Books mainly. Including Michael Moore’s latest, “Dude, Where’s My Royalty Cheque!” or somesuch. An elderly relative gave it to me with the advice that it had been recommended by the girl in the shop for “a guy who enjoys current affairs.” It was sweet of her and it’s now handily wedged under the gas water heater where the flap to the pilot light used to always come off. I did flick through it briefly, noting Moore’s penchant for capitalising (‘scuse the pun) and this singular piece of advice to the reader: “you will never be rich.” Naturally, I took that with a grain of salt. What price any predictions from the Nostradamus of Central Park West, when he’d completely failed to predict his book’s fundametal usefulness as a flap wedge?
I also received Simon Sebag-Montefiore’s impressive study of life in the Kremlin under Stalin: Stalin – The Court of the Red Tsar . It’s very good. Michael Moore should read it. Paul Strathearn’s The Medici – Godfathers of the Renaissance was also a gift. The dynasty started off very well, peaked with Lorenzo the Magnificent and declined into a sorry slough of extravagant debauchery, slothfulness, bad wigs and homosexuality. I suspect Sydney’s Anglican Archbishop will be using it as a homily resource for many months. It certainly made me think……