72 - SOUTH COAST REGISTER - Wednesday, February 19, 2014 southcoastregister.com.au

sceneBook

GIRL’S OWN SURVIVALGUIDEKy FurneauxMichael Joseph

Most survival guidesare written for menliving in the northern

hemisphere and containadvice about how to make afire with a couple of sticks orwhat to eat when you’re inthe Mojave Desert. This bookis different. Written byAustralian stunt woman anddouble to Hollywood’s A-liststars, Ky Furneaux, it does containinstructions for surviving in the desert,but it does reference Australia, it isspecifically written for women and girls

and it contains much morethan practical advice.

For Furneaux attitude isimportant and she writes themain limiter of effort is ourbrain not our body. Sheadvises holding a yoga posefor 10 seconds longer ortaking a run break at the topof the hill instead of halfwayup to see what your body iscapable of. ElsewhereFurneaux advises women toavoid acting the victim, usingsuperglue or duct tape to

repair broken heels and not to trustanyone they don’t know. Every Australianteenage girl should read this.

FRANCES RAND

DRONGOTHE IMMORTAL LOSERBruce WalkleySlattery Media Group

Have you ever wondered where the worddrongo comes from? It is Australianslang for a no-hoper – there are a few

other colourful descriptions that can’t beused here.

While a drongo is also a variety of bird, itsreal meaning came from a little knownracehorse from the 1920s called Drongo.

Despite good breeding, Drongo couldn’t wina race in 37 attempts – hence the saying.

It was also lampooned by cartoonist SamWells in the Melbourne Herald.

Foaled in 1921, it was retired in 1925 after 37 starts forno wins – but in a slightly different world Drongo wouldhave been a champion.

People thought he was hopeless but he wasn’t – farfrom it.

He only ran in races in the city, often against the besthorses of the era.

He finished second in the 1923 Victorian Derby and the1924 VRC St Ledger and was third in the 1924 AJC StLedger – races for the best three year old stayers in thecountry.

He placed a dozen times, earning a substantial amount

of money – he just couldn’t crack it for awin.

He also ran in two Melbourne Cups.Although he wasn’t a bad horse it didn’t

take long for the punters to claim “a mug”was a “drongo”.

And the term spread quickly.If he was such a “dud” why did one of the

greatest jockeys in Australian racing history,Bobby Lewis, choose to ride him in the Derbyin 1923?

Lewis had in a long and distinguishedcareer won the Victorian Derby eight timesbetween 1900 and 1927, won fourMelbourne Cups and more than 900 winners

before retiring in 1938 at age 60.He also rode the legendary Phar Lap into third in the

Melbourne Cup in 1929.In 1923 he was so highly regarded he could have had

his pick of most of the derby field, yet he chose Drongo.In his memoirs he said Drongo was working “splendidly

in the lead up to the race” and “had a great chance ofwinning”.

He was beaten by just three quarters of a length.But there are numerous stories like that about Drongo.Bruce Walkley takes us behind the scenes and gives us

an insight into the horse and its connections.ROBERT CRAWFORD

WHAT IF . . .A Lifetime ofQuestions,Speculations,Reasonable Guesses,and a Few Things IKnow for SureShirley MaclaineSimon & Schuster

Shirley Maclaine strikes aserene pose on the coverof her latest book.

She is a woman ageinggraciously and sharing her witand wisdom with the readers of over adozen titles. She is part memoirist, partDelphic Oracle and part raconteur.

This time around, the 79-year-old actresswho believes in reincarnation, frames eachchapter around the question, ‘What If . . .’

What if, for example, Stephen Hawkinggot up and walked?

What if the greatest act of love is towithdraw, allowing another soul to exist?

‘And what if Carol Haney had not sprainedher ankle, enabling me, her youngunderstudy, to go on for her in PyjamaGame?’

Then came the clincher: ‘What if I hadn’tsaid yes to joining the cast of DowntonAbbey?’

Here the consummateactress knows she has usspellbound. And she does notdisappoint. Maclaine describesin delicious detail her reunion,after 40 years, with theincomparable Maggie Smith,who plays Violet, the DowagerCountess of Grantham, in thesmash hit British TV series.

She recalls in vivid detail themany days the two legendaryladies of stage and screenspent, between takes, seated

around the grand dining table at HighclereCastle, reminiscing about men, work, theworld as it used to be.

‘It was easy because neither of us likes toget up and walk around anymore,’ shewrites. A trademark Maclaine remark, oneboth funny and sad.

Downton Abbey has introduced Maclaineto another generation of admirers. She isgossipy and then tender, as when she writesthe shoot was complicated by her missingher beloved dog Terry and because she hadto face the realities of ageing without thecomforts of home.

Shirley Maclaine is batty, charming,acerbic and wise.

BARBARA FARRELLY

THE DAYS OF ANNAMADRIGALArmistead MaupinDoubleday

For camp followers of ArmisteadMaupin’s cult series, Tales of TheCity, The Days of Anna Madrigal

is a bittersweet tribute to the elderlytransgender icon of the title.

(Mr Maupin’s moving denouementin the desert may have been inspiredby our own Priscilla’s tour de force inthe Outback on the roof of a bus).

A generation of queers have grownup and grown middle-aged readingthe nine novels that famously tooksnapshots of San Francisco as theearthquake that was AIDS shook thecity to its core in the 1980 and ’90s.The series has been acontemporaneous record of theresilience of men, women and theirchildren living at the epicentre of aplague. And doing it with craziness,style, and fun.

In this instalment of what startedout as a newspaper serialisation,characters like Michael ‘Mouse’Toliver, his husband Ben, BrianHawkins, Mary Anne Singleton,transman Jake, and Shawna areherded, like cats, to the Festival of theBurning Man, the hyper-cool event inthe Nevada Desert where hipsters let it

all hang out in a temporary city theybuild to burn.

The spire of the Temple of Junoappears out of the choking dust as MrsMadrigal, now in her 90s, is speedingin a Winnebago towards Black Rock,via the Blue Moon whorehouse, whereshe had lived as a boy.

Before Burning Man (and fire as ametaphor for cleansing), she mustfirst make peace with Oliver Sudden, aman who holds the key to a darksecret in her old life when she was

Andy.Anna’s a bit psychic, or spooky as

she calls it, and, still a sly old stoner,she reminds the reader that while‘some people drink to forget,personally I smoke to remember’.

This is a story about loss,forgiveness, and shifting identities. Itis Anna Madrigal’s story, and she is agloriously purple-clad vortex at theheart of this vibrant community.

One for the True Believers.BF

When Annawas Andy

Details in Friday’s South Coast Register

Celtic Thunder1 of 5 double passes to see

at theWollongong Entertainment Centre

5 doubletickets worth

$119ea

LTPM/13/00575 AW1279204