Monday, February 2, 2015

G Stands for Go-Betweens: Grant's books




[Updated April 27, 2021]

The first 600 copies of Domino Records' limited-edition Go-Betweens box set G Stands for Go-Betweens: Volume 1 and the first 400 copies of G Stands for Go-Betweens: Volume 2 included books from the library of Grant McLennan, who died in 2006. I'm using this page to compile a list of the books that buyers received. If you are one of the lucky fans who received one or more of Grant's books, please send the authors and titles and I'll add them to the list. 

These titles include the three books I received with my copy of the first volume as well as titles that have been posted on go-betweens.net, stevehoffman.tv, Twitter, and Right Here: The Go-Betweens Appreciation Society group on Facebook. 

One of my three books was Fireworks by Angela Carter. I was excited to get it, because Grant wrote a song titled "Angela Carter" for the 1995 Jack Frost album Snow Job. The book is signed by Grant and dated 1982. Grant must have kept his books in alphabetical order by the authors' last names, because a lot of people have received bundles of books by authors whose last names start with the same letter.

People are finding interesting things inside Grant's books. Many of the books, like my Angela Carter one, are signed and dated by Grant. Photos, receipts, and tickets have also been found. For longtime Go-Betweens fans, it's a magical experience to hold these little scraps of Grant's life.






  • Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart
  • Diane Ackerman – The Moon by Whale Light
  • Alice Adams – Rich Rewards
  • Michelangelo Antonioni – Blow-Up
  • Michelangelo Antonioni – L'Avventura: A Film by Michelangelo Antonioni
  • Max Apple – Zip: A Novel of the Left and Right
  • John Ashbery, Lee Harwood, Tom Raworth – Penguin Modern Poets 19
  • Steven Bach – Final Cut: Dreams and Disaster in the Making of Heaven's Gate
  • Nicholson Baker – A Box of Matches
  • Nicholson Baker – The Size of Thoughts 
  • J. M. Barrie – Peter Pan and Wendy
  • Jean Bedford – Sister Kate: A Novel
  • Madison Smartt Bell – Ten Indians
  • Dianne Benedict – Shiny Objects
  • Pinckney Benedict – The Wrecking Yard and Other Stories
  • John Berger – About Looking
  • John Betjeman – Collected Poems
  • Caroline Blackwood – The Fate of Mary Rose
  • Maurice Blanchot – The Sirens' Song
  • Louise Bogan – The Blue Estuaries
  • Paul Bowles – Collected Stories
  • Michael Bracewell – England Is Mine: Pop Life in Albion
  • Kate Braverman – Wonders of the West
  • Joe Bob Briggs – Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In
  • Bill Broady – Swimmer
  • Kevin Brownlow – The Parade's Gone By
  • Luis Bunuel – My Last Breath: The Autobiography of Luis Bunuel
  • Robert Burns – Auld Lang Syne and Other Songs
  • James M. Cain – Double Indemnity
  • Ethan Canin – Emperor of the Air
  • Peter Carey – Illywhacker
  • Kent E. Carroll – Closeup: Last Tango in Paris
  • Angela Carter – Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces
  • Brian Castro – Birds of Passage: A Novel
  • Raymond Chandler – The Blue Dahlia
  • John Cheever – The Stories of John Cheever
  • Tracy Chevalier – Girl With a Pearl Earring
  • Rene Clair – Le Silence Est d'Or, La Beaute du Diable, Les Belles-de-Nuit, Les Grandes Manoeuvres
  • Nic Cohn – WopBopaLooBop LopBamBoom
  • John and Dorothy Colmer – The Penguin Book of Australian Autobiography
  • Laurie Colwin – Another Marvelous Thing
  • Robert Coover – Gerald's Party
  • Douglas Coupland – Hey Nostradamus!
  • James Crumley – Bordersnakes
  • Beatrice Davis, ed. – The Illustrated History of Australian Verse
  • Marele Day – Lambs of God
  • Don DeLillo – Great Jones Street
  • Don DeLillo – Libra
  • Rick DeMarinis – The Burning Women of Far Cry
  • Isak Dinesen – Carnival: Entertainments and Posthumous Tales
  • Harriet Doerr – Stones for Ibarra
  • Stella Dong – Shanghai: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City
  • Michael Dransfield – Drug Poems
  • Michael Dransfield – Inspector of Tides
  • Robert Drewe – The Bodysurfers
  • Andre Dubus – Broken Vessels
  • Nick Earls – Zigzag Street
  • Umberto Eco – The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
  • Modris Eksteins – Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age
  • Louise Erdrich – The Blue Jay's Dance: A Birth Year
  • James Fenton – Terminal Moraine
  • William Fifield – Modigliani: The Biography
  • Ross Fitzgerald & Ken Spillman, eds. – The Greatest Game
  • Lydia Flem – Casanova, or the Art of Happiness
  • Richard Ford – Rock Springs
  • Raimond Gaita – Romulus, My Father
  • John Gardner – The Wreckage of Agathon
  • Helen Garner – Monkey Grip
  • William Gaunt – Victorian Olympus
  • Theofile Gautier – My Fantoms
  • Tim Gautreaux – Next Step in the Dance: A Novel
  • Kaye Gibbons – A Virtuous Woman
  • Ellen Gilchrist – Drunk with Love: A Book of Stories
  • Mikal Gilmore – Night Beat: A Shadow History of Rock & Roll
  • Fran Gordon – Paisley Girl
  • William Goyen – Had I a Hundred Mouths
  • Sara Gran – Come Closer
  • Henry Green – Caught
  • Andy Greenwald – Miss Misery
  • Geoffrey Grigson – Collected Poems 1963-1980
  • Todd Grimson – Brand New Cherry Flavor
  • Kirsty Gunn – The Keepsake
  • Rosalie Ham – The Dressmaker
  • Knut Hamsun – Hunger
  • Seamus Haney – The Spirit Level
  • Jim Harrison – After Ikkyu and Other Poems
  • Sonya Hartnett – Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf
  • Ernest Hemingway – A Farewell to Arms
  • Amy Hempel – Reasons to Live
  • Kristin Henry – One Day She Catches Fire
  • Edward Hoagland – Heart's Desire
  • A.M. Homes – The End of Alice
  • Maureen Howard – Natural History
  • Ted Hughes – Birthday Letters
  • Jim Hunter, ed. – Modern Poets Two
  • Ingo Schulze – 33 Moments of Happiness
  • Paulette Jiles – Blackwater
  • Diane Johnson – Lying Low
  • Denis Johnson – Resuscitation of a Hanged Man
  • Edgar Johnson – Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph
  • R.S. Jones – Force of Gravity
  • Ben Jonson – Three Comedies
  • Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas – Star Wars: A New Hope
  • Frank Kermode – Shakespeare's Language
  • Chip Kidd – The Cheese Monkeys
  • Sibylle Knauss – Eva's Cousin
  • Malcolm Knox – A Private Man
  • David Krauss – Sean O'Casey & His World
  • Jean de La Fontaine – Selected Fables
  • Julia Leigh – The Hunter
  • Craig Lesley – Winterkill
  • P.J. Livingston – Flacco's Burnt Offerings
  • Kate Llewellyn – Dear You
  • Lorca, selected and translated by J.L. Gili – Lorca
  • Bret Lott – The Man Who Owned Vermont
  • Naguib Mahbouz – Palace Walk
  • David Malouf – Fly Away Peter
  • David Malouf – 12 Edmondstone Street
  • Christopher Marlowe – The Complete Plays
  • Gabriel Garcia Marquez – No One Writes to the Colonel
  • Douglas A. Martin – Outline of My Lover
  • Peter Matthiessen – At Play in the Fields of the Lord
  • Peter Matthiessen – Far Tortuga
  • Peter Matthiessen – Men's Lives
  • Peter Matthiessen – On the River Styx
  • F.M. Mayor – The Rector's Daughter
  • Geraldine McCaughrean – Fires Astonishment
  • Roger McDonald – Shearers' Motel
  • Cyra McFadden – Rain or Shine: A Family Memoir
  • John McGahern – Nightlines
  • John McPhee – The Control of Nature
  • Gillian Mears – The Grass Sister
  • Anne Michaels – The Weight of Oranges/Miner's Pond
  • Andrew Miller – Casanova
  • Henry Miller – The Books in My Life
  • Rick Moody – The Black Veil
  • Frederic Morton – A Nervous Splendor
  • Andrew Motion – The Lamberts: George, Constant & Kit
  • Les Murray – Subhuman Redneck Poems
  • Vladimir Nabokov – Look at the Harlequins!
  • Vladimir Nabokov – Pale Fire
  • John Nichols – An Elegy for September
  • Howard Norman – The Bird Artist
  • Dan O'Brien – Spirit of the Hills
  • Robert Olmstead – America by Land
  • John Osborne – Inadmissible Evidence
  • Ignacio Padilla – Shadow Without a Name
  • Rob Pascoe – The Winter Game: The Complete History of Australian Football
  • Noel Perrin – First Person Rural
  • Joan Perucho – Natural History
  • Lilian Pizzichini – Dead Men's Wages
  • George Plimpton, ed. – Poets at Work: The Paris Review Interviews
  • Caroline Polizzatto – A Trick of the Light
  • Anthony Powell – Books Do Furnish a Room
  • Anthony Powell – Casanova's Chinese Restaurant
  • Anthony Powell – The Military Philosophers
  • Frederic Prokosch – The Missolonghi Manuscript: A Novel
  • E. Annie Proulx – Heart Songs and Other Stories
  • Elizabeth Redfern – The Music of the Spheres
  • Jean Renoir – My Life and My Films
  • Elizabeth Riddell – Selected Poems
  • Peter Robb – Midnight in Sicily
  • Bruce Robinson – Withnail & I
  • Dilys Rose – Our Lady of the Pickpockets
  • Salman Rushdie – Midnight's Children
  • Scott D. Ryersson and Michael Orlando Yaccarino – Infinite Variety: The Life and Legend of the Marchesa Casati
  • Saki – The Best of Saki
  • William Saroyan – Dear Baby
  • Steven H. Scheuer, ed. – Movies on TV, 1975-76 edition
  • Max Schott – Murphy's Romance
  • W. G. Sebald – After Nature
  • W. G. Sebald – The Rings of Saturn
  • Richard Selzer – Confessions of a Knife
  • Richard Selzer – Mortal Lessons
  • Bob Shacochis – Easy in the Islands
  • George Bernard Shaw – Major Barbara
  • Steven Sherrill – The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break
  • Elizabeth Smart – Necessary Secrets: The Journals of Elizabeth Smart
  • Lee Smith – Family Linen
  • Frank Stanford – The Light the Dead See
  • Robert Stone – Bay of Souls
  • William Styron – The Confessions of Nat Turner
  • William Styron – Darkness Visible
  • Gloria Swanson – Swanson on Swanson
  • Tacitus – The Annals of Imperial Rome
  • Emma Tennant – Wild Nights
  • James Thurber – The Thurber Carnival
  • Ian Townsend – Affection
  • Guy Vanderhaeghe – The Englishman's Boy
  • Clinton Walker – A Football Life
  • Clinton Walker – Golden Miles: Sex, Speed and the Australian Muscle Car
  • David Walton – Evening Out
  • Maria Warner – The Skating Party
  • Evelyn Waugh – A Handful of Dust
  • Patrick White – The Vivisector
  • Ellen Wilbur – Wind and Birds and Human Voices
  • John Williams – Stoner
  • Richard Williams – Out of His Head: The Sound of Phil Spector
  • John E. Wills – 1688: A Global History
  • Tobias Wolff – The Night in Question
  • Charlotte Wood – The Submerged Cathedral
  • Gaby Wood – Living Dolls
  • James Wright – Above the River: The Complete Poems
  • Denise Young – The Last Ride
  • Maurice Zolotow – Billy Wilder in Hollywood

45 comments:

  1. Movies On TV Edited by Steven H. Scheuer. Edition 75-76. Sign GW McLennan.

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  2. Nicholson Baker - The Size of Thoughts

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  3. I got a biography of Charles Dickens. I will send details soon.

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  4. I received Bay of Souls by Robert Stone with the Vol. 2 box

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  5. My Vol. 2 set came with Modigliani: The Biography, by William Fifield.

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  6. "Casanova (or The Art of Happiness)" by Lydia Flem came with my copy of vol.2

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  7. Charles Dickens His Tragedy and Triumph by Edgar Johnson. Penguin Books, 1979 (Abridged). Signed "G.McLennan '81". Came with Vol 1 of the box set Sorry this took me 3 years

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    Replies
    1. Better late than never! I put it on the list.

      Delete
  8. I see you’ve already got the one that came with Volume 2, probably from my post on the “Right Here” group.

    As far as Volume 1, I received a signed (by GM) copy of Inspector of Tides by Michael Dransfield. University of Queensland Press, reprinted 1978.

    Thank you for keeping track of all of the titles. What a wonderful idea!

    Erik (Andersson)

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    Replies
    1. Yep, I'm combing the Right Here group for new titles. :) Thanks for these

      Delete
  9. I got the following with vol 2 boxset

    Necessary secrets: the journals of Elizabeth Smart by Elizabeth Smart (Paladin, 1992), ISBN 0586087400. Signed with initials 'GW', no date.

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  10. Romulus my Father by Raimond Gaita. Received with volume 2

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  11. I received "Shearers' Motel " by Roger McDonald with Volume 1(signed 92) and "The Skating Party" by Marina Warner signed 'New York' '83 !

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  12. Affection - Ian Townsend.

    My book club read it 6 months before it arrived with box set!

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  13. I received Louise Erdrich’s The Blue Jay’s Dance - A Birth Year (Flamingo, 1996) with vol. 2. No signature.

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  14. Hi,

    I am a little late as I received "Hunger" by Knut Hamsun as part of my Volume 1 order. Inside the front cover, the book is signed "Grant McLennan '82".

    My Volume 2 order is suppose to arrive tomorrow but I'm not too optimistic that it's going to include a book this time.

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  15. Darkness Visible by William Styron received with box 2. Ian Barrett, Dublin, ireland.

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  16. The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald came in my copy of Vol.2.

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  17. Only just came across this blog - my copy of Vol. 1 had Zip by Max Apple (signed Stockholm '83), and The Military Philosophers by Anthony Powell (signed '81). That's 3 of the 12 volumes of A Dance to the Music of Time in there now - I wonder if the other 9 are out there somewhere...

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  18. The Last Ride by Denise Young in vol 2

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  19. Apologies, just found this blog.

    I got 2 books in volume 1:
    1) The Rector's Daughter by F.M.Mayor (inscribed G McLennan '80)
    2) Rain or Shine by Cyra McFadden (inscribed (Grant W '88)

    The Rector's Daughter was bought in the American Book Shop in Elizabeth Street, Brisbane...

    Many thanks,
    D.

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  20. I bought Stones for Ibarra in Los Angeles for Grant and took it back to him in Sydney. Until Grant, I read mostly technical and science books.

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  21. Hi. I got Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe with the vol 2 boxset.

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    Replies
    1. Hey, I've read that book. I added it. Thanks!

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  22. I now have 12 Edmunstone Street by David Malouf thanks to my Discogs purchase of Volume 2.

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  23. My volume 2 book had The Second Bridegroom Rodney Hall

    Inside the book is a business card for La Bocuhee Bistro Cafe in London. Checking online it appears the cafe in South Kensington is still running. Interesting!

    South Kensington

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