In "The Sydney Morning Herald": An Australian book, The Ernies Book - 1000 Terrible Things Australian Men Have Said About Women, is receiving more attention in the UK than here. Hardly surprising, as most Australian men wouldn't believe what was in it, and most Australian women would've heard worse. The worst thing I ever heard said about a woman was said in mixed company by a man about his ex-wife. I should have picked him up on it, but didn't - it being his house and his lunch - to my regret. And then, a few years later, I heard the same thing said by a woman on an episode of "Ab Fab". Doesn't matter, I still think it's a terrible thing to say.
In "Publisher's Weekly": "For Plume, Kate Davis bought North American rights to Alice Pung's Unpolished Gem. This debut memoir, personally recommended to Putnam by house author Amy Tan, is about a Chinese-Cambodian family trying to live the Australian Dream without losing themselves, and the author's coming-of-age trapped between these cultures. The book won the Australian Newcomer of the Year Award at the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards. Sophy Williams at Black Inc. Books in Melbourne made the sale, and Plume will publish as a paperback original in early 2009."
Major booksellers in Australia are refusing to stock the new biography of Tom Cruise by Andrew Motion. Sure wrecks my reading year.
