Books - book reviews and events

Book Review Reality Hunger

by David Shields

Marketed as a pseudo-philosophical ‘incendiary call to arms for new literature’, when it’s boiled down, this book is nothing but a collection of quotes, coming from a vast range of sources, grouped into various chapters according to theme.

There is no intrinsic problem in this in itself, although it doesn’t…

Read more... | See all articles in Books & Poetry

Book Review The Shaking Woman

by Siri Hustvedt

This fascinating and intelligent book begins on the day Hustvedt first begins to “shake”, during a speech she is giving about her dead father. This experience so unsettles her that she embarks upon an examination of the self in an attempt to discover whether her shaking is “hysterical” or neurological,…

Read more... | See all articles in Books & Poetry

Book Review Lean on Pete

by Willy Vlautin

Singer-songwriter and author Vlautin’s fiction explores the underbelly of America; the motel and trailer park life still very much in existence. Reminiscent of John Steinbeck in their sparse prose and themes of modern-day pursuits of the American Dream, Vlautin’s novels evoke their stark, industrial west-coast settings through his characters’ empty…

Read more... | See all articles in Books & Poetry

Book Review Committed

by Elizabeth Gilbert

Gilbert is a woman with a story to tell. A story about love and marriage and not liking marriage and how other people like marriage and other people don’t.

In her previous book - Eat, Pray, Love - post-messy divorce Gilbert found love with Felipe. At the beginning of Committed…

Read more... | See all articles in Books & Poetry

Book Review Chinese Whispers: A Journey Into Betrayal

by Jan Wong

As one of two Westerners admitted as a student to Beijing University at the peak of the Cultural Revolution, Jan Wong was approached by a fellow classmate who wanted help in leaving China to visit the USA. Being a devout Maoist, Wong reported her without considering the consequences and thought…

Read more... | See all articles in Books & Poetry

Comic Effect 45

Fortnightly news from the world of graphic novels

In a comics marketplace that has grown comfortable with the tried and tested capes and tights formula, it’s increasingly rare to come across a superhero title that does something (dare we say it?) new. It comes as something as a surprise, therefore, to find Andi Ewington positively belching forth fresh…

Read more... | See all articles in Books & Poetry

Book Review Skippy Dies

by Paul Murray

Though set in a prestigious Irish boys school, Skippy Dies is not your average homoerotic jape-fest. It starts off like that, certainly: a teacher is mocked by unruly pupils; a boy is bullied; students brag about their imagined sexual conquests, but this is just scratching the surface.

It turns out…

Read more... | See all articles in Books & Poetry

Book Review The Girl With Glass Feet

by Ali Shaw

Although Shaw’s quirky novel might not appeal to absolutely everybody, this is a stunningly written book, which seems to have magic laced through its pages.

The Girl With Glass Feet tells of Ida MacLaird, a once fast-living girl who now finds she is turning to glass. Scared and fragile she…

Read more... | See all articles in Books & Poetry

Book Review Even The Dogs

by John McGregor

Robert Radcliffe dies an anonymous death that goes unnoticed until the neighbours complain about the smell and the police kick the door in. Set against the state’s dispassionate inquest, Robert’s life and times are then told by a Greek chorus of friends and relatives. It’s a ghastly plunge into a…

Read more... | See all articles in Books & Poetry

Book Review At the Water's Edge: A Personal Quest for Wildness

by John Lister-Kaye

Following the success of his previous publications, John Lister-Kaye returns with this remarkable account of the wildlife he stumbles upon during his daily walk around his home in a Scottish glen.

Along his travels, Lister-Kaye encounters the ferocious Scottish wildcat, is charged at by a stag, and aids an injured…

Read more... | See all articles in Books & Poetry