Donaldson books discussed as movie options - AFL forum

Post by **Landwaster** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 9:48 am

Youse might like to note someone asked on an Australian Rules Football forum what books people would like to see as movies, and a number of folks mentioned the Covenant series(es), and I wasn't alone in mentioning the Gap series too.

www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=911135

Just thought it might be of interest. C'arn The Roynish!

Post by **Shaun das Schaf** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:07 am

Ok, I have severe nostalgia now. Back in the days of Fitzroy, Paul Roos came to my primary school because they were our local club. One girl and one boy were picked for him to kick balls to. I was picked but I dropped the mark, which was actually unusual for me coz I was a sports-mad tomboy. I remember Paul saying the sun was in my eyes and giving me another go.

I am also nostalgic because my father was a massive Fitzroy fan. He supports the Lions now but it's not the same. (I've been a North girl since age 5).

Anyway, I voted Fitzroy because there is nothing more tragic, not even TC.

Also, I'm quite surprised TCTC was mentioned on an AFL forum, but nowhere as surprised as I am to hear Fitzroy mentioned on a TCTC forum!

Post by **Landwaster** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:25 pm

Hehe well there's some parallels, surely

I still follow the Roys in the local league ... but yes we do sometimes pretend to be well-rounded on footy messageboards

Post by **SleeplessOne** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:07 am

Landwaster wrote:Hehe well there's some parallels, surely I still follow the Roys in the local league ... but yes we do sometimes pretend to be well-rounded on footy messageboards

it's actually not the first time I've seen Covenant brought up on that particular Footy-site either; although the other occasion the sentiment was far more negative ...

r.i.p. Fitzroy, tragic indeed ...

Aussie author Peter Temple, whom I love, touches upon the disinfranchised Lions supporters in his Jack Irish books, very funny, well-written books that are as Melbourne as you can get (written by an ex-pat South African though !)

Post by **Shaun das Schaf** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:48 am

SleeplessOne wrote:Aussie author Peter Temple, whom I love, touches upon the disinfranchised Lions supporters in his Jack Irish books, very funny, well-written books that are as Melbourne as you can get (written by an ex-pat South African though !)

I've never read any Peter Temple, keeping meaning to. Didn't one of his books just win the Miles Franklin? Anyway, I'll put the Jack Irish books on my to-read list. Melbourne was my home ground for 20+ years.

P.S. google tells me the ABC is making a Jack Irish telemovie. Are you looking forward to/not looking forward to seeing what they do with it? Um, ah, try and answer that generally, sans spoilerings

Post by **SleeplessOne** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:22 am

Shaun das Schaf wrote:
SleeplessOne wrote:Aussie author Peter Temple, whom I love, touches upon the disinfranchised Lions supporters in his Jack Irish books, very funny, well-written books that are as Melbourne as you can get (written by an ex-pat South African though !)
I've never read any Peter Temple, keeping meaning to. Didn't one of his books just win the Miles Franklin? Anyway, I'll put the Jack Irish books on my to-read list. Melbourne was my home ground for 20+ years.

P.S. google tells me the ABC is making a Jack Irish telemovie. Are you looking forward to/not looking forward to seeing what they do with it? Um, ah, try and answer that generally, sans spoilerings

hiya Shaun; yeah Peter Temple won the Miles Franklin for his novel 'Truth', which is not one of the Jack Irish books - it's a great read though !

I am reeeeally looking forward to the Jack Irish telemovies (ABC are producing two I believe) - they will be written by the team that wrote 'Rake' which was excellent, best thing on Aussie tv for years, and they have secured Guy Pearce for the role of Jack Irish.

Now, Guy Pearce isn't exactly how *I* pictured Jack Irish, but he is a great actor and I trust him to pull it off.

If you lived in Melbourne for 20+ years then the Temple books, particularly his Jack Irish series (although Truth and Broken Shore are also excellent, especially Broken Shore) will absolutely delight you - he almost always writes within the crime fiction genre, and yet his books are often very funny, with a particularly Australian, even Melbourne, style of dry wit ...

highly recommend !

Post by **Shaun das Schaf** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:50 am

SleeplessOne wrote:hiya Shaun; yeah Peter Temple won the Miles Franklin for his novel 'Truth', which is not one of the Jack Irish books - it's a great read though !

I am reeeeally looking forward to the Jack Irish telemovies (ABC are producing two I believe) - they will be written by the team that wrote 'Rake' which was excellent, best thing on Aussie tv for years, and they have secured Guy Pearce for the role of Jack Irish.

Now, Guy Pearce isn't exactly how *I* pictured Jack Irish, but he is a great actor and I trust him to pull it off.

If you lived in Melbourne for 20+ years then the Temple books, particularly his Jack Irish series (although Truth and Broken Shore are also excellent, especially Broken Shore) will absolutely delight you - he almost always writes within the crime fiction genre, and yet his books are often very funny, with a particularly Australian, even Melbourne, style of dry wit ...

highly recommend !

I heard him interviewed on RN's Book Show and told myself to get a hold of Truth then, but never do what I tell myself to do so haven't done it yet

But seriously, you've sold me with the above post. Dry wit is, along with sarcasm, my favourite flavour of humour, he sounds like just the writer for me.

I missed Rake but heard it was good. And yes, Pearce has my trust too when it comes to acting.

Anyway, nice to formally 'meet' you. (This is, I believe, our first interaction.) Say hello to Melbs for me.

Post by **SleeplessOne** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:08 am

Shaun das Schaf wrote:
SleeplessOne wrote:hiya Shaun; yeah Peter Temple won the Miles Franklin for his novel 'Truth', which is not one of the Jack Irish books - it's a great read though !

I am reeeeally looking forward to the Jack Irish telemovies (ABC are producing two I believe) - they will be written by the team that wrote 'Rake' which was excellent, best thing on Aussie tv for years, and they have secured Guy Pearce for the role of Jack Irish.

Now, Guy Pearce isn't exactly how *I* pictured Jack Irish, but he is a great actor and I trust him to pull it off.

If you lived in Melbourne for 20+ years then the Temple books, particularly his Jack Irish series (although Truth and Broken Shore are also excellent, especially Broken Shore) will absolutely delight you - he almost always writes within the crime fiction genre, and yet his books are often very funny, with a particularly Australian, even Melbourne, style of dry wit ...

highly recommend !
I heard him interviewed on RN's Book Show and told myself to get a hold of Truth then, but never do what I tell myself to do so haven't done it yet
But seriously, you've sold me with the above post. Dry wit is, along with sarcasm, my favourite flavour of humour, he sounds like just the writer for me.

I missed Rake but heard it was good. And yes, Pearce has my trust too when it comes to acting.

Anyway, nice to formally 'meet' you. (This is, I believe, our first interaction.) Say hello to Melbs for me.

thank you Shaun, nice to 'meet' you too mate - Melbs misses you, 37 degrees today, scorcher !!

Truth is great btw, a little heavier-going than the others I have read, a bit more grim - but still very funny in places - a lot of the humour comes from the characters themselves, but in the Jack Irish books the humour comes from both the characters and the authorial voice ...

had a quick look for a quote (too little context to be considered spoiler-ish surely ?), here's one - bit broader than some of his more subtle stuff but still funny :

“Man near entrance is shot in the head at close range from behind. The other two, multiple stab wounds, genitals severed, other injuries. Also head and pubic hair ignited, shot, muzzle in mouth. Three bullets recovered, 45 calibre."

Villani: “So you can’t rule out an accident?”

Post by **Shaun das Schaf** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:19 am

SleeplessOne wrote:thank you Shaun, nice to 'meet' you too mate - Melbs misses you, 37 degrees today, scorcher !!

Truth is great btw, a little heavier-going than the others I have read, a bit more grim - but still very funny in places - a lot of the humour comes from the characters themselves, but in the Jack Irish books the humour comes from both the characters and the authorial voice ...

had a quick look for a quote (too little context to be considered spoiler-ish surely ?), here's one - bit broader than some of his more subtle stuff but still funny :

“Man near entrance is shot in the head at close range from behind. The other two, multiple stab wounds, genitals severed, other injuries. Also head and pubic hair ignited, shot, muzzle in mouth. Three bullets recovered, 45 calibre."

Villani: “So you can’t rule out an accident?”

Yeah no, I'm not gonna like him at all.

As for your 37 degrees, I was reading in the paper the other day that if us New South Welsh peoples were wondering where our Summer went, Melbourne took it!
Still, if it's ok with you, you can keep it. The office building in which I work (aka my home) does not have air-conditioning. Sydney humidity is bad enough, I don't need any scorch to go with it.
You enjoy it though

Post by **SleeplessOne** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:19 am

also, sorry to rabbit on, but I always find it fascinating that Peter Temple, who moved to Australia in 1980, captures Melbourne in such an accurate, insightful way - just found an article where he talks about just that, I found it interesting anyway :

www.artshub.com.au/au/news-article/opin ... hor-184318

Post by **Shaun das Schaf** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:31 am

SleeplessOne wrote:also, sorry to rabbit on, but I always find it fascinating that Peter Temple, who moved to Australia in 1980, captures Melbourne in such an accurate, insightful way - just found an article where he talks about just that, I found it interesting anyway :

www.artshub.com.au/au/news-article/opin ... hor-184318

Excuse the overuse of this emoticon...

.... but "How pointless it must all have seemed to Jackey Jackey. Rather like being the sober escort on a night out with Brendan Fevola..."
AND relevant to our current thread.

Thanks for the link SleeplessOne. Interesting article. Sometimes the Miles Franklin gets it right for me, (incredibly subjective of course), and sometimes not. Anyway, definitely going to explore PT's writing.

P.S. Found this funny too: "Temple says he had many stabs at writing literary novels, those without a dead person fairly close to the beginning." Although if lucimay were here, she'd pounce on the false categorization of 'literary novels' and 'genre novels', a pouncing with which I would agree.

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