list.co.uk/books COMIC

SUPERHERO GEOFF JOHNS Green Lantern: Secret Origin (Titan) ●●●●●

The Green Lantern might not seem the most likely candidate for a big-budget blockbuster. He’s certainly not your typical superhero, being based more in the world of retro sci-fi, his powers derived from a ‘power ring’ bestowed by the Guardians of the Universe that creates solid constructs founded on the wearer’s imagination. It may be a touch hokey but he’s been a key player in the DC Universe and Justice League of America since the 1940s. But such is the studio hunger for superhero projects, the movie is

indeed on its way with Ryan Reynolds in the title role. He also provides the new foreword in this repackaged, film-friendly reissue of Geoff Johns’ retelling of the character’s origin story, wherein test pilot Hal Jordon is bequeathed the power of the Green Lantern by alien Abin Sur. Johns has a real knack for turning old-fashioned heroes into cutting- edge characters, and weaving them into new dynamic stories without losing their core power and personality. With epics like the Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night, GL has jumped back into many comic aficionados’ must-read list. Classic derring-do with a modern twist. (Henry Northmore)

ALSO PUBLISHED MUSIC BOOKS

EVENTS Events are listed by date, then city. Submit listings at least 16 days before publication to books@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Laura Ennor. ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry

Thursday 26

Glasgow FREE Michael Meighan: Glasgow Smells Langside Library, 2 Sinclair Drive, 632 0810. 1pm. Meighan gives an illustrated talk on his two history books Glasgow Smells and Glasgow Smells Better. FREE Paul Cuddihy: Saints and Sinners Barmulloch Library, 46 Wallacewell Quadrant, 276 0875. 6.30–7.45pm. The Glaswegian author discusses his novel, a powerful account of immigrant life in Victorian Glasgow. Irish Writers’ Centre Event CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. 7pm. By donation. Writers from the Scottish Writers’ Centre’s Dublin counterpart. Edinburgh FREE Luke Williams: The Echo Chamber Word Power Bookshop, 43 West Nicolson Street, 662 9112. 6.30pm. Launch of the Fife-born writer’s debut novel. FREE Latin America in the Nobel prizes for Literature Tollcross Community Centre, 117 Fountainbridge, fabula_carlos@hotmail.co.uk. 7pm. A debate in Spanish about the winners and the could-have-beens of Latin American literary Nobel Prize winners.

EVENTS Books

Edinburgh ‘The Hair Trunk or the Ideal Commonwealth’: Stevenson’s Missing Masterpiece National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, 623 3918. 6–8pm. £5 (£3). Institut Français d’Ecosse-organised talk by Michael de Bris about the a newly- discovered, French-published unfinished novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. In French with English translation. The Big Edinburgh Bookshop Book Swap Henderson’s Vegetarian Restaurant, 94 Hanover Street, 225 2131. 7.30pm. £5. Book swapping soiree organised by The Edinburgh Bookshop. Wednesday 1

Edinburgh FREE Book Signing: The Hair Trunk or the Ideal Commonwealth Institut Français d’Ecosse, 13 Randolph Crescent, 225 5366. 6–8pm. Michael de Bris signs copies of this hitherto unknown novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.

✽✽ Christopher Brookmyre: Where the Bodies are Buried The Caves, Niddry Street South, tickets from Blackwell’s, 622 8218. 7pm. £6 (includes glass of wine). Book launch. FREE The Edinburgh Bookshop Book Group I The Edinburgh Bookshop, 219 Bruntsfield Place, 447 1917. 7.30–9pm. Inaugural book group meeting. Up for discussion is Barbara Kingsolver’s The Lacuna. Writers’ Bloc presents Mr Big Society Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh College of Art, Lauriston Place, 229 1442. 8pm. £4 (£2). The Writers’ Bloc dissect David Cameron’s big idea.

Friday 27 Thursday 2

Edinburgh The Guid Crack Club Waverley Bar, 1 St Mary’s Street, 556 9579. 7.30–10pm. £3 suggested donation. With guest storyteller Mike Rust.

Saturday 28 Edinburgh Nothing But . . . Poems for Men Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 11am–12.30pm. £5 (£3). For Fathers’ Day the poetry group takes a look at poems about men, boys, fathers and sons. Women welcome too!

Sunday 29

Glasgow The Gathering The Arches, 253 Argyle Street, 565 1000. 7–9pm. £3 suggested donation. A new regular evening for sharing stories, poems and songs old and new. Edinburgh FREE Book Group Waterstone’s, Cameron Toll Shopping Centre, 6 Lady Road, 666 1866. 5–6pm. This month’s required reading is To Kill a Mockingbird. FREE Spark! Creativity Showcase The Jazz Bar, 1 Chambers Street, 220 4298. 6pm. Open session for performers hosted by William Douglas. Shore Poets Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh College of Art, Lauriston Place, 229 1442. 7.45pm. £4 (£3). Short readings of new verse come from Paul Batchelor, Christine de Luca and Bridget Khursheed, with music from The Whole Shebang.

Tuesday 31 Glasgow FREE Pat MacEnulty: Wait Until Tomorrow Glasgow Women’s Library, Mitchell Library, 15 Berkeley Street, 248 9969. 6–7.30pm. MacEnulty launches Wait Until Tomorrow: A Daughter’s Memoir. Booking essential. The Magic Carpet Cabaret Tchai- Ovna House of Tea, 42 Otago Lane, 357 4524. 8pm. £2. A night of poetry, songs and stories.

Semi-absent fans of former Auteur and Black Box Recorder man Luke Haines might have received something of a jolt on suddenly Googling him. The words on the second entry would have immediately caught the eye: ‘It is with deep regret that we have to announce the death of Luke Haines,’ solemnly states a profile page on his official site. But as the semi-serious obituary reaches its conclusion by noting that boredom is the likely cause of death, you finally realise you’ve been had. In Post Everything: Outsider Rock and Roll (Heinemann), Haines follows up his Britpop-era memoir Bad Vibes with a typically caustic look at what came next for both himself and British music.

Another maverick in the music biz is Andy Kershaw, whose No Off Switch (Serpent’s Tail) details his championing of world music, his love of travel and a troubled private life. An equally fraught but more predictable tale of the massive highs and narcotic-fuelled lows of the industry comes from Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland in Not Dead & Not for Sale (Canongate), while Simon Reynolds’ Retromania (Faber) tackles our seemingly unquenchable fascination with reunions, reissues, reformations and resurrections. Reynolds wonders why this generation more than any other is so deeply captivated by the cultural artefacts of the immediate past.

Oddity of the month has to come from Belgian record collector Jan Bellekens, whose Covered! Classic Record Sleeves and Their Imitators (Vine House) asks why CD cover designers can’t stop dipping into the past for inspiration. Through the stories behind some of the 650-plus covers in this intriguing book, he suggests that such unoriginality could often be borne out of mischief, laziness or bitterness. (Brian Donaldson)

Glasgow FREE Poetry Discussion Group Mitchell Library, North Street, 287 2999. 6–7pm. Lively and informal monthly poetry discussions. FREE Alison Irvine: This Road is Red Milton Library, 204 Liddesdale Road, 276 0885. 6.30–7.45pm. Irvine discusses her novel This Road is Red.

Edinburgh FREE Jonny Muir: Islands at the Edge of the Sea Blackwell’s, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8222. 6.30pm. Adventurer and writer Muir discusses his new book, which documents a tour of the offshore islands of Northern Britain.

✽✽ FREE Meaghan Delahunt Word Power Bookshop, 43 West

Nicolson Street, 662 9112. 6.30pm. Delahunt launches her latest novel, To the Island. Friday 3

Glasgow Reading the Leaves Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 42 Otago Lane, 357 4524. 8pm. £2. Poetry and storytelling evening. Edinburgh FREE Byron: Fame and Infamy National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, 623 3918. 6pm. Curator David McClay introduces a series of personal and poetical papers that reveal a lot about the flamboyant poet.

Sunday 5 Edinburgh FREE Spark! Creativity Showcase The Jazz Bar, 1 Chambers Street, 220 4298. 6pm. See Sun 29.

Monday 6

Glasgow ✽✽ Christopher Brookmyre: Where the Bodies are Buried Mitchell Theatre, 6 Granville Street, 287 2999. 6–7pm. £8 (£6). See Wed 1.

26 May–23 Jun 2011 THE LIST 67