Books
OLDER KIDS DRAMA HANS MAGNUS
Where Were You Robert? (Penguin €6.99) .0.
Emil And The Detective. Max And Moritz and Shock Peter are all German translations that have found a home in the hearts of a slightly sadistic but conformist UK readership. Now, Where Were You, Robert? brings on the fantastical, Harry Potter-style.
Hans Magnus Enzensberger's fantasy tells the story of fourteen-year-old Robert. an absent— minded child who in a moment Of wishful solitude finds himself mainlined into the magical world inside some paintings. As he leaps from adventure to adventure in this mystical landscape, he finds he can't get home.
Long-winded Teutonic phraseology and a clunky translation make this a challenging read and the rather obvious analogy about the loneliness of the Iatchkey kid often detracts from the many good things about this intelligent but po-faced book. (Paul Dale)
CONTEMPORARY DRAMA ALAN BISSETT
Boyracers (Polygon €9.99) 0...
There are times when Boyracers. with its talk about last year's football results and this year's U2 album. feels almost too contemporary. like the story cannot quite be finished yet. Alan Bissett's first novel is crammed with references to science fiction, film and musings on the fate of
Rangers and the Floyd
auzeusaenasn I PM not Keith).
Its protagonist Alvin is
forced to juggle his
Highers. road-running mates, troubled family life and love for the
unattainable Tyra. plus the trials of getting into 2 a pub when you’re only ; sixteen. He must make
the time-honoured choice between moving on (to Stirling Uni) or staying put in Falkirk with the boys who are experiencing ever-
‘ increasing trouble with
thelocalneds. Bissett is an engaging
writer. and his novel is a readable tale of
growing up in difficult circumstances. But it is also an inspired look at
life. in all its relentless
tedium and occasional.
glorious promise.
(James Smart)
COLLECTED JOURNALISM
JO O’FARRELL
Global Village Idiot
. (Doubleday £10.99) 000
The good thing about a weekly newspaper
column is it only
happens once a week. By the time you read it, you've forgotten what last week's was like. so it seems fresh and new all over again. Global
I Village Idiot is a
collection of John O’Farrell's columns from The Guardian. and
5 while his writing is f entertaining and
irreverent. this book exposes a somewhat
; formulaic and repetitive nature.
Covering the last two years. each hot political topic of the day is addressed. from mad cow disease to the
Millennium Dome. all
with the obvious slant of someone who ran as a Labour candidate earlier this year. Having
said that, O'Farrell is no
stuffed political shirt,
assured touch and
detective stOry but a
EVENTS AT BORDERS
MONDAY 8TH OCTOBER 7PM
DAVID KINLOCH
Glaswegian poet reads lrom his new ( olIe< lion,
QNLQEB E29952! I
having worked on
Spitting Image and
Have / Got News For
You (wow. you mean
that stuff isn’t
spontaneous? Really?). ! Funny at times. and ‘
refreshingly self-
deprecating. Global
Village Idiot is
nonetheless a slightly
pointless and dated
collection.
(Doug Johnstone)
TUESDAY C2TH OCTOBER 7PM
THE DOG LISTENER
I)is< over the set lets ol Jan IenneII, whose remarkahle understanding ol the
(anine world has earned her the admiration oI dog lovers army‘s/here, WEDNESDAY I 0TH OCTOBER 7PM
STEVEN JOHNSON
Introdu< es (1 new way ()I thinking that will (iiange the way we view
DETECTIVE NOVEL P.D. JAMES . Death In Holy Orders I ’ (Faber £12.99) «00
the world as outlined in his exhilarating and unsettling hoolz, EMERGENCE THURSDAY I ITH OCTOBER 7PM
FIRSTHAND
St oltish l(ll)lt( h oI an anthology edited, designed and [)I()(IU( ed hy University oI I’asf Anglia's ( reative writing (ourse whose Ioimei
students inrlude Ian Mt Ewan and Ka/uo Ishiguro. TUESDAY IOTH OCTOBER 7PM
COLIN PRIOR
I.aun< hes his heautilul new hoon ol photographs: Scotland - The Places, with an illustrated taIL on
this magnilir ent photographit' re< ord ol St otland's Iands( apes. THURSDAY I8TH OCTOBER 7PM
TIM PAGE
An emotive retros )(x tive oI 3f) ears ol war and mm e I Y I
As a genre. the detective novel is. by its very nature. formulaic. Nevertheless. when it's
approached with the in III(I()(I1III(I liom this leading photojournalist.
WEDNESDAY 24TH OCTOBER 7PM
PAMELA STEPHENSON ON BILLY CONNOLLY
at The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (tickets ‘22, only from Borders)
Pamela Stephenson is an expert on (omedy, psy< hiatry and ol
sweeping imagination of PD. James. it’s nothing less than delightful.
In Death In Holy Orders. her fifteenth novel. James takes her fictional sleuth Adam Dalgliesh from his regular London hunting grounds to the windswept cliff-top community of St Anselm’s Theological College in East Anglia. The setting is inspired. creating an instantly believable and wonderfully gothic atmosphere for the inevitable murderous events to unfold in. The pace of the story is just about perfect. with James taking time to flesh out the characters to begin with, then drawing the reader inexorably towards the gripping climax.
What's more. the author's simple prose gradually reveals hidden depths and intelligence. making Death In Holy Orders not just a cracking
(ourse her hushand, Glasgow's lavourite son, Billy Connolly. This is an event not to he missed as the woman who I<n()ws
him hest gives (1 las< mating insight into a unique star. THURSDAY 25TH OCTOBER 7PM
JONATHAN FALLA
I I :9, S( otland's Ii('tion imprint, relehrates its liisl anniversary with the puhlit ation oI an impassioned and (ompelling dehut novel, Blue Poppies,
Iioni an award winning author ()I Iilni, plays and stories. MONDAY 29TH OCTOBER 7PM
RUTH THE TRUTH
One of Britain's most popular pSy( III( s with an
easy guide to developing your pawers. TUESDAY 30TH OCTOBER 7PM
TIMOTHY GOOD
British UTO expert gives an illustrated talk lo< using on an examination ol the existente OI alien hoses on earth. COMING IN NOVEMBER: LOUIS DE BERNIERES, TOM BAKER, AND MANY MORE . . .
98 BUCHANAN STREET, GLASGOW GI 38A TEL: 014] 222 7700
www. bordersstores.com/stores/283
OPENING HOURS: 80m to I Ipm, Monday to Saturday, lOam to 9pm Sunday
thought provoking comment on the human condition. (Doug Johnstone)
448 Oct 2001 THE LIST 105