Ian Hocking Some books change your life and From Lee to Li: An A-Z Guide of Martial Arts will not be one of them. But it is fun and straightforward. I won’t add that it’s unlikely to trouble the Trade Descriptions people because Lee and Li both begin with L – but Adams to Yuksa […]
Caroline Smailes: In Search of Adam
This story is distressing and difficult. It contains no humour that I could detect. It is unstoppably depressing. And yet…”
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 – […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Mil Millington – A Certain Chemistry
Ian Hocking Mil Millington first surfaced on the web as author of the cult website ThingsMyGirlfriendAndIHaveArguedAbout.com, which comprised several thousand words of cringe-making – not to say hilarious – observations on the relationship between Mil and his German girlfriend, Margret. As Mil writes, ‘anything good you put on the web will get stolen’, and it […]
Tom Saunders – Brother, What Strange Place is This?
Dr Ian Hocking British author Tom Saunders was once an engineer, a school caretaker, a musician, a seller of guitars and records, and, not insignificantly, a graduate of the UEA’s Creative Writing programme under Sir Malcolm Bradbury. From these experiences and with this pedigree comes the eclectic Brother, What Strange Place is This?, his debut […]
Norman Mailer – Of A Fire On The Moon
Ian Hocking Here is Norman Mailer, born eighty-one years ago, married six times, the great egotist and American literary lion. In 1968, Mailer was jailed for his part in the Washington peace rallies. Soon after, he ran against five others for the Mayor of New York. He attracted five per cent of the vote. In […]
William Faulkner: As I Lay Dying
Ian Hocking In the deepest American South, Addie Bundren lies on her deathbed. She was a powerful woman. Her family have gathered to watch her die. All but one: outside, working to the last ticks of Addie’s clock, her son, Cash, renders her coffin. When at last she dies, it falls to her family to […]
Douglas Adams – The Salmon Of Doubt
Ian Hocking When I was twelve, I bought a text-adventure game called The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy for my Amiga 500 computer. The box had ‘Don’t Panic!’ written in large, friendly letters on the front and showed a green alien sticking its tongue out. Inside was a floppy disk, planning permission for a hyperspace […]
Norman Mailer – Ancient Evenings
Ian Hocking It is difficult to review Ancient Evenings, but not as difficult as reading it. It is 300, 000 words long. Its American author, Norman Mailer, is recognized as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. His first book, The Naked and the Dead, was a New York Times bestseller for […]
