Books

Chris Cleave - Gold

Well-timed Olympic-themed novel fails to fulfill the promise of its intriguing premise

There’s something intriguing about the mindset of those athletes who are honed from a very young age into Olympic machines. Lives are altered irrevocably in pursuit of a small gold disc and the too-fleeting associated glory: a strange, self-obsessed way…

Alan Warner - The Deadman's Pedal

Evocative and personal rural drama from the Morvern Callar author

In a literary career which has played down the overly autobiographical tendency (all that writing from a female perspective malarkey for one thing), The Deadman’s Pedal seems far and away Alan Warner’s most personal fiction to date. We return to the…

John Irving - In One Person

A fascinating and engaging novel set against the backdrop of gay culture in America

Write about what you know, we’re told, and John Irving is certainly a big subscriber to that particular maxim. For his 13th novel, Irving once again inhabits the worlds of New Hampshire (his birthplace) and wrestling (his preferred sport). Our…

Love letter to the transport system

Semi-autobiographical monologue inspired by the drivers who get people to places on time

Love Letters to The Public Transport System, a beautifully crafted semi-autobiographical monologue inspired by the drivers who get people to places on time is to tour venues across Scotland from next month before a full Edinburgh Festival run this…

Travel books round-up - June 2012

New books from Hardeep Singh Kohli, Samanth Subramanian and Terry Darlington

He may be a man of Glasgow, but Hardeep Singh Kohli knows a thing or two about travelling around London. In The 38 Bus: A Love Song to a Bus Route (Unbound) he pours out the emotions he has for the route which has served the capital for a century…

First Writes - Elaine Proctor, author of Rhumba

The books tells the story of a Congolese boy’s life in London

Give us five words to describe Rhumba? ‘They had horns and tails’. Can you name one author who should be more famous than they are now? Mark Gevisser is the brightest, most original witness to the complicated condition of being a global South…

Hannah Berry - Adamtine

A disconcerting horror comic from the creator of Britten and Brülightly

British graphic novelist Hannah Berry’s near-perfect debut, Britten and Brülightly, was a detective yarn inspired by Graham Greene and Carol Reed. But the familiar post-war milieu was given a surreal comic twist with the inclusion of a character that…

Howard Marks in discussion event with MC5 manager John Sinclair

The two can offer different takes on the 1960s counter culture

Every generation needs a figurehead to accentuate the fun side of drugs. From Thomas de Quincey to Sherlock Holmes and through to Timothy Leary, the Beatles and Bill Hicks, it’s not all been bad trips and cold turkey (if there any wags out there…

Ewan Morrison - Tales from the Mall

A wealth of information and anecdotes drawn together to paint a funny, scary portrait of our times

As Ewan Morrison notes in his introduction, the shopping mall is a potent symbol of the homogenised world in which we live now. You could look at images of shopping centres in Dundee and Dresden and chances are you won’t be able to tell them apart. The…

Nikita Lalwani - The Village

A tense social drama about trust and betrayal, set in an Indian prison

When Ray Bhullar travels to an Indian ‘open prison’ village to film a behind-the-scenes BBC documentary, she gets more than she bargained for. ‘Everyone here has killed someone,’ she’s told, as she slowly adapts to the sights and smells of her alien new…

Nicolas de Crécy - The Celestial Bibendum

Gorgeous reprint and translation of artist/writer de Crécy’s often bizarre comic

Knockabout, the UK publisher/distributor that’s been making Transatlantic underground and alternative comics available to the turned on and tuned in since the 1980s, has more recently been in the business of translating and repackaging into oversize…

Gordon Ferris - Bitter Water

Easy Tartan Noir read lacking in excitement and originality

(Corvus) Tartan Noir has been steadily gathering pace over the years as more and more Scottish authors try their hand at crime writing and Gordon Ferris is the latest to be heralded as the ‘new Ian Rankin’. But the excitement that should come from the…

First Shot: Just Say Aye - an extract from Irvine Welsh's Skagboys

A sneak peek inside the Edinburgh author's Trainspotting prequel

We head oot and dive oantae a 16, bound fir Johnny’s pad at Tolcross. It’s a blindin hot day so we sit doonstairs at the back for a better view ay the passin fanny. Back top deck wi Begbie, tae intimidate wideos, back bottom wi Sick Boy tae leer at…

Interview: Irvine Welsh on Trainspotting prequel Skagboys

The new book, Leith, Twitter and the importance of subcultures

Early on in our transatlantic phone conversation, it suddenly becomes unclear whether I’m chatting to Irvine Welsh or Frank Begbie. When I ask whether he might well be the busiest man in Scottish culture right now, the response comes over loud, clear…

New historical books round-up

Kate Summerscale, Paul French, Andrew Martin, Sarah Fraser and John Romer all to release new works

How do you follow up a mind-blowing success like The Suspicions of Mr Whicher? Well, if you’re Kate Summerscale, you understandably get right back onto that period saddle with Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace: The Private Diary of a Victorian Lady (Bloomsbury).

Mark Haddon - The Red House

The Curious Incident author delivers a mature domestic drama for grown-ups

(Jonathan Cape) Prolific author of children’s books and part-time writer of novels for adults, Mark Haddon’s latest is his most mature work to date. It’s mature in terms of both content and style, and reading The Red House there’s a sense that this…

Spring book festivals round-up

Colonsay, Boswell and Booked! all offer individual takes on literary festivities

Often it can be a tricky task choosing which Book Festival on the calendar to attend, especially when there’s a diary clash. Whether by accident or design, it’s possible to pop into all three of the major literary extravaganzas over the coming month.

Dan Slott & Humberto Ramos - Spider-Man: Spider Island

New Spidey adventure too frivolous to be genuinely engaging

(Marvel) Spider-Man has always been one of the comics world’s more light-hearted superheroes. While there have been moments of introspection and heartache, he’s always more than ready with a corny quip as he swings into battle. Spider Island continues…

Russell Kane - The Humorist

A gory black comedy from the restless comic

(Simon & Schuster) Anyone familiar with Russell Kane’s stand-up comedy won’t be surprised with his debut dip into literary fiction. The winner of the 2010 Edinburgh Comedy Award might be a restless spirit on stage, but his number one priority is the…

Kathleen Jamie - Sightlines

Uneven collection of nature essays heightened by the author's passion and outrage

(Sort Of Books) Kathleen Jamie’s collection of essays has the potential to be a remarkable study of nature and human existence within it. Unfortunately, it isn’t until two thirds of the way into Sightlines that Jamie begins to emerge as an engaging…

Michael Frayn - Skios

An astute and entertaining comic novel from the erstwhile playwright

(Faber) Michael Frayn’s new novel is a farce of Carry On proportions. Awkward sexual encounters, mistaken identities and buffoonish caricatures of powerful men and women litter the plot of this engaging, occasionally bawdy comedy. To many, Frayn is…

Jackie Kay - Reality, Reality

A short story outing with some beautiful moments but overall patchy quality

(Picador) In the wake of 2010’s fantastic memoir Red Dust Road and last year’s poetry collection Fiere, this short story outing has some beautiful moments in it, and Jackie Kay’s trademark compassion for her characters is intact, but the quality of…

Museums-and-literature project 26 Treasures to form basis of new book

The collection of 'sestudes' will be published by Unbound

When 26 Treasures came to the National Museum of Scotland between December 2011 and January 2012 it was well received by writers and visitors alike. 26 writers were assigned 26 objects from the museum's vast collection of historical artefacts and asked…

Swiss writer, philosopher and documentarian Alain de Botton - interview

First record you ever bought Genesis by Genesis. Last extravagant purchase you made An Easter holiday to Istanbul. First film you saw that really moved you The Jungle Book. Last lie you told That I had read a book I hadn’t. First movie…

Canongate launch series of monthly talks

Canongate Talks speakers include David Byrne, Jonah Lehrer, David Shrigley and Richard Holloway

Canongate Books are working in association with Waterstones to open a new series of monthly events in the capital called Canongate Talks. Each event will include leading writers and thinkers from science, literature, philosophy, psychology, arts and…