“…This whole book is of course, a “mistake”, and a very extreme one too. But every progression of language develops from mishearing, from distortion. While undoubtedly funny, the undulating incongruity of the language is enough to stimulate realms of the mind previously unexplored…” Ben Granger Some of the best-loved writing in the world has been […]
The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil: George Saunders
“…Saunders manages to amuse, entertain, and shake out thought on a great variety of subjects, and does so in a subtle, sideways style which could so easily be annoying but isn’t…” Ben Granger The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil – George Saunders See all books byGeorge Saunders at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com Someone once wrote […]
Francis Ellen : The Samplist
“…its appeal will be limited to those like a good fart joke to round off a discussion on Bach as the composer’s composer…” Ian Hocking The Samplist – Francis Ellen See all books byFrancis Ellen at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com Mr Francis Ellen, author of The Samplist, has been ruffling the feathers of the literati – […]
Paul Neilan: Apathy and Other Small Victories
Jayne Margetts Okay, so I listen to Thom Yorke, and enjoy reading books about people living with a gun pointed to their head. Call it entertainment, or living vicariously through others; apathy, black humour, a touch of the politically incorrect and make me laugh out loud, in these dark and here troubled times. I remember […]
Peter Morfoot: Burksey: The Autobiography of a Football God
Chris Hall Burksey: The Autobiography of a Football God – Peter Morfoot See all books byPeter Morfoot at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com This has got cult classic written all over it. Burksey is the spoof autobiography of Tristan Stephen Burkes, a world-class footballing genius and monstrous idiot. Although a fair amount of football knowledge over the […]
Michel Houellebecq: The Possibility Of An Island
James McConalogue The Possibility Of An Island – Michel Houellebecq See all books by Michel Houellebecq at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com “The universe is nothing but a furtive arrangement of elementary particles. A figure in transition toward chaos. That is what will finally prevail. The human race will disappear.” – M. Houellebecq, The Guardian, 2005. As […]
Alexei Sayle: The Weeping Women Hotel
Ben Granger The Weeping Women Hotel – Alexei Sayle See all books by Alexei Sayle at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com It is wise to greet novels by comedians with trepidation. It should go without saying the qualities needed for performing comedy are not necessarily the same ones needed of a novelist, but say it I must, […]
Matthew Robertson: Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album (FAC 461)
Chris Hall Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album – Matthew Robertson See all books about Factory Records at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com In the late 70s, the mysterious, topographical radio waves of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures appeared like a burst of energy in an empty void, signifying the arrival not only of one of the best […]
Jack London: The Iron Heel
Ben Granger on Jack London’s neglected dystopian novel that rivals 1984 and Brave New World in its prophetic vision of the future When it comes to accolades for the most lauded prophetic dystopian satirical novels of the early twentieth century, there’s no doubting which are the big two. The hyper-Stalinist all-surveillance paranoid nightmare of Orwell’s […]
Michel Houellebecq: Lanzarote
Pedro Blas Gonzalez Lanzarote – Michel Houellebecq See all books by Michel Houellebecq at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com Lanzarote is a colorful vignette that describes the scope of meaninglessness in an apocalyptic age. Even the landscape – the lunar aridity of this Spanish island where the action takes place – is scarred by volcanic activity. Whether […]
Roger Morris: Taking Comfort
Ian Hocking Taking Comfort – Roger Morris See all books by Roger Morris at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com When the Macmillan New Writing imprint was announced late last year, a fault line developed in UK publishing. Hurrahs on one side, boos on the other. Why the rumpus? The imprint is dedicated to the publication of new […]
Bret Easton Ellis: Lunar Park
Ben Granger Lunar Park – Bret Easton Ellis See all books by Bret Easton Ellis at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com Lunar Park presents itself as the straightforward first-person narrative of “Bret Easton Ellis”, spoiled, self-obsessed, solipsistic rich boy etc. etc. etc. author in a state of debauched twilight. We join up with Bret as he half-heartedly […]
David Nobakht: Suicide: No Compromise
Chris Mitchell Suicide: No Compromise – David Nobakht See all music by Suicide at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com Just finished the top notch hardback edition of David Nobakht’s biography of synth-rock pioneers Suicide. I would have loved to have written this book. Very much a band biography rather than a personal history of Suicide’s two members, […]
Mil Millington: Love And Other Near Death Experiences
Ian Hocking Love And Other Near Death Experiences – Mil Millington See all books by Mil Millington at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com British author Mil Millington found success with his first book, ‘Things My Girlfriend And I Have Argued About’, which drew upon his so-named cult website. This book set the trend for his next two, […]
Joshua Davis: The Underdog: How I Survived The World’s Most Outlandish Competitions
Chris Mitchell The Underdog: How I Survived The World’s Most Outlandish Competitions – Joshua Davis See all books by Joshua Davis at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com Joshua Davis set out to win. At anything. Living in a crappy apartment with a crappy job and a loving but long suffering wife, Davis set out to prove himself. […]
Suhayl Saadi: Psychoraag
Nick Mitchell Psychoraag – Suhayl Saadi See all books by Suhayl Saadi at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com Psychoraag is Suhayl Saadi’s first novel and possibly the first ever novel of Scottish-Asian identity. It was short-listed for the James Tait Black award earlier this year, eventually losing out to Ronan Bennett’s Havoc, in its First Year. Psychoraag […]
Nic Dunlop: The Lost Executioner
Chris Mitchell The Lost Executioner is my Book of the Year. Like my pick for last year, Emma Larkin’s Secret Histories: Finding George Orwell in A Burmese Teashop, The Lost Executioner is a personal travelogue into a country that tries to understand its recent, disastrous politics. Where Secret Histories documents Burma’s slide into a real-life […]
Marina Lewycka: A Short History Of Tractors in Ukrainian
Ian Hocking The marketing executives at Viking must have tapped pens thoughtfully against teeth before agreeing to the title, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. Helpfully, the book is subtitled “a novel”. The cover is nicely east European: duotone block print. Its author is Marina Lewycka, a lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University. Her own […]
Carly Milne – Naked Ambition: Women Who Are Changing Porn
Chris Mitchell A collection of essays from women working in the US porn industry and women consuming porn outside it, Naked Ambition is an intelligent and provocative survey of pro-porn female opinions. There’s little in the way of gushing praise about the industry itself – most of the writers agree that newcomers get eaten alive […]
Aisle 16: Live From The Hellfire Club
Edmund Hardy There is power and its modes, the democratic nature of speech, and the politics of wit; thus, satire. Aisle16 are a collective of six stand-up poets, “poetry’s boyband”, and their book hopes to be “The poetry book it’s not embarrassing to be seen carrying.” It collects over fifty of their poems. When we […]
Gert Hofmann: Parable Of The Blind
Edmund Hardy The Knocker knocks on the barn door and six men stumble around, trying to get up. The novel opens: “On the day when we’re to be painted – yet another new day! – a knocking on the barn door drags us out of our sleep. No, the knocking isn’t inside us, it’s outside, […]
Steven Jay Gould: Rocks Of Ages
Ian Hocking In his book Rocks of Ages, the late Stephen Jay Gould, who had Harvard professorships in both zoology and geology, presents a philosophical thesis on the relationship between science and religion. Chestnuts don’t come much older. Some background on Gould first. He wrote much on the influence of geological events on the evolution […]
John Battelle – The Search: How Google And Its Rivals Rewrote The Rules Of Business And Transformed Our Culture
Chris Mitchell John Battelle’s The Search is more than just a potted history of Google, although that company looms large throughout his book; rather, it’s a book which takes stock of Google’s giddy rise, the search engine wars between Google, Yahoo! and MSN, and the arrival of online contextual advertising which has irrevocably changed the […]
Ron Callari, Jack Pittman: Uncle Dubya’s Jihad Jamboree
Ben Granger It’s so very easy to get bored of the endless invective directed at the Bush White House. By turns bilious and sniggering, it’s all so very superior isn`t it? It’s just so boring and obvious. Thomas Frank’s What`s The Matter With Kansas? showed recently that the Republicans have a key weapon to solidify […]
Raj Kamal Jha – If You Are Afraid Of Heights
Harpreet Singh Soorae Give yourself some time, he says, I will leave the pictures and the pieces of paper with you. Keep them carefully, whenever you are afraid, take them out, arrange them in whatever order you want and you will understand your parent’s stories. What stories? I ask. Of the dreams your father and […]
