Beards: 0014

Gary Cummiskey Reading At The 2011 Melville Poetry Festival

Gingerbread

Whoever built the gingerbread mansion on my street sure has a lot of dough.

Linda Stenman on Shaggy

Shaggy (BK Publishing, 2011) is a collection of amusing monologues from South African writers Anton Krueger and Pravasan Pillay. In each text, a - how shall I say this - not so successful individual speaks to co-workers, audiences and comrades.

After reading a couple of texts, you notice that you begin every new chapter with thinking, "no, not another one!". Loser, that is. Let's face it - the characters in this book impress no one but themselves. But it makes a funny book. My favourites are "The Actress" and "The Foreword" (I'm a huge fan of footnotes). My rating is four stars for some of the stories, and three for others.

I say: ***(**)

First published on Linda Loves Books

Victoria Williams: 0126

You tried to sober me up by taking me to funerals. But then I started lighting cigarettes for the choir boys, from the altar candles.

Beards: 0013

Which Way Is The Summer? by Gary Cummiskey