Bethan Roberts It’s a relief to find that once you get beyond the mouthful of a title, this second novel from the fantastically talented author of Anita and Me, Bhaji on the Beach and star of the rightly acclaimed BBC2 comedy series Goodness Gracious Me more than lives up to Meera Syal’s reputation. It tells […]
Jane and Anna Campion: Holy Smoke
Chris Mitchell Holy Smoke is the novel of Jane Campion’s soon to be released film, starring Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel. It’s an odd project, not only for being published before the film’s release (which says something about the literary pretensions of the director), but also for being a collaboration between two sisters. Challenging the […]
John Baxter: George Lucas: A Biography
Chris Mitchell Throughout his film-making career, George Lucas has continually pushed back the boundaries of technology in order to realise his ideas on the silver screen. John Baxter’s biography of the man is not only an account of Lucas’ personal history but also the transformative effect Lucas’ fascination with technology has had on the entire […]
The Onion: Our Dumb Century: Max Cannon: Red Meat
Gary Marshall damages his health laughing at The Onion’s Our Dumb Century and Max Cannon’s Red Meat According to popular belief, the phrase “American humour” belongs in the same oxymoronic category as “military intelligence” and “virtually spotless”. We British take great delight in reminding Americans that they have no sense of irony – not because […]
Barry Gifford: The Sinoloa Story
Jayne Margetts There is always beauty in violence, particularly when the written word is the vernacular. There are many kinds of perpetrators who wield the pen with the expertise of a dominatrix whipping her victim into submission; from James Ellroy and Elmore Leonard to the once savage and brutal Bret Easton Ellis (in his American […]
Emily Jenkins: Tongue First: Adventures In Physical Culture
Jayne Margetts It’s no secret that the thought of wading through another chapter and verse of literary cultural dissection usually holds about as much appeal as taking a skinny dip in a bath full of female pythons with PMT. After all, how many book store shelves are stocked with feminist rant and rave from the […]
Kruder And Dorfmeister : The K&D Sessions
Chris Mitchell Despite the rise of dance music in the 90s to the point where it’s arguably overtaken rock’n’roll as the defining sound of popular music, remixing is still something of a dirty word. It’s unsurprising given the way pedestrian remixes are continually used as filler on singles and even albums when an artist has […]
Erik Davis: TechGnosis
Chris Mitchell It’s traditional to think of technology as the epitomy of rationalism, functioning with the mechanical precision of mathematical logic and mindlessly performing laboursaving tasks for its human creators. But Erik Davis argues that the use of technology within our lives has managed to generate a whole new mindset of myths and mysticism which […]
Leon Wieseltier: Kaddish
Stephen Mitchelmore It is a commonplace that anyone brought up within a religious tradition and who has subsequently rejected it finds that its legacy runs deep. It is also a commonplace that the rejection often takes the form of the vacated space. It still seeks out the comforts of belief, even if it is a […]
Bruce Sterling: Distraction
Chris Mitchell If the novel of ideas has found a refuge within the 20th century, it’s within science fiction. Sci-fi lends itself perfectly to complex speculation about the future and what’s in store for the human race. The only problem is, sci-fi novels tend to function on such galactic-spanning levels that characters get reduced to […]
Peter Körte, Georg Seesslen: Joel And Ethan Coen
Gary Marshall The Coen brothers are responsible for some of the most impressive feats of cinematic lunacy in recent years, from the slapstick of Raising Arizona to the pastiche of The Hudsucker Proxy, and this book is the first attempt at highbrow analysis of their films to date. Although the profusion of photographs and widely-spaced […]
Magnus Mills: All Quiet On The Orient Express
Gary Marshall Magnus Mills’ first novel, The Restraint Of Beasts, uncovered the sinister underbelly of rural England, as a team of feckless fencers found themselves drawn into a Kafkaesque nightmare. In All Quiet On The Orient Express, Mills tells the tale of an innocent holidaymaker who, erm, finds himself drawn into a Kafkaesque nightmare that […]
Paul Gootenberg: Cocaine: Global Histories
Gary Marshall The story of cocaine is a depressingly familiar one. Like many of the drugs now banned, it was originally hailed as a groundbreaking new chemical and was manufactured entirely legally throughout the world. People claimed it could treat all kinds of illnesses, presumably because the patients were too whacked off their gourds to […]
Iain Banks: The Business
Gary Marshall Noam Chomsky was right, and Bill Hicks was a visionary. While we’re all distracted by politics, the world is actually being controlled by an unelected and unaccountable organisation with the power to make or break entire nations. The premise of Iain Banks’ latest novel will delight conspiracy theorists everywhere. Kate Telman is a […]
Supergrass : Supergrass
Gary Marshall I never liked Supergrass. “Alright” was cheerful to the point of inanity, and the band always seemed to have more facial hair than actual talent. Now, though, I want to join their fan club, follow the band around the world and tattoo the band name on my buttocks. Supergrass is a masterpiece – […]
Feeder : Yesterday Went Too Soon
Gary Marshall We like Feeder round these parts. Their single Suffocate is seldom off the SPIKE stereo, and we were pleasantly surprised to see the band supporting REM on their recent tour. The band’s recent string of singles has been spectacular, too, throwing a range of different influences into the mix and giving them all […]
John Diamond: C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too
Gary Marshall As far as John Diamond was concerned, cancer happens to other people. A columnist who is paid handsomely for spouting off each week about whatever is on his mind, he undergoes tests for the lump in his neck and, rather than panicking, sees it as a potentially interesting anecdote. “I imagined myself in […]
Ethan Coen: Gates Of Eden
Gary Marshall Ethan Coen is one half of the deranged Coen Brothers, responsible for heights of cinematic lunacy including Saddam Hussein in a Busby Berkeley musical, attacks by squeaky-voiced German nihilists and Steve Buscemi in a wood-chipper. If you sat stony-faced through any of the Coen Brothers’ films (Fargo, Blood Simple, The Big Lebowski, The […]
Andrew O’Hagan: Our Fathers
Gary Marshall For anybody who read his first book, The Missing, it’s no surprise that Andrew O’Hagan has written a novel. While his debut book was non-fiction, its vivid evocation of O’Hagan’s childhood in Ayrshire and Glasgow and his poignant tales of the parents of missing children felt like a gripping thriller instead of limp […]
Bruce Robinson: The Peculiar Memoirs Of Thomas Penman
Gary Marshall In one of his routines, Eddie Izzard explains why supermarkets don’t have toilet rolls on display near the entrance in case you think “this is a poo shop! Everything in here is poo!”. Your first impression of The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman may well be similar, as the first chapter revels in […]
Steven Kelly: The War Artist
Gary Marshall Steven Kelly is the editor of online UK literary magazine The Richmond Review and, being mature professionals, we were looking forward to sticking the knife into this, his fourth novel. All in the name of highbrow literary criticism, of course. Unfortunately for us, The War Artist is great. Although the plot initially seems […]
Peter Guralnick: Careless Love: The Unmaking Of Elvis Presley
Gary Marshall I was five years old when Elvis died and, like most of my generation, my knowledge of Elvis is derived largely from muck-raking biographies, shockingly bad films, sightings documented in supermarket tabloids and documentaries about brain-damaged Elvis impersonators. With the exception of U2’s embarrassing fandom no modern bands list Elvis as an influence […]
Victor Olliver: Farce Hole
Gary Marshall Citron Press has, perhaps unfairly, been derided as a vanity publisher. Billing itself as a writers’ collective and endorsed by none other than Martin Amis, the company certainly charge prospective authors considerably less than the average vanity company and do seem to make an effort to market their books. It’s difficult to be […]
Richard Dawkins: Climbing Mount Improbable
Gary Marshall It’s tempting to see Richard Dawkins as the Jeremy Clarkson of Darwinism, chainsmoking Marlboros and cackling as he writes in his diary: “To-do on Monday: wind up Creationists”. Although the image is perhaps a little far-fetched, it’s safe to say that Climbing Mount Improbable is unlikely to top the recommended reading lists of […]
Richard Dooling: Brainstorm
Gary Marshall One of the biggest publishing success stories of the last decade has been the legal thriller where bright young turks defend truth, justice and the American way. Attorney-turned-novelist Richard Dooling has obviously spotted this and, with Brainstorm, attempts to bring some new life to the genre. In addition to the usual legal shenanigans […]
