Australian Inspiration: A Bush Garden Goes to Chelsea (Cliff Green with Jim Fogarty, Lothian, $34.95 pb, ISBN 0734407211, November)
The plethora of lifestyle shows on commercial television has elevated the profession of landscaping to a previously unheard-of popularity in recent years. However, behind the glitz and glamour of khaki shorts is a hard-working and often undervalued group of industry professionals. Australian Inspiration is a novel account of how two such professionals, Cliff Green and Jim Fogarty, undertook the Herculean task of creating Australia’s first show garden at the world famous Chelsea Flower Show in London in May of this year. Although this gumboots-and-all insight into landscape design and construction is light-hearted in manner, it successfully highlights the serious logistical, financial and horticultural obstacles encountered by Green, Fogarty and their devoted team of workers. The book tends to linger too long on the biographies of the central characters involved before embarking on its central theme, while it also indulges in both Australian colloquialisms and cultural clichés. Do not presume, however, that this book is only for those with green thumbs, for it also includes some practical insights into marketing an idea internationally from the ground up.
Kate Dethridge is manager of Plants in Print Horticultural Books at Burnley College, Melbourne
This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2004, Thorpe-Bowker
Stanley and Sophie by Kate JenningsA book to appeal to animal lovers, Stanley and Sophie is about one woman’s journey after the death of her husband and the two dogs that join her along the way. Australian-born Kate Jennings, the author, lives in New York and after her husband dies, she ends up giving a terrier called Stanley a home.
18 March, 2008
Australian dames - new releasesIn April, HarperCollins will release
Stella Miles Franklin: A Biography, by Jill Roe. Roe, who was recently named an Officer of the Order of Australia
17 March, 2008
Slow Journey South by Paula ConstantAustralian Paula Constant has written a lifeaffirming, positive, inspiring and informative narrative of her emotional and physical journey to give up a teaching job in London and walk for three years with her husband
23 February, 2008
Paper Cranes: A Mother’s Story of Courage and Determination by Cheryl KoenigThis is the inspiring and uplifting story of the determination, dedication and sacrifice of a mother, and her unwavering quest to help her 12-year-old son, Jonathan, after he was hit by a car and left brain-damaged.
23 February, 2008
Me, Myself and Prague by Rachael WeissWeiss is marriage-less, childless and of Czech origin, so decides to abandon her life in Sydney and spend a year in Prague. She goes because there is nothing to stop her, but finds it isn’t as easy as she first thought.
23 February, 2008
I Peed on Fellini by David StrattonDavid Stratton is a big name in cinema in Australia. As co-presenter of film review shows on the ABC and SBS, and with regular columns in The Australian, Stratton’s position as a first-grade reviewer is undeniable.
23 February, 2008
Holding Up the Sky: An African Life by Sandy Blackburn-WrightSouth Africa was a tumultuous place at the end of apartheid. As a community aid worker in the townships, Sydneysider Sandy Blackburn-Wright was uniquely placed to observe the effects and after effects of apartheid and its demise.
23 February, 2008
God of Speed by Luke DaviesHoward Hughes was a man of huge ambitions: a perfectionist who directed the most expensive movie ever made; a mogul who bedded dozens of starlets; a pioneering aviator who insisted on test-piloting his own planes
23 February, 2008
Peter Brock Tribute BookBathurst: The Race for the Peter Brock Trophy (RRP $59.95, ISBN 1921203188, EAN 9781921203183). This primarily photographic tribute to Peter Brock and this year's Bathurst 1000 race will be available early December from Woodslane. Featuring a 30-page review of Peter Brock's career and 160 pages of action from this years' race, this book will be a great keepsake for the 60,000 fans who attended the race and the millions who admired Peter Brock throughout his life. This is a high-quality, full-colour coffee table book put together by three very dedicated motorsport journos and photographers.
4 December, 2006
Drink Me by Skye RogersThe sub-genre of substance-abuse autobiographythink
Running with Scissors, A Million Little Pieces et al-has taken up an increasing portion of the shelves in recent years. Rogers, author of nonfiction titles like
Thirtysomething, varies the format with
Drink Me as she delves into the story of her ex-partner Dan's alcoholism and how it eventually destroyed an intense and very loving relationship.
23 April, 2006
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