Books

First Writes: Bonnie Nadzam

The debut author's Lamb is an unsettling tale of manipulation and power

Give us five words to describe Lamb? Lamb is about us all. Those are my five words, and I stand by them. On one hand, it’s easy to call David Lamb a paedophile, but I don’t think he is one, and I never did think so. His project with Tommie is a lot…

Interview: Scott Tracy Griffin - Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration

To celebrate 100 years of Tarzan we ask why the character has remained so popular for so long?

Tarzan is one of the most enduring action adventure characters of all time: created by Edgar Rice Burroughs 100 years ago he still lives on in popular culture after all these years. We chat to Scott Tracy Griffin, author of Tarzan: The Centennial…

Books round-up winter 2012: new paperbacks

Aimee Bender and Joanne Harris among the authors releasing paperback editions this winter

With the recession still biting hard, a hardback option is still not open to everyone, so thank the heavens that some quality softer reads (in form rather than content) are about to hit the shelves. Aimee Bender (pictured) certainly knows how to name a…

Adrian Tomine - New York Drawings

A beautiful and thought-nudging collection from the New York comic artist

As a subway train passes another, a girl’s eyes meets a boy’s gaze across the electrified tracks. A clichéd moment is thankfully avoided as they just so happen to be reading the exact same book. Could an image get any more ‘Adrian Tomine’ than that?

Alasdair Gray, Pat Kane and Alan Bissett to attend the 16th Edinburgh Independent Radical Book Fair

This year marks the sweet 16th Edinburgh Independent Radical Book Fair, now firmly lodged in its setting deep in the heart of Leith. Those who organised the very first gathering might well have been surprised to be told that the 2012 fair would feature…

Jeremy Dyson - The Haunted Book

A disappointingly scare-free short story collection from the League of Gentleman writer

As the non-acting quarter of The League of Gentlemen and co-creator of the acclaimed West End stage hit, Ghost Stories, Jeremy Dyson knows a thing or two about scaring the bejesus out of folks. Curious, almost uncanny, then, that this Hallowe’en-timed…

Jon Ronson - Lost at Sea

A collection of non-fiction writing from the offbeat investigative journalist

Will Self pretty well nailed it when he dubbed Jon Ronson as ‘one of the finest comic writers working today’. Even when a subject appears on the surface to be deadly serious (the Self review was for Ronson’s last full work, The Psychopath Test), the…

Yrsa Sigurdardottir - I Remember You

An Icelandic horror that's both unputdownable and exasperating

Elbowing Iceland into the whole Nordic Noir hoo-ha, Yrsa Sigurdardottir presents her latest English-translated work. Part-way between a dark, depressive thriller and a mildly absurd, supernatural fable – distinguished by that unmistakable horror trait…

Barbara Kingsolver - Flight Behaviour

A densely written, glacially paced and beautifully characterised novel from the prolific writer

Named after a cheap wreath in the mistaken belief that it sounded like a name from the bible, Dellarobia Turnbow is a picture of redneck suppression. Stuck in a bloodless marriage with a fat imbecile whose parents control their lives on a struggling…

Lemony Snicket - Who Could That Be at This Hour?

The author of A Series of Unfortunate Events launches his new series

It may be unwise to judge a book by its cover, but in this case at least, the title is a good indicator. The intrigue generated by those seven little words continues into the first chapter and pretty much every page onwards, until we reach the…

Interview: Vic Armstrong - Stuntman behind Indiana Jones, James Bond and Superman

Stuntman and director on high falls, Superman, Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford

Vic Armstrong is one of the hardest working men in Hollywood. In the 60s he started working as a stunt man going on to be Harrison Ford’s stunt double in the Indiana Jones movies and Christopher Reeves’ in Superman. Later in his career he moved onto…

Spotlight on . . . Wigtown Book Festival

The festival takes place in Scotland’s National Book Town every autumn

Not only is Wigtown Scotland’s National Book Town, it was also awarded a Creative Places Award for most creative small town as part of the Year of Creative Scotland 2012 - and Wigtown Book Festival takes its place as the jewel in the crown. Inspired…

Interview: David Byrne on his new book How Music Works

Music memoir/manual from ex-Talking Heads polymath musician/artist/bike rack designer

There’s just one small caveat before The List gets the green light on an interview with David Byrne. One thing Mr Byrne most definitely won’t be talking about, comes the polite but firm message, is Talking Heads. From anyone else, a request to not…

Howard Jacobson - Zoo Time

A black comedy themed around the death of publishing

There isn’t a single character in Howard Jacobson’s new novel that you would want to spend time with. None of them, from protagonist to bit-part player, has enough good qualities to render friendship an appealing prospect. Yet Zoo Time hooks you from…

Lawrence Norfolk - John Saturnall’s Feast

A densely-detailed historical drama where character, time and place are more important than plot

The writing of John Saturnall’s Feast has reportedly taken Lawrence Norfolk all of 12 years to complete. And given the lush depth and intricate detail on almost every single line of these 400 pages, it’s understandable. This is a book for lovers of…

A look at some of the best book events in Scotland during autumn 2012

Scotland boasts a bounty of places to visit where you can discover the country’s literary scene, from monuments dedicated to our great authors and poets to the seeds of inspiration being sowed today. You could spend a whole day in Edinburgh and not…

Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez - Love and Rockets: New Stories No. 5

The latest edition of the pioneering, punk-spirited, magic realist/sci-fi Latino soap opera

Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez’s pioneering, punk-spirited, magic realist/sci-fi Latino soap opera feels as fresh and idiosyncratic today as it did when it first appeared on the indie comics scene in 1982. So, it’s fitting that Fantagraphics’ year-long…

AL Kennedy, Jon Ronson and Ewan Morrison to appear at the Wigtown Book Festival

While the Edinburgh International Book Festival looms large over not just the Scottish scene, but the global festival arena, we should be very grateful that those in charge of literary gatherings across the country haven’t chosen to up sticks and do…

Bodleian Library - How to Be a Good Lover

Briefly funny but ultimately pointless 1930s self help guide

In the wake of the Bodleian Library’s How to Be a Good Wife/Husband self-help guides, along comes this repeated dip into the 1930s ‘Dos and Don’ts’ for middle-class wannabe socialites. Some advice is quite pertinent such as ‘love in a cottage is better…

Kevin Powers - The Yellow Birds

Intensely poetic war drama set during and after the Iraq conflict

Kevin Powers’ debut novel is imbued with an intensely poetic rhythm. The heavy introspections of its protagonist, Private Bartle, flow hypnotically, like the desert landscape in which much of the book is set. Bartle is a soldier in the US Army, the…

Christopher Reid - Nonsense

Poetry collection alive with voices and stories that occasionally feels burnt out

Since winning the 2009 Costa Book Award for A Scattering, Christopher Reid hasn’t stopped to smell the roses. He’s brought out a Selected Poems and this whole new collection, Nonsense, a book split into four featuring a diverse set of voices. Where A…

First Writes: Emma Straub, author of Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures

The book follows a young actress making her way in 1930s Hollywood

Give us five words to describe Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures? That’s easy: Laura Lamont’s life in pictures! Name one author who should be more famous than they are now and why? I would say Jennifer Egan, but she won the Pulitzer Prize last year…

JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy garners 2 million preorders online

The Harry Potter author's adult novel is a guaranteed success - but will it be any good?

She likes a good old mystery does Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Only the inner circle would have seen the contents of her bookshelves, but it’s safe to assume that a number of where, what and whodunits reside there. After all, she kept a Hogwarts-obsessed…

Why I love Glasgow - By Ewan Morrison

The author reveals his love affair with the dear green place

I love this place. Here’s why. Glasgow is a fairly modern city, most of it was built on the back of the sugar and tobacco trade in no time at all, and as a result it has this wonderful, rational, almost surgical structure. It is absolutely impossible to…

Interview: Kim Newman - film critic and novelist

The noted writer talks Dracula, horror and vampires

Writer Kim Newman is probably most famous for his film criticism, a champion of horror and cult cinema, writing several books on the subject, while delving into the Video Dungeon at Empire magazine every issue and starting this interview with the fact…