Books
M) i):/\ 8900) CHARLIE BROOKER Unnovations fourth Estate S‘fitltii COO.
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POI IIICAI. CAthXDNS FRANK BOYLE
Hooray for Holyrood iArgyll S‘bfiii OO
HOORQY for HOLYROOD
You‘re got to be :i:; ng son‘ieth'ng <;‘ meet f Rory. Breanne" air: Margo MacDonald are in your can‘t). saith"? ‘.'.’ 'fraid .t's rather est or
this reader. The styie of
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Rank Boyle's ‘toons
may recall Giles and Mac. but neither the drax'xing nor the captions have the impact of those inky fingered 70s tabloid stalwarts.
lhe collection did make me Iaugl‘. tux/ice: 'No surrender to the ‘.'.«'ee girlsf' ‘lll the context of the Holy Cross protestorsi and ‘They may take our ‘.'.iagon ‘.'.(l‘.eels but the; 'II never take our freedom!‘ ifor a major coffee corporation muscling the Royal Voluntary Service out of fine Edinburgl‘ Royal l-Iospitali.
But not one snagger 'l‘.()I’(3. The artists heart 's in the right place. certainly. He gets stuck into homophobia. political (iiinrptgnsin and sectarianism. But you can be x'xorti‘v, and run of the mil' a"d Boyle is certainly (to Steve Bell or Ra'pn Steatln‘an. Back 1:; the drauzir‘g board
then. ~Chares Adam
SOON. HUT/K )i JR
PJ O’ROURKE The CEO of the Sofa (Reader S‘i'titi- 0..
Bones a wee git, ljust
WATERSTUNE'S EDINBURGH UK EXCLUSIVE AUTHOR EVENT
MURRAY WALKER
in conversation with Martin Hannan (Scotland on Sunday)
and signing copies of his autobiography
UNLESS I'M VERY MUCH MISTAKEN
Tuesday 3rd December. 7pm at The Assembly Rooms (Edinburgh)
tickets: Eli/£3 conc. from Waterstone's Edinburgh East End or The Assembly Rooms (George Street. Edinburgh).
If you are unable to attend and would like to reserve a signed copy. please contactthe branch on 0131 556 3031i
Waterstone's. 13-14 Princes Street. Edinburgh EH2 2AN. WATERSTONE’S
7 The last word in books
106 THE LIST. -- '.
P. J. O’ROURKE THE CEO OF THE SOFA
think it's a bit weird that he still believes in God.‘ That was Sean Hughes. pinning down the problem ab0ut knowing someone with fundamentally different beliefs to you. Unless you're drunk or an arsehole. yOu'II probably steer clear of the contentious isSUes in guestion and thus save yetir friendship.
Sadly. where American journalist and author PJ O'ROurke is concerned. avoiding his opinions is pretty bloody difficult. There's the Democrats (terrible). the UN (awful). guns (great). religion (not enough of it). liberals (stupid) or the welfare state (ridiculous).
If you don’t mind sharing a few hours of yetir life with an entrenched right winger there's a lot to like about O'Rourke. whether he's (ierllig the sharp end of his pen into the Clinton adminis ration or formulating excuses for bad behaViour: 'If I stopped drinking and smoking. it would add ten years to my life. But it would add them to the wrong end”.
(James Smart)
SHORT STORIES ROGER ROBINSON Adventures in 30 (Lubin & Kleyner 577.99) CO.
l'd ha/ard a guess that Roger Robinson was one of those bedroom— bound youths who spent his teenage years surrounded by Marvel Comics and dreaming of
meeting his Lois Lane. And judging from this collection of short stories. the author has yet to wrest himself from this fantasy haven.
Despite his occasional over-reliance on a kind of hip Anglo-American Jive. Robinson's chatty prose rattles along at a brisk pace. and there‘s certainly no shortage of weird ideas and images here. A couple of these. such as the man whose girlfriend unexpectedly declares her long-term infidelity With a tree Or the nevice criminal who services a traffic policeman‘s night-stick in order to avoid arrest. give rise to tiny. quirkily amusing gems.
Too often though. Robinson appears to lose faith in the outrageousness of these tales. abruptly curtailing them With facile twists. and leaving the whole thing feeling a bit slight. (Allan Radcliffe)
ROMANTIC DRAMA KRISTIN VALLA Nutmeg (Weidenfeld 8. Nicolson £12.99)
Like Klara Jorgensen. the itinerant heroine of this debut. Kristin Valla is clearly an admirer of the allegorical sterytelling of Latin American. On arriving in a tiny Venemelan town buried deep in the mountains. Klara becomes intrigued by Gabriel Angelico. an academic and writer, born with his heart and vital organs on the wrong side. who comes to believe the Norwegian traveller is his destiny.
Much is made early on of Professor Angelico's popularity and legendary sense of humour. but there is no evidence of this in his awkward ceiirtship of Klara or in the novel as a whole. In fact the cerebral relationship between
Gabriel and the cold. disdainful Klara is as arousing as week-old broth.
There are flashes of interest and understated humour in Valla‘s descriptions of her peripheral characters. such as Italian landlady Senora Yolanda and the sea captain. Penn. Perhaps a volume of short stories would have been a less soporific demonstration of this writer's evident skill. (Allan Radcliffe)
MUSIC PROFILES
BEN MYERS (ED) American Heretics (Codex 521 2.99) 000
This is essentially a collection of transcripts from interviews with some of the great and the good in the punked up world of 'rebel music'. The likes of Ian MacKaye (Fugazi). Chuck D and Henry Rollins rub shoulders with Slipknot. Rage Against the Machine and Jello Biafra.
What appears to be a quick cash-in on the current interest in all things alternative actually turns out to be an intelligent look at contemporary trends with some truly great interviews. the full transcripts giving a real insight. Ben Myers' access IS exemplary. getting out of his face on absinthe round Marilyn Manson‘s LA home and gaining an incredibly rare interview slot with Fat Mike fNoFX).
For fans of rock. punk and dissenting voices in music this is a fantastic snapshot of the movement. Myers' comments and introductions are excellent with a real knowledge and passion for the scene. However, its speCialist nature may well alienate many readers.
(Henry Northmore)