Jim Schembri Books

While I've been familiar with Jim Schembri's film reviews in The Age newspaper, I never knew that he had also written several books until I was walking past a book stall the other day and this brightly-coloured book literally jumped out at me, grabbed me by the neck and screamed "Buy me! Buy me!" And with a discounted price tag of $3.95, who could resist?

I was not disappointed. I have always been a lover of fables, of parables, of stories with morals, of stories which speak to us about some aspect of our humanity. These modern fables have much to tell us about the world in which we live, and about ourselves, especially the inherent nature of humans to destroy everything of true value, and not to realise until it is too late. The stories are short and concise, but they are also witty and often poignant as well. There is a lot of wisdom contained within the pages of this small book.

My favourite fables in this are probably "The Editing Suite", "Seven Short Naked Men", "Revaluing the Contents of Robbie's Head" and "The Philosopher Who Was Full of It". Mind you, out of 52 short stories, there are many favourites to choose from.

Anyhow, the moral of this story is that if you ever have a book leap out at you and scream "Buy me!", you should probably sit up and pay attention. And if it's this book, you won't be disappointed.