This little book of summer short stories is truly excellent - evocative and funny. Perfect for summer hols when you can only get a couple of pages read in the afternoon before dozing off.
My partner got this for free at an architect gathering Tim Ross presented at. The book design is stylish. There are fourteen very short stories/snapshots of hot Australian summers in the 80s/90s and retro photos from the same era.
My three favourites were ‘The Crush’ which brought back teenage memories from caravan parks and campgrounds; ‘Honey King Prawns’ - on returning to a favourite local Chinese restaurant where very little has changed (“Sometimes we want to age with our buildings”), and deep-fried ice cream that “tastes like Launceston”; and the story ‘Room 19’ where an arranged hookup became a D&M instead.
It was a nice familiar time capsule of foods, drinks, and past-times for those who experienced that Down Under era.
(It’s a shame Goodreads is missing the book cover)
A fun collection of memories, reflections, and photographs from Australian summers of the not-so-distant past. Ross captures the mood vividly, and at times hilariously, all the while reminding us of what makes that country and its people so special.