AustLit

'Mike Willesee has been one of the giants of the Australian media for over half a century. He was a major force in television for most of those years; but he began his life in print journalism and made a small fortune as the joint owner of 2Day FM when it was sold to the Lamb family. The memoir of such an important figure is always much anticipated, and its publication has been greeted with much fanfare, coinciding with a two-part episode on Australian Story, which is always notoriously shy of looking as though it is in any way promoting a commercial enterprise.'  (Introduction)

'This is a book with a strange genesis. Its author, Derek Rielly, explains that he confessed to an agent one night that he’d always wanted to meet Bob Hawke. Her response was: ‘I know a publisher who loves Bob. Get me a proposal.’ In order to obtain Bob’s cooperation, Rielly had first to win over Blanche d’Alpuget and then the ‘greatest post-war prime minister’ himself. Given that Blanche herself has had two goes at nailing her husband’s colours to history’s mast, and that there is in fact a vast literature on The Hawke Ascendancy (as Paul Kelly, no less, tagged it), both of these ageing lovebirds are at first a little dubious about what more might be said. But the brash, youngish author (he tells us that Bob ‘filled my teenage season, culturally and politically’) informs the ex-PM he wants to interview him ‘about the joy of love. Desire. Finding true love through infidelity. Fatherhood. Success. Friendship. Religion in the modern world. Sport. The making of a man and what manhood is. Women. The lingering tang of any political bitterness. Enemies. The state of geopolitics. Death.’ (Introduction)

'John Laws made an ugly speech, Sophie Loren's turned into a riot and Geoff Blainey refused to fly to his own event. Richard Walsh reflects on some memorable book launches.'

'On 19 November 1838 James Bell, then aged 21, set out in the sailing vessel the Planter from St Katharine Docks in London to travel to Adelaide, an infant colony half a world away and not yet two years old. He left behind family, good friends and the mysterious "C.P.", a young woman with whom he hoped one day to be reunited.

'The journey usually took 130 days, but due to the incompetence of the captain and the many misadventures encountered it took the Planter almost six months to reach its destination. Along the way it lost a crew, several passengers and much livestock; it gained a new crew and at least one extra passenger. The drunken brawls and licentious couplings horrified James Bell who, to while away the time, penned a detailed account of all the comings and goings for the eyes of "C.P." only, sternly advising her that "it must never be read by a third party".

'Sustained by his sense of adventure, his love of poetry, his faith in his Presbyterian God, his nostalgic memories of rural Scotland and particularly by his affection for "C.P.", James Bell maintained a vivid and astute record of his historic journey. His voice travels down to us, more than a century and a half later, and reminds us of the dangers and joys of such an adventurous leap into the unknown.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson, C. J. Dennis and Adam Lindsay Gordon. Once upon a time these were household names and Australians could recite their most famous verse. Here for the first time in one volume are all the great bush ballads, memorable songs and other poetry from the glory days of our bush tradition...

'To entertain and delight the newcomer and the traditionalist alike, this treasury offers equal parts merriment, calumny, lyricism and gentle melancholia.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Collected here are some of the best examples of this intriguing oral tradition, the eulogy. Each is a moving, compelling and entertaining story in its own right. And the sum of these parts reveals something about the character of being Australian - that we bury even our most significant citizens not with the overblown pomp for which Americans and British strain, but with proper recognition that even our greatest are human beings possessed of good and bad qualities....

'Some of the eulogies [...] included are: Richie Benaud speaking in the Adelaide Cathedral at the funeral of Sir Donald Bradman, Jacki Weaver at the funeral of her former lover Richard Wherrett, Garry McDonald at Ruth Cracknell's funeral, Frank Hardy on Fred Hollows and Sir Ninian Stephen on 'Weary' Dunlop.' (Publisher's blurb)