Books, Reviews
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Michel Schneider - Marilyn’s Last Sessions: A Novel
12 Dec 2011
Poorly structured fictional history of star's final sessions on the couch
(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
21 Nov 2011
Wonderful collection of comics art from one of the legends of the medium
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
15 Nov 2011
The horror writer's time-travelling thriller fails to take full advantage of its premise
(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
15 Nov 2011
Spiderman villains comics deliver great action
(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
15 Nov 2011
The Booker nominee delivers a short story collection with an eye for spectacular imagery
(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
15 Nov 2011
Julia Donaldson's favoured illustrator fails to justify the asking price of this slim poetry adap
(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
15 Nov 2011
Entertaining collection of art history essays edited by the Italian author
(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
15 Nov 2011
The author of the Booker-winning Moon Tiger continues to display a talent for sharp observation
(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
18 Oct 2011
Challenging but ultimately rewarding collection of short stories spanning the author's career
(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
18 Oct 2011
Amusing and poignant deconstruction of the super-hero genre
(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
18 Oct 2011
Unfunny pop-parody book designed to cash in on upcoming TV fame
(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
18 Oct 2011
Re-issue of a slow-burning Victorian-set drama by the Booker-shortlisted author
(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
18 Oct 2011
Brutally bleak but beautiful novel, re-issued in the wake of The Slap's international success
(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
17 Oct 2011
Slightly patchy collection of critical sci-fi essays
(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
16 Sep 2011
Stellar collection of essays from the outspoken journalist
(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
16 Sep 2011
An unexpectedly thrilling mix of science, computers and global economics
(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
16 Sep 2011
Sinister ghost story with an already-established pedigree
(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
16 Sep 2011
Slightly clunky comic debut from the TV personality
(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
16 Sep 2011
Art history book with an eye for detail
(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
16 Sep 2011
Overworked historical drama with underdeveloped characters
(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
24 Aug 2011
Affectionate, dynamic tale of mathematician child genius
(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
24 Aug 2011
An adventurous coming-of-age tale
(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
24 Aug 2011
Admirably tackling the political impacts of 9/11
(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
24 Aug 2011
An exemplary piece of work from the writer of The Wire
(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
24 Aug 2011
A dark, funny and disturbing achievement in self-published comics
(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…
