Written as a riposte to people who claim that Australia of the 1960s and 70s was a better time, Glover’s book takes you back to the decade of his childhood in Canberra with witty, biting detail. He amazes his son with facts like the scarcity of avocado and coffee (unrecognizable in the Canberra of today, where sushi rolls and toast come with generous helpings of avocado, and even the tiniest restaurants boast a gleaming espresso machine), and racism, sexism, and corporal punishment are the norm. He mines his own memories as well as those of his radio listeners, and also cites fascinating snippets of the historical record in order to paint a picture of the era. He makes it very clear that he’d take being in the present over the past any day, warts and all, and makes the reader grateful for progress as well.
Tag: genre-humor
Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist, by Tim Federle
This delightful book is a bunch of recipes for cocktails (and some mocktails and snacks), each preceded by a witty, entertaining paragraph that ties the recipe to the book or character that inspired it. The pun-filled names are probably the best part; in addition to the titular tequila, my favorites included “Remembrance of Things Pabst,” “One Hundred Beers of Solitude,” and a mushroom toast recipe called “Alice’s Adventures in Wonder Bread.”
You Can’t Be Serious, by Kal Penn
Kal Penn traces his journey from theater kid in New Jersey, to film/sociology major at UCLA (to his parents’ mild dismay), to Hollywood actor, and finally to Obama’s administration in DC. Lots of discussion of racism encountered in both childhood and adulthood; nothing that would be surprising to anyone who was paying attention, but still worth acknowledging. I liked how he shone a light on how his race disqualified him from most roles, except the ones where his race was specifically called for; and even after he landed a role, the racism would continue (“ok, but can you do that with a bit more of an Indian accent? I don’t care if you don’t think it adds anything to the character, we want the stereotypical accent” type of stuff). The political part of his career was less interesting reading than the acting part, but government work in general tends to be less exciting, so no surprise there.