Books, Issue 576

Burns an’ a’ That festival line-up unveiled

22 May 2007

Words: Allan Radcliffe (Picture: Deacon Blue (left) and the MacDonald Brothers (right)) The sixth Burns an’ a’ That festival, which takes place from Wednesday 23-Monday 28 May, features an enticing programme of entertainment, music, dance…

Day Jobs

22 May 2007

Look closely at your electrician. Can you imagine him as a rock singer? What about your cleaning lady - does she exhibit in the Saatchi Gallery? And have you heard the one about the aerobics teacher with a book deal? For a variety of (mostly financial…

Hitlist - The best books, comics & events

21 May 2007

Martina Cole The big-selling thriller scribe does a signing at WHS and holds court at RCH as copies of Close go flying out the shops. WH Smith, Glasgow, Thu 24 May; Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Fri 25 May. William McIlvanney A good fat-chewing…

Essex County Vol 1: Tales from the Farm

Comics

21 May 2007

FANTASY Superman and flying saucers feature figuratively in Canadian cartoonist Jeff Lemire’s lovely low-key coming-of-age graphic novel. Set in a fictionalised version of the Ontario agricultural community in which the author grew up (here…

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser

Comics

21 May 2007

FANTASY Given that this is by far the best work Mike Mignola did before creating Hellboy, it’s a wonder it’s taken Dark Horse this long (17 years) to collect his marvellous adaptations, scripted by Howard Chaykin, of Fritz Leiber’s terrific sword and…

Gutsville No.1

Comics

21 May 2007

FANTASY HORROR Created by two of British comics’ brightest new talents, Gutsville No.1 is a steampunk fantasy yarn that has absolutely no truck with even the furthest reaches of possibility. Yet it’s all the better for that, as Simon Spurrier has an…

Mister i

Comics

21 May 2007

SLAPSTICK SKETCHES Legendary French cartoonist Lewis Trondheim has been in self-imposed retirement for some years now claiming he didn’t want to make a job of his passion. He does however sporadically indulge us with one off, large format…

No One Belongs Here More Than You

21 May 2007

SHORT STORIES I’ll admit, I feared this book. A debut collection of short stories from an LA-based performance artist and indie filmmaker? Surely it’s going to be all pointlessly quirky characters, self-obsessed existential ennui and vacuous…

Also Published

21 May 2007

Terry Jones Barbarians You might have seen this on telly last year as the former Python charts the progress of the rough lot who had a tough battle or two with the Romans. BBC/Ebury. James D Tabor The Jesus Dynasty A controversial interpretation of…

A History of Modern Britain

21 May 2007

SOCIAL HISTORY The cynical and lazy may wonder what would be the point of purchasing 600 pages by Andrew Marr telling us about the development of Britain since 1945 when his simultaneous TV documentary series will do the same thing. But with more…

The Shanghai Union of Industrial Mystics

21 May 2007

CRIME SATIRE CF Wong is having a bad day. The office he shares with his Australian assistant Joyce is about to be demolished by property developers, and he also seems to be on a collision course with some vegan terrorists who have recently invaded…

Resistance

21 May 2007

WAR DRAMA September 1944. The women of a remote valley in Wales wake to find their husbands have disappeared in the night with neither explanation nor warning. Within weeks, a German patrol moves into the valley on some unstated mission, their…

The Lying Tongue

21 May 2007

LITERARY DRAMA After his biography of Patricia Highsmith, Andrew Wilson’s first foray into fiction emulates his idol, brimming as it is with sexual ambiguity and dark intent. His protagonist Adam Woods is a thinly sketched aspiring novelist who finds…

Esther Freud

21 May 2007

Esther Freud has been called ‘the best writer about childhood we have.’ Certainly, since her 1992 autobiographical debut Hideous Kinky, the tale of two young girls accompanying their free-spirited mother on a pilgrimage to 1960s Marrakech, her work has…