As you all know I like books, especially any books about Australia, so when I spotted the words "The Wonder Down Under" printed along the spine of one of the many books on the shelves at Vinnies, I grabbed it without hesitations.
(Here's a bit of useless trivia you probably never knew: books in English have their spine title read from top to bottom, whereas spine titles in German and French are oriented to be read from the botton to the top.)
The author's name, a Dr Nina Brochmann, suggested that it would not be another Paul Hogan commercial, but maybe it was about one of the many natural wonders that abound in this country, maybe even about the Big Pineapple or the Big Prawn or the Big Banana - although the singular "Wonder" also suggested it could only be about one of them.
As soon as I flipped through the pages and saw the illustrations, I began to feel like that poor chap in the above video, but in a reverse sort of way, if you know what I mean. By the time I got to the backcover I was hooked, since it ended with the exhortation, "It's never too late to get to know more about the wonder down under". Well, maybe for some!
The byline in the book's title, "A user's guide to the vagina", implies that it was written for a younger generation. If ever they do a reprint for people of my age, may I suggest the dedication "Too soon old, too late smart" on the flyleaf? At a mere two dollars instead of the sticker price of $33 it was a bargain, and so, with downcast eyes, I took it to the nice lady at the check-out, knowing that you would be interested in the book as well. Before I get too far into it and start confusing theory and practice, I'd be happy to mail it to you - in a plain envelope, of course!
P.S. Thanks for all your emails. Since I only have ONE copy of the book, could you please form an orderly queue, so that I can mail it to each one of you in turn on a first-come-first-served basis?
