most-cherished British national icons

Written together with friend and journalist Boyd Hilton, Inside Little Britain follows a year in the lives of Matt Lucas and David Walliams - the good, the bad, the mundane and the monumental. A year that includes at its core a mammoth nine-month Spinal Tap-esque tour where Little Britain goes in search of Great Britain. This is a milestone book that offers an unrivalled close-up of a classic British comedy act, as it happens, at the height of its powers.

But it is also a journey back into their pasts, reflecting on just how they got from there to here. It covers their childhoods, family life and early comedy performances as they found their feet; their complex friendship and working relationship; and the increasingly insane world they now inhabit.

Mixing memoir and travelogue to paint an engrossing portrait of fame and comic genius, Inside Little Britain is an unmissable, candid window on life inside the celebrity bubble in all its glamour and awfulness.

Unrelated humour

Lebowski'ist philosophy?

 

Ex-library. Mint condition. PB. 292pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Celebrate the Dude with an abiding look at the philosophy behind The Big Lebowski

Is the Dude a bowling-loving stoner or a philosophical genius living the good life? Naturally, it's the latter, and The Big Lebowski and Philosophy explains why.

Enlisting the help of great thinkers like Plato and Nietzsche, the book explores the movie's hidden philosophical layers, cultural reflection, and political commentary.

It also answers key questions, including: The Dude abides, but is abiding a virtue? Is the Dude an Americanized version of the Taoist way of life? How does The Big Lebowski illustrate the Just War Theory? How does bowling help Donny, Walter, and the Dude oppose nihilism?

Yes, the Dude is deep, and so is this book. Don't watch the movie or go to Lebowski Festival without it.

Explores many of The Big Lebowski's key themes, such as nihilism, war and politics, money and materialism, idealism and morality, history, and more

Gives you new perspective on the movie's characters: the Dude, the Big Lebowski, Walter Sobchak, Donny, Maude Lebowski, Bunny Lebowski, and others

Helps you appreciate the Coen Brothers classic even more with the insights of Aristotle, Epicurus, Kant, Derrida, and other philosophical heavyweights

Biography of songs from one of world's legendary rock bands

 

Mint condition. PB. 192pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Featuring original and revealing interviews with band members and key people close to them, and tracing the band's meteroic rise from the early days to a group that has galvanized the pop music scene for more than twenty years, Stories Behind The Songs explores the background and inspiration behind every song written by U2, and is the definitive text on the subject. 

As testament to the band's enduring popularity, a full twenty-four years after the release of their first album, "Boy", in 1980, U2 hit Number 1 on both sides of the Atlantic with "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb", selling a million copies in three weeks. 

The first single from that album, "Vertigo" won three Grammys. 

U2 remains in every sense a world-class rock 'n' roll band, and this book takes you into the heart of the group, to reveal the inspiration behind their music.

About the author

Niall Stokes is the award-winning editor of the long-running fortnightly Ireland music and political magazine Hot Press based in Dublin . He has edited the magazine since 1977. He has been a longstanding champion of Irish music, most famously U2 in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. He was involved with The Music Show, an exhibition of the Irish music industry held in the RDS in October 2008. He was Chairman of the Independent Radio and Television Commission (now the BCI) between 1993 and 1998.