Books Reviews
readings), has now sold a staggering 20m copies since 1974. Perhaps the greatest mystery is that crafts pretty much stopped disappearing from the 80s, lending credence to the theory that these disappearances were merely a set of weird coincidences. Still, I don’t know of anyone planning a solo flight there any time soon. (Brian Donaldson) MUSIC HISTORY TIM BLANNING The Triumph of Music (Allen Lane) ●●●●●
Make no bones about it, The Triumph of Music is a heavy read, but it’s also a hugely fascinating one. Penned by Tim Blanning – a Professor of Modern European History at Cambridge – this book has the academic turning his attention to music as he explores composers, musicians and their audiences from 1700 to the present day. From Mozart to Brian May and Beethoven to Beyonce, a whole
MYSTERY RE-ISSUE CHARLES BERLITZ The Bermuda Triangle (Souvenir) ●●●●●
Christopher Columbus was the first recorded individual to find something peculiar about the area dubbed Devil’s Triangle, writing in his log about ‘strange dancing lights on the horizon’. Five centuries on and Barry Manilow remains the only US crooner to have ever coupled ‘Bermuda Triangle’ with ‘see it from my angle’. That mysterious zone along the southern boundary around the Bahamas and the Florida Straits has seemingly swallowed up planes and ships in startling numbers since the still unexplained disappearance of five US torpedo bombers in December 1945. Skeptics and believers
have argued ever since and this tome from Charles Berlitz, which analyses the various theories (UFOs, Atlantis, dodgy compass
SHORT STORIES JAY MCINERNEY The Last Bachelor (Bloomsbury) ●●●●●
range of genres are explored here as Blanning reveals some thought-provoking theories and intriguing studies into social, cultural and political history in reference to music through the ages. Thankfully it is choc-
full of tangible examples, humorous anecdotes and the exploits of legends past and present, with the chapter on ‘Liberation’ proving a highlight and saving the offering from a tendency to stray into overly dry territory. Not one to dip in and out of over the Christmas hols, though; you’ll need your total concentration to fully appreciate this thoroughly intellectual tome. (Camilla Pia)
SPORTS BIOGRAPHY MARTIN GREIG The Zen of Naka (Mainstream) ●●●●●
and with rumours rife that Shunsuke Nakamura may part company with the club in January, it seems Martin Greig’s account of the talismanic midfielder’s life and career to date is gathering pace just as Naka’s currency is reaching its peak. Though subtitled ‘The Journey of a Japanese Genius’, Greig’s book is refreshingly un- sycophantic about the player who first hit the headlines scoring a trademark free-kick against Manchester United in the Champions League. Greig, senior
sportswriter at The Herald, eschews the usual fawning in favour of an attempt to get to grips with an elusive subject who, unlike the pampered Rooneys, Ferdinands and Beckhams, has experienced genuine ups-and-downs, having recovered from rejection by his hometown club as a youngster and being left out of the 2002 Japan World Cup squad to carve out an impressive career in Europe. (Allan Radcliffe)
SOCIAL DRAMA CLAUDE MCKAY Banjo (Serpent’s Tail) ●●●●●
Timing is everything when it comes to sport biogs. As Celtic tumble out of Europe in a flurry of missed opportunities, ‘A story without a plot’ is not the most promising strapline for a novel you’ll ever come across, but there’s
enough character, spice and joie de vivre in this deceptively intelligent meander to pull the reader through. Serpent’s Tail are one of many publishers re- issuing ‘forgotten classics’ and this gem from 1929 is important enough to warrant a new lease of life. Set in the seething ethnic melting pot of 1920s Marseilles, it follows the exploits of Banjo, a panhandling drifter dreaming of setting up a band. Banjo is living from day to day when he meets Ray, a slumming writer, after which his attitudes change and the awakening of his black consciousness begins. Banjo deals with race, politics and African identity but never in a heavy-handed way, Claude McKay cleverly using the interactions between the multinational underclass of the port to expound a multitude of views and attitudes. Fascinating stuff. (Doug Johnstone)
BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Gordon Burn Born Yesterday Another remarkable literary achievement from Burn as he re- imagines the epochal news events from the summer of 2007. Chuck Palahniuk
Snuff A beautifully crafted yet typically grotesque portrayal of the porn industry, pulling few punches in its critique of US society. Stona Fitch Senseless A thought-provoking and brutal existential thriller which tackles voyeurism, cruelty and globalisation. Annie Proulx
Fine Just the Way It Is Proulx returns to Wyoming and delves into a cast of characters both familiar and fantastic. Ziauddin Sardar
Balti Britain A comprehensive and startling exploration into how India and Britain have shaped one another’s fates. Paul Auster Man in the Dark The archangel of postmodernism does his own thing with a 9/11 narrative that dreams up a different history. (Brian Donaldson)
The vice that spices up this short story collection by Jay McInerney – a peeping tom on modern, urban American life – is not the overtly debauched or instantly shocking kind. Instead, his characters toy with taboos, flirt with socially acceptable deviances, and generally get their kicks on the frills of moral safe ground. As a former party animal, McInerney’s string of model girlfriends and drug-fuelled benders with friends including Bret Easton Ellis earned him notoriety, and gelled well with the image he flaunted after publishing his breakthrough 1984 novel, Bright Lights, Big City, about a coke addict who pines for his ex-girlfriend, Alison Poole. Easton Ellis also used Poole’s character in Glamorama and American Psycho. But now in his 50s, the substance-free New Yorker’s writing reflects a
personal post-9/11 epiphany, and a search for more meaning behind the hedonism. In these peeks between the curtains of American coupledom, where filmmakers cheat on pregnant wives, WASPy girls sleep with the help, or loved-up rednecks dabble in threesomes, he pays special attention to the complexities of conscience they’re going through. ‘It sounds boring,’ says one of his characters after describing a romantic night in. ‘But boring is better than all-nighters and strange panties, I guess.’ McInerney’s characters feel they’ve stayed too long at the party, and are tired with 6am swigs from frozen bottles of Absolut. Examining how they care for elderly parents, or behave at political marches is definitely less racy – and occasionally worthy – but it shows a more real, still addictive and sharply observant writer. (Claire Sawers)
38 THE LIST 11 Dec 2008–8 Jan 2009