Books and Reviews

Electric Man

A patchy, if well intentioned, Edinburgh-set comic comedy

8 Feb 2012

(12A tbc) 98min Shot in Edinburgh on a micro-budget, comic shop comedy Electric Man declares its intentions from the off: this is to be no social realist kitchen sink drama, typical of the UK film industry, but rather a light-hearted love-letter to…

Joost Swarte: Is That All There Is?

Compendium of the Dutch cartoonist’s satirical alternative comics

3 Feb 2012

Apparently so. Or almost so. Is That All There Is? collects virtually all of the Dutch cartoonist’s alternative comics from way back in 1972 to the present day, translates them into English and assembles them, under Swarte’s own supervision, in this…

Shalom Auslander - Hope: A Tragedy

Probably the funniest book that’s ever going to be written about the Holocaust

1 Feb 2012

(Picador) This is probably the funniest book that’s ever going to be written about the Holocaust. But then Shalom Auslander has previous experience of laugh-out-loud writings about Jewish guilt, paranoia, misery and self-loathing. His short story…

Jeet Thayil - Narcopolis

Bombay-centric social drama with tangible atmosphere but little narrative drive

1 Feb 2012

(Faber) Narcopolis begins and ends with the word ‘Bombay’. Although several individuals vie for centre stage in poet Jeet Thayil’s debut novel, the main character here is India’s most densely populated city. Viewed as a solemn and dangerous hive…

Helen Schulman - This Beautiful Life

Slightly outdated family drama that retains some timeliness and authenticity

1 Feb 2012

(Atlantic) With frightening believability, New York novelist Helen Schulman depicts a single, unthinking mouse-click tearing a family apart. Set in 2003, aspects of This Beautiful Life are outdated, but the key dramatic action of a 15-year-old boy…

Courtney Taylor-Taylor & Jim Rugg - One Model Nation

Unsuccessful comic book crossover attempt from the Dandy Warhols frontman

27 Jan 2012

(Titan Books) It’s always interesting when someone turns their hand from one artform to another. However, One Model Nation is proof that the results aren’t always as interesting as the concept. The idea of a comic from Dandy Warhols’ frontman…

Geoff Dyer - Zona

The multi-talented humourist turns his able hand to film criticism

27 Jan 2012

(Canongate) Having previously mashed-up fiction, journalism, essay, biography and travel writing, polymath and humourist Geoff Dyer once more defies genre with a book that’s one part film criticism, one part autobiography and several parts random…

Sophie Hannah - Kind of Cruel

The seventh Zailer and Waterhouse murder mystery zips along but falters at the end

27 Jan 2012

(Hodder & Stoughton) Kind of Cruel is Sophie Hannah’s seventh release to feature police duo and dysfunctional couple DS Charlie Zailer and DC Simon Waterhouse, recently brought to life on ITV by Olivia Williams and Darren Boyd. This taut, nightmarish…

Edmund White - Jack Holmes and His Friend

A beautifully written tale of sex and male friendship

5 Jan 2012

(Bloomsbury) Edmund White has never shied away from putting himself on the page, scribing autobiographical fiction and memoirs for over 30 years. Jack Holmes and His Friend is no exception. White attended boarding school in the American Midwest…

Alan Moore & Jacen Burrows - Neonomicon

Moore takes some liberties with Lovecraft's stories, but as ever, does a grand job of it

5 Jan 2012

(Avatar) While we wait impatiently for the final instalment of the latest The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century (see our review of part two), we have this new graphic novella from the grand magi of comics to be going on with. Neonomicon is…

Stuart MacBride - Birthdays for the Dead

The tartan noir author diverges from the Logan McRae series with a compelling and brutal thriller

5 Jan 2012

(HarperCollins) A standalone diversion from his Logan McRae series of novels, Stuart MacBride once again demonstrates how he puts the grit into the Granite City. That said, Birthdays for the Dead isn’t set in Aberdeen, instead the action shifts to…

Marcus Berkmann - A Shed of One’s Own

Occasionally hilarious, occasionally turgid treatise on middle-age

5 Jan 2012

(Little, Brown) What is middle-age? Is it a fixed number or a fluid miasma of values, outlooks and opinions? Marcus Berkmann, probably correctly, believes it could strike at any time (you could even get a middle-aged teenager) but is perhaps more…

Ali Shaw - The Man Who Rained

Fantastical modern fable from the author of The Girl With Glass Feet

19 Dec 2011

(Atlantic) After the success of The Girl With Glass Feet, Ali Shaw sticks to his penchant for penning fables with a folklore-filled romance set in a small, superstitious American town. But Thunderstown is not as it first appears when Elsa Beletti…

Miranda July - It Chooses You

Charming miscellany of human oddness from the Californian Renaissance Woman

12 Dec 2011

(Canongate) It’s OK to be a bit weird around Miranda July. Or have anxieties, or a tendency to procrastinate, or a habit of lying in order to be polite. It’s all fine with her; in fact, she’d probably prefer it. July created her first play as a…

Metaphrog - Louis: Red Letter Day

Reissue of the Glasgow-based graphic novel duo's 2000 Louis debut

12 Dec 2011

(Metaphrog) A year after the publication of the fifth Louis book, Night Salad, the Glasgow-based writer-illustrator partnership Metaphrog celebrates a decade of their series of graphic novels for kids and adults. To mark the event, Scot John Chalmers…

Simon Armitage - The Death of King Arthur

The Yorkshire poet follows his Gawain translation with another medieval epic

12 Dec 2011

(Faber) In 2006 Simon Armitage embarked upon the commissioned task of translating Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for a modern audience. Encountering some resistance from the ‘lady on the desk’ at the British Library when he requested a peek at the…

Adam Ross - Ladies and Gentlemen

Comically dark short story collection from the Mr Peanut author

12 Dec 2011

(Jonathan Cape) In spite of the dark, comically cruel note struck by this short story collection, Ladies and Gentlemen makes surprisingly quick and easy reading. As with his 2010 debut novel, Mr Peanut, Adam Ross suffuses his prose with compelling…

Douglas Coupland & Graham Roumieu - Highly Inappropriate Tales for Young People

Pacy but insubstantial short story collection

12 Dec 2011

(Heinemann) For anyone who has a glance at the cover of this book and believes that all they have spied is a cute illustration aimed at kids might want to take a closer look. It suggests that reading this collaboration between Generation X writer…

Michel Schneider - Marilyn’s Last Sessions: A Novel

Poorly structured fictional history of star's final sessions on the couch

12 Dec 2011

(Canongate) By including the words ‘a novel’ in his title, Schneider has bought himself a rather enormous caveat. Namely that some aspects of this semi-biographical account of Marilyn Monroe and her psychoanalyst Ralph Greenson are true – others not.

The Art of Joe Kubert

Wonderful collection of comics art from one of the legends of the medium

21 Nov 2011

Edited by Bill Schelly (Fantagraphics) Alongside the ongoing and consistently groundbreaking efforts of Fantagraphics Books Inc to publish the work of new and cutting edge cartoonists (beginning with Los Bros Hernandez's Love & Rockets in the late…

Stephen King - 11.22.63

The horror writer's time-travelling thriller fails to take full advantage of its premise

15 Nov 2011

(Hodder & Stoughton) There is no doubting Stephen King’s abiding knack for a gripping yarn, but the American author’s latest novel could be doing with a few more thrills. That’s not to say that the plot is lacklustre or lacking in scale, taking a…

Rick Remender & Tony Moore - Venom / Zeb Wells & Clayton Crain - Carnage

Spiderman villains comics deliver great action

15 Nov 2011

(Marvel UK) A double dose of villains this month, reintroducing two of Spider-Man’s arch enemies to the Marvel Universe. Venom and Carnage are both symbiotes, a parasitic species that bonds with a human host bestowing them with immense power at a…

Sarah Hall - The Beautiful Indifference

The Booker nominee delivers a short story collection with an eye for spectacular imagery

15 Nov 2011

(Faber) Four books into her literary career and a Booker nomination in the locker (for 2004’s The Electric Michelangelo), Sarah Hall is being touted as one of the key British voices of her generation. There is little doubt that she can weave some…

Axel Scheffler (illus.) - The Gloomster

Julia Donaldson's favoured illustrator fails to justify the asking price of this slim poetry adap

15 Nov 2011

(Faber) Any parents out there picking up this book would be forgiven for thinking it was some kind of Gruffalo sequel. Only this time, the central character is seeking therapy rather than a mouse. Translated by children’s author Julia Donaldson, and…

Umberto Eco - On Ugliness

Entertaining collection of art history essays edited by the Italian author

15 Nov 2011

(MacLehose Press) Just as notions of beauty are very much in the eye of the beholder, what constitutes ‘ugly’ can be viewed differently across centuries and continents. Football teams who ‘play ugly’ might still end up as winners, while being told by…

Penelope Lively - How It All Began

The author of the Booker-winning Moon Tiger continues to display a talent for sharp observation

15 Nov 2011

(Fig Tree) It’s been 24 years since Penelope Lively won the Booker Prize for Moon Tiger, but her new novel shows that her writing is still sharp and acutely relevant. On the surface, How It All Began is a light-hearted, sometimes comical drama about…

Don Delillo - The Angel Esmeralda

Challenging but ultimately rewarding collection of short stories spanning the author's career

18 Oct 2011

(Picador) Is anyone ever truly happy in a Don DeLillo universe? As the astronaut narrator of ‘Human Moments in World War III’ puts it, ‘happiness is not a fact of this experience’. The profundities and quandaries of existence weigh down mightily upon…

Daniel Clowes - The Death-Ray

Amusing and poignant deconstruction of the super-hero genre

18 Oct 2011

(Jonathan Cape) More gorgeousness from writer/artist Daniel Clowes with this oversized hardback reprinting of 2004’s The Death-Ray. A slacker superhero story about 17-year-old orphan Andy discovering that smoking cigarettes charges him with…

The Midnight Beast - Book At Us Now

Unfunny pop-parody book designed to cash in on upcoming TV fame

18 Oct 2011

(Coronet) ‘We mock the living hell out of stuff for a living,’ claim London pop parody trio The Midnight Beast. Even in this disposable age, simply poking fun at more talented people can only stretch so far before the game is up. Success rarely…

Emma Donoghue - The Sealed Letter

Re-issue of a slow-burning Victorian-set drama by the Booker-shortlisted author

18 Oct 2011

(Picador) ‘No corsets, no crinoline’ is the unladylike lot of one who takes up the cause of women’s rights amidst the bustling, vital Victoriana of this reissued 2008 novel from Room author Emma Donoghue. Emily ‘Fido’ Faithfull has matured into just…

Christos Tsiolkas - Dead Europe

Brutally bleak but beautiful novel, re-issued in the wake of The Slap's international success

18 Oct 2011

(Atlantic) The Slap was a major breakthrough for Australian writer Christos Tsiolkas, winning the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 2009 and becoming an international bestseller into the bargain. In the wake of that success, Tsiolkas’ backlist is…

Margaret Atwood - In Other Worlds

Slightly patchy collection of critical sci-fi essays

17 Oct 2011

(Virago) A companion to Margaret Atwood’s published science fiction rather than an essential purchase in its own right, In Other Worlds charts the Canadian Booker Prize winner’s relationship with SF from an early age, bringing a welcome clarity and…

Christopher Hitchens - Arguably

Stellar collection of essays from the outspoken journalist

16 Sep 2011

(Atlantic) As Christopher Hitchens movingly concedes in the intro to Arguably, he writes each new slice of social, political and cultural commentary as though it may be his last. While others would have disappeared within their shell at having…

Robert Harris - The Fear Index

An unexpectedly thrilling mix of science, computers and global economics

16 Sep 2011

(Hutchinson) With its ominous title and opening ‘Frankenstein’ quote, it’s no great surprise to find that The Fear Index is a freaky read. And if you’re a fan of being spooked, then Robert Harris’ eighth novel is a must, as he guides us through a…

Susan Hill - The Woman in Black

Sinister ghost story with an already-established pedigree

16 Sep 2011

(Profile) As the longest running stage production in Britain after Aggie’s Mousetrap, Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black clearly has an icy grip on the theatre-going public. And with news that this classic ghost story will make it onto the big screen in…

Jonathan Ross and Tommy Lee Edwards - Turf

Slightly clunky comic debut from the TV personality

16 Sep 2011

(Titan) Yes that Jonathon Ross. The chat show host has long been an acknowledged geek with a superhero fixation, so perhaps it’s high time he stepped up to take the reigns on his own comic title. And he certainly goes for it, all guns blazing, with a…

Julian Rothenstein (ed.) - The Redstone Book of the Eye

Art history book with an eye for detail

16 Sep 2011

(Square Peg) Having started Redstone Press in 1986, Julian Rothenstein has produced endlessly inventive diaries, large-format postcards and psychological guides. With The Redstone Book of the Eye, he peers deep into the subject’s iconography and…

Alice Hoffman - The Dovekeepers

Overworked historical drama with underdeveloped characters

16 Sep 2011

(Simon & Schuster) Alice Hoffman is one of the big guns of American fiction and an Oprah favourite, but this overworked and overwrought novel rather contradicts that reputation. Set in 70AD in the aftermath of the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans…

Alexander Masters - The Genius in My Basement

Affectionate, dynamic tale of mathematician child genius

24 Aug 2011

(Fourth Estate) Our bookshelves have groaned with populist tomes on maths over the past few years – from the excellent likes of Fermat’s Last Theorem and The Music of the Primes to myriad facsimiles – but it is well worth making room for The Genius…

Michael Ondaatje - The Cat's Table

An adventurous coming-of-age tale

24 Aug 2011

(Jonathan Cape) ‘Over the years, confusing fragments, lost corners of stories, have a clearer meaning when seen in a new light, a different place.’ From the decks and holds of the Oronsay, as seen by a Michael and his two mischievous young friends…

Amy Waldman - The Submission

Admirably tackling the political impacts of 9/11

24 Aug 2011

(Heinemann) Tackling the devastating emotional and political impact of 9/11 is no light undertaking but Amy Waldman grapples with it admirably in her debut The Submission. The novel centres around a panel charged with choosing the memorial to be…

George Pelecanos - The Cut

An exemplary piece of work from the writer of The Wire

24 Aug 2011

(Orion) George Pelecanos has taken his foot off the novel-writing pedal recently to work in television, most notably on The Wire, but it’s good to have back ‘perhaps the greatest living crime writer’, according to Stephen King. And he’s not wrong…

Craig Collins & Iain Laurie - Roachwell

A dark, funny and disturbing achievement in self-published comics

24 Aug 2011

(roachwell.blogspot.com) Published online between 2009 and 2010, Roachwell is a fevered and messy collection of obtuse, amusing strips by Scottish writer/artists Craig Collins and Iain Laurie. Cremation and regeneration, house-hunting in the freak…

An Evening with David Sedaris

Bona fide literary superstar reads from his works

23 Aug 2011

David Sedaris is that rarest of beasts: a bona fide literary superstar and recording artist who regularly appears on TV shows such as Letterman, has performed at Carnegie Hall and has the fanbase to be able to sell out a week-long run at Edinburgh’s…

Daljit Nagra - Tippoo Sultan’s Incredible White-Man-Eating Tiger Toy-Machine!!!

Second collection is something very exciting indeed

19 Aug 2011

(Faber) Daljit Nagra’s second collection, with its lavish title, shouty cover art, abundant exclamation marks, italics and CAPS, marks another fine display of showmanship. Nagra swaggers through the ‘gyres and galaxies’ of the English tradition…

Chuck Palahniuk - Damned

Religion-targetting novel fresh and funny yet also more of the same

19 Aug 2011

(Jonathan Cape) Like the preceding 11, Chuck Palahniuk’s latest novel is a black comedy that satirises a taboo subject, features a protagonist with a malleable identity who is indoctrinated into a bizarre cult and is structured around repetition…

Neil Cross - Luther: The Calling

19 Aug 2011

(Simon & Schuster) Luther was a BBC crime drama fronted by Idris Elba (The Wire) that aired last year and earlier this summer. It followed Elba’s tortured police detective through a series of investigations that foregrounded a battles of wits with…

Jay Cantoe & James Romberger - Aaron and Ahmed: A Love Story

17 Aug 2011

(Vertigo/Titan) Novelist, scriptwriter and essayist Jay Cantor’s foray into comics starts as a simple examination of the relationship between an army doctor/torturer and a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, then heads off on a wild tangent concerning the…

Norman McBeath & Robert Crawford: Body Bags / Simonides

Mournful collaboration between photographer and poet

11 Aug 2011

Scots translations of epitaphs by the ancient Greek poet Simonides, coupled with black and white photographs, adorn the high-rising walls of two lofty Edinburgh College of Art studios. Joined by tall vases of white lilies, classical casts from the…

Snails and Ketchup

Dynamic one-man Calvino adaptation

11 Aug 2011

This version of Italo Calvino’s story The Baron in the Trees dispenses with the verbal action and substitutes physical theatre, multimedia and acrobatics to tell its story. Ramesh Meyyappan gives a dynamic performance, transforming into several…