Daytripper (Simon Webster, ABC Books, $22.95 pb, ISBN 9780733322693, December) ****

Daytripper could be the epitome of ‘a fun read’. It’s not a book you sit down and read cover-to=cover—the bite-sized entries and cross-referencing throughout make that clear—but as a weekend reference and something to leaf through with a grin, it’s hard to imagine how it could be better. Based on the author’s weekly column for the Sun-Herald, it’s a guide to the sights and sounds around Sydney. Chapters are organised into categories such as ‘Wild’ and ‘Kids’ Stuff’, with individual entries ranging from well-known attractions such as Taronga Zoo to the obscure such as Janet’s Royalty Rooms in Woonona (pronounced Wonoona). There are also ‘History’ sections after each entry, which are often less history and more fun local myth, such as the sea monster in the Hawkesbury River. The book will appeal to Sydney locals, particularly middle-aged adults with families. All entries are written with irreverence and humour and several parts made me giggle aloud: such as the tongue-in-cheek mention of the author’s disappointment over the weather being too wet for surfing, as ‘there’s nothing the Daytripper Family likes more than hanging 10 in the green room on the dawn patrol, dude.’

Jarrah Moore works for Global Books in Print at Thorpe-Bowker

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2007, Thorpe-Bowker