cread | read & see

'If you don't have cancer, cherish life. If you do, cherish it even more.' – Jim Stynes, My Journey Jim Stynes, AFL Brownlow Medalist and former president of Melbourne Football Club, endured a tough and public fight with cancer after being diagnosed three years ago at the age of 43. My Journey is his autobiography, in which he recalls his football career from recruitment as a young Irishman and including winning the Brownlow Medal in 1991. It also discusses his co-founding of Reach, a community outreach organisation that works with troubled youth, and his cancer diagnosis and the subsequent battle. At the book's launch in Melbourne yesterday, his wife Sam spoke of how the prospect of Jim never seeing his kids grow up was one of the most upsetting aspects, but at the book will offer some comfort: "So just knowing that they will always have that book with that beautiful sparkly spine sitting on their bookshelf that they can grab at any time, it takes the pres

When Peter Norman died of a heart attack on October 3, 2006, the US Track and Field Federation named the day of his funeral, October 9, as Peter Norman Day. This week Australian politicians  finally recognised Norman's brave stand and officially apologised for the delay. They were honouring his solidarity with black athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos who gave the Black Power salute during the medal ceremony for the men's 200 metres at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Howard won the silver medal, making him one of Australia's most successful male sprinters to date (consider how far we were from sprint medals in the London Olympics). When he was told by gold medalist Smith and bronze medalist Carlos that they intended to do during the ceremony, he famously told them, "I'll stand with you." Martin Flanagan of The Age tells the story in an article printed at the time of Norman's death: "They asked Norman if he believed in human rights. He sai

Creview is a weekly feature on Cread that will provide a quick summary of what literary and book sections from leading mastheads around the globe are reviewing each week – a collative exercise in reviewing the reviewer. This week it's The Sydney Morning Herald , The Guardian and The New York Times . Love Shy by Lili Wilkinson, published April 1, was reviewed by Aleesah Darlison of the SMH with the review little more than a synopsis of the protagonist's journey of self-discovery and a thumbs up from the reviewer. Also from the SMH , novelist Paul Auster's autobiography Winter Journal was reviewed by Thornton McCamish, who tells us that, “exactly who Auster is turns out to have very little to do with his career as a celebrated novelist and nothing to do with nostalgia.” Interesting to note: while this book got the attention of SMH on the weekend, where it was painted in a positive light, J Robert Lennon of The Guardian reviewed it last Wednesday and considered it

You would not be surprised to find Catcher in the Rye , Gone with the Wind , Huckleberry Finn or even Catch 22 on a definitive list of books that shaped America but the "Big Book" of Alcoholic's Anonymous would probably not have easily come to mind. The Books that Shaped America list was developed by the US Library of Congress for an on-site exhibition it is holding as part of its multi-year "Celebration of the Book". Alcoholics Anonymous, on reflection a very apt choice considering the devastation of addiction in US (and human) existence, was written by co-founders Bill Wilson and Dr Bob Smith to help people recover from alcoholism. It has spawned many other 12-step programs but they all can be traced to the original inspiration for Wilson and Smith - the Beatitudes of Jesus Christ recorded in Matthew 5 . Other interesting inclusions Christopher Colles' A Survey of the Roads of the United States of America (1789) and Amelia Simmons' American C

Fresh from winning three out of 12 of the Prime Minister's Literary Awards announced on July 26, Allen & Unwin have also picked up two awards in the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year. In the PM's Awards, Gillian Mears' novel Foal's Bread won the fiction category, Luke Davies' Interferon Psalms won the poetry category and Bill Gammage received the Prize for Australian History with The Biggest Estate on Earth . In the CBCA awards, Kate Constable’s Crow Country and Scot Gardner’s The Dead I Know were award recipients. Meanwhile, A & U's Top 10 Sellers right now are:   1 Between the Lines Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer  2 The Happiest Refugee Anh Do    3 Fit, Fifty and Fired Up Nigel Marsh  4 Hannah & Emil Belinda Castles    5 Life Without Limits Nick Vujicic  6 My Droving Days Pe

One of Sydney's most popular pre-loved book, CD, poster and sheet music fairs is run by community radio station, Fine Music 102.5 FM (formerly 2MBS). The fair has various incarnations each year and is currently filling Leichhardt Town Hall with wordy life and will do so until next Sunday, August 26, 9am - 6pm. It will then rise again in Balmain from November 22. A visit to the fair today revealed the usual well organised and prolific array of books covering fiction and non-fiction - with strong military, history and art sections, a few early editions, posters, CDs, records and sheet music to satisfy most tastes. And every purchase helps raise funds for the community radio station. Photo: $14 worth of light reading picked up by Cread at the Fine Music 102.5 FM book fair in Leichhardt.

Thorpe's 2002 autobiography, The Journey There always seemed to be a missing plot-line or two to the story surrounding Ian Thorpe's retirement from swimming and it seems those details are about to be revealed. A new "tell-all" autobiography will be published by Simon & Schuster on October 1 (according to News Ltd) or November 1 (according to S & S website) and extracts already sold to magazines reportedly disclose battles with depression and alcohol. His new manager James Erskine seems less interested in the tell-all approach, making it clear to News Ltd reporters that it was "not your  divine right to know what's in the book" along with more colourful statements. More here

Five Mile Press, an Australian publisher now owned by Swedish media company, Bonnier AB, is making the most of Father's Day with some well targeted titles in Australia Post stores. A range of newly released books such as Wild Colonial Boys and Off The Track and other anthologies are carefully positioned (in some POs at least) next to the counter queue. As men are notoriously hard to buy for and it is their book-loving wives or mother's most likely scratching their heads as to what to get for the bloke in their lives, more than a few of these 'blokey' but beaut books are likely to walk out the door. Meanwhile, Five Mile Press's Top 10 selling titles right now are: Running Pink   - Deborah DeWilliams and Megan Norris   Australian Crime File 3   - Paul B. Kidd Woolsheds   - Andrew Chapman Wild Colonial Boys - Geoff Hocking  Blackened Tanner: The Dennis Tanner Story  - Ron Irwin The Things I Love About Pets  - Trace Moroney   Missing You   - Justine Fo

Harry Potter author JK Rowling's first adult novel, The Casual Vacancy, goes on sale worldwide on September 27. Considering the phenomenal interest in the book and allowing for a 10 hour time difference, it's quite likely some Australian readers will have finished reading the book before Rowlings has attended her first book signing at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London, 7.30pm. Here she will chat with BBC journalist Mark Lawson, followed by a book signing and will follow this up on October 6 with another interview and signing at The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival. Meanwhile Australian booksellers are trying to get in on the action with pre-orders from Dymock's offering The Casual Vacancy for $25.99 (Hardcover, 480 pages) and Readings for $32.95 - but you get 512 pages by their count... Readings are also offering the audio CD for $55. In the meantime, debate rages over the final version of the cover although in the long run, it could be plain-pa

"Before time itself was measured, The Voice was speaking. The Voice was and is God." So reads John 1:1 from Thomas Nelson's The Voice Bible translation which is written as a screenplay to be accessible to people who have never read the Bible. Bible translators have sought for hundreds of years to present the ancient Bible texts in the language of the day. King James 1 version from 1611 came alive in Shakespearean English so it is perhaps fitting that one of the world's newest translations reads like a play (of course some people believe Shakespeare himself was a translator for the KJV). The familiarity of today's reader with graphic novels, comics and more to the point, movies and television, means they could be right at home with a dialogue-led text: Disciple: "It's a ghost!" Another Disciple: "A ghost? What will we do?" Jesus: "Be still. It is I; you have nothing to fear." (From Matthew 15's account of Jesus wal

The pick of the fundraising tips for the Biggest Book Fair has to be, "ask for donations from your staff to encourage the CEO or big boss to read from a chosen book on the day of your event".  Getting your boss to cooperate in reading Fifty Shades of Grey might be the only challenge. Biggest Book Fair is on Thursday, September 20 and is described as a chance to "share the joy of reading and raise money to help teach disadvantaged Australians how to read and write". The main idea is to for work colleagues to pool all their pre-loved books and then sell them on the day, alongside ideas such as getting your boss to read something stirring, or embarrassing. Organisers can register to receive a fundraising pack with money to The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF). ALNF is dedicated to raising language, literacy and numeracy standards in Australia and raises funds to develop, implement and sustain innovative projects for individuals, families

What would public controversy be without a tell-all book but Public Health and Plain Packaging of Cigarettes: Legal Issues does not really fit into that category . As the government and heath campaigners celebrate their victory in the courts and tobacco companies consider the greener grass of Africa and India, you can lose yourself in the intricacies of the issue. ‘This book provides a definitive account of Australia’s pioneering public health legislation on the plain packaging of tobacco products. The regime was designed to implement the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and address the impacts of “the tobacco epidemic”," says Matthew Rimmer of The Australian National University College of Law. Interestingly, the book is not published by Melbourne University Publishing despite that institution's connection with the issue. It was picked up by British publisher Edward Elgar Publishing , perhaps an indication of where the next legal tus