Sean Dooley

Sean Dooley is an Australian author and ABC television comedy writer and a well known (in the birding world) birdwatcher and Twitcher extraordinaire. This is his first dabble at novel writing outside of bird watching themes. While COOKING WITH BAZ is easy to read and an at times quite revealing warts and all look at his family the book just didn’t grab me. Sean takes us back to how his parents met married and raised a family – we are not talking Brady Bunch family here, but a family where there are problems, i.e. Baz drinking, but a deep love and respect keeps the family unit together. Sean’s family is probably not that different to many other average families around Australia. The title is a little misleading – not much cooking occurred with Baz, although the fact that Baz came to enjoy cooking is often mentioned. There is one recipe at the end of the chicken dish that after much trying Baz finally got his wife to eat after her chemotherapy treatment. What this book IS though, is a journey of discovery between a son and his father – and the realization that sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got till its gone… (meer)