Reckoning: A Memoir | 
pickIf you pick up Reckoning expecting your standard, light-hearted, comedian memoir… yeah, you‘re in for a rude shock. It‘s a pensive, penetrating story, told without pretension and with radical vulnerability. Szubanski doesn‘t shy away from sharing the least flattering aspects of her own past, personality or behaviour, nor does she redact her father‘s historical violence. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/reckoning-magda-szubanski/
pickI really enjoyed Magda's writing, she is brutally honest and funny. However, the story of her family history is a sad and horrible tale, embroiled in Polish and Irish political violence. Her comedy background through Australian TVs big comedy boom when I was a teenager was so great to read about and I think that knowing the venues, the comedians and the skits being discussed was a great advantage. 5⛤⛤⛤⛤⛤ (Pic starobserver.com.au)
#ReadingOnRoam
Finally getting to this! A memoir of a much loved Aussie comedian. Her Polish, Scottish, British background, charred by WWII, re-birthed in the Australian Victorian countryside (now outer suburbs Melbourne). So much in here - and written in a really accessible way. Short and punchy chapters - ploughing through it.
Ermagahd! Guess who I met today? It was so wonderful to hear Magda talk today. She's so down to earth, hilarious and super inspiring.
Sunday plans - counting down till I get to see her live this coming week.
pickI absolutely loved listening to this. Magda is an Aussie National Treasure 🏳️🌈🇦🇺
Totally stoked to have scored tickets through my work place to hear Magda Szubanski speak in April. What a great excuse to bump her book up my TBR.
90 minutes into this, and it's wonderful. Magda writes beautifully.
pickJUST.READ.THIS.BOOK
A legend Australian with a story that was equal parts hilarious, heartbreaking and confronting.
So much more than a Comedienne.
I don't normally read memoirs, but this is fantastic.
Once you are finished, waste an hour watching Magda videos on YouTube. especially Lynne Postlethwaite and Sharon Strzelecki.
Finally when you are done with that watch Magda on Q&A talking about Same-Sex Marriage.
Amazing woman.
"Warsaw. War-(sore). In Polish it is pronounced Var-SHA-vah. Lovely. Like the rustle of petticoats in a Viennese waltz. But the English pronunciation, sadly, is more apt."
pickNot your typical celebrity memoir, in fact it contains little of the public Magda & skims over her comedy career.
Instead, the book belongs to her father as Magda attempts to come to terms with his actions as a teenage assassin and resistance fighter in WWII Poland.
The result is eloquent, sensitive and moving, but guarded in some respects. Maybe someday she'll write another one with more Magda in it. I'd read that one too.
"'God is the only true biographer,' the Polish priest says, 'because only He knows what is in our souls.' Isn't that what we all hope for? To be understood, finally? Do I know my father as well as God knows him? His friend Ryszard described him as trustworthy, 'a good man to steal a horse with'."
My #recommendsday & #wcw this week is Magda Szubanski and her memoir Reckoning. This Aussie by way of Poland, comedian,actor & author is one of the most fascinating women you'll ever know. From her hysterical skits in Fast Forward (pixie Ann Wheatley anyone?) to Babe, Kath & Kim and then to her recent coming out and now this telling of her family's story, she is one of the most fabulous Australian women of the last century.🇦🇺💚💛🇦🇺
This book is on the pile beside my bed because my clever, articulate friend Emily said this:
