Book Review No 19: Treading Water by Tracy Wickham

As a child I can remember Tracy's glorious swansong at the Brisbane Commonwealth Games, when she won two individual gold medals and one silver and being disappointed that she would no longer be swimming for Australia. Although to my young self 19 did seem a reasonable age to retire. Of course today, most professional athletes are just getting started at that age and are looking towards up to ten more years in their sport. However after reading this book and realising just what Tracy packed into her teenage years and the amazing impact she had on the swimming world, maybe she just started a lot earlier than kids today do.

Book Review No 18: The Mayne Inheritance by Rosamond Siemon

As a graduate of the University Of Queensland, this was a book that immediately captivated my interest, given that the family at the centre of this grisly tale made huge financial and land donations to help establish UQ in the leafy Brisbane suburb of St Lucia. It's interesting to think that without the philanthropy of the Mayne family, the UQ campus may have remained in it's inner city location and not have developed into the massive facility it is today.

Rosamond Siemon has done a marvellous job at painstakingly piecing together the threads of what was, a shameful family secret for the Mayne family. It was as gripping as many fictional murder mystery books I've read and gave me a whole new insight into the history of Brisbane. It also highlighted the stigma of mental illness and how, due to societal expectation, it shaped the way the Mayne family lived and mainly chose not to marry or have children, lest they pass on the rogue genes.

Well written and with a good pace, The Mayne Inheritance was an easy book to read and one that kept me engaged and interested from beginning to end.

The Value of Entertainment

People often complain about the cost of books in Australia, and it is true that we do seem to pay more for our reading material than other countries. Since becoming an author I have learned that there are several reasons for this - http://greataussiereads.aussieblogs.com.au/2012/06/10/book-prices/ - gives quite a good explanation. But that isn't really the point of this post. What I want to talk about is how we value the entertainment gained from books as opposed to movies. I am going to generalise quite widely here when I say the average person might take six hours to read a book (obviously this will vary widely person to person but I think it's a fair average). If you pay between $20 - $30 for the book (again just an average), that equates to around $3.50 - $5 per hour. A movie ticket ranges between $10 - $17 for about 1.5 hours which makes between $6.50 - $11 per hour. A new release DVD averages around $25 for about 2.5 hours (including extras) so that is $10 per hour. You could also factor in the extra costs associated with seeing a movie at the cinema - petrol/fare to and from, snacks etc.

So, my point is that a book (even at the higher end of the price scale) is better value for money that seeing a movie. And let's face it with the increasing lack of quality movies (2012 must be one of the worst years for movie releases EVER),  we need the humble book as it remains one of the cheapest and most satisfying forms of entertainment around.