Christine MacRae: West End Good Book Guide 2.
Discuss my book selections in the Forum - and add you own recommendations.
Reviews.
Deep Fried Hillman Imp. Christopher Harvie. Argyll discussions.
Harvie, Professor of Scottish and Irish studies at Tubingen, is taking the whore to culture here. It's the best value for £4.99 around and if it doesn't stimulate thinking, I don't know what will. He argues that public awareness of transport issues is necessary to begin the needed reconstruction. We are given the historical background, a comparison with Germany and a glimpse of a better future, with some alarming facts and grim reminders of the past. Railtrack went for £1.8 billion, less than a tenth of the haul from mobile phone licenses. The fascinating thing is how interwoven issues like roads, rail and "heritage transport" are with society as a whole. The world beat a path to Glasgow's door to study its trams a century ago. Professor Harvie's case is that Scotland could again be the example others follow, if we are prepared to reach decisions and allocate resources intelligently. "When did you last read anything about buses?"
Find it at Amazon: Deep-fried Hillman Imp: Sorting Out...
Michael Faber. The Courage Consort. Canongate.
Out in paperback last month, this novella about a group of acapella singers is slim to the point of anorexia. It covers their stay rehearsing in a secluded chateau. Though Faber lives in the Highlands, he's totally in control of the Belgian setting, perhaps because he's Dutch by birth. As in Under the Skin and The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps, Faber places the reader in the mind of an unhappy woman; here it is Catherine Courage, the 47-year-old wife of the founder of the group. Faber concentrates on female characters at the expense of his men who tend to be one-dimensional: from Roger, the unsympathetic husband who constantly asks Catherine if she has "given any more thought to" giving up her anti-depressants, to Julian and Ben. They are better than the butcher meat men in Under the Skin though not by much, but it seems to me to be his best book so far.
Find it at Amazon: The Courage Consort
Bill Duncan. The Smiling School for Calvinists. Bloomsbury.
This book is so well titled. Duncan "does for Dundee what Welsh did for Edinburgh" but these stories are evocative for any Scot. The advertisement for a 'Caledonian Darkness Box' is brilliant. Secretly developed by a Broughty Ferry Inventor, the thousands of Scots whose lives have been blighted by seasonal affective disorder during the spring and summer months' can use this box to restore their proper temperament with 'swirling masses of blackness', and the vision of 'a glowering visage, a bleak urban wasteland or an absolute void'. In the Ferryman's Rest pub and other settings, Duncan teases the reader about who's speaking and who isn't. He's obviously thought a great deal about language, Scot's character and identity. A wonderful book.
Find it at Amazon: The Smiling School for Calvinists
Ford Madox Ford. Critical Essays. Ed Max Saunders and Richard Stang. Carcanet.
Given the century since some of this was written, it's surprising how fresh it sounds. These essays were scattered and have been brought together in this affordable edition for the first time. FMF towered over criticism in his day, trying to encourage readers to be open to new impressions. In December 1907 he described a bus journey across London as "The poetry of the innumerable little efforts of mankind" and adds "but of that I find little in the works of living novelists." He said in 1922, "no writer of today will be able to neglect Ulysses." This book, while appearing to be a daunting read, is in fact quite the opposite. It's fascinating, witty, and follows his own maxim. "The quality that I, and I hope the reader, ask of a style is that it should be as clear and simple as is consonant with the subject treated."
Find it at Amazon: Critical Essays (The Millennium Ford)
See No Evil. Robert Baer. Crown Publishing Group
An ex CIA agent's memoir. He left four years ago and is still a very angry man who enjoys recounting how the C.I.A. went to the dogs. ''See No Evil'' is written in a tiresome macho style and presents a one-sided view but is entertaining and at times revealing. He had to clear the manuscript with the agency, and left in the censor's blackouts. With the USA gearing up the "war against terrorism" there is public interest in the culture of the CIA and the people who work there. Apparently they've been trying to kill Osama bin Laden since at least 1998. That's how good they are.
Find it at Amazon: See No Evil
Recommendations.
Alexander Thomson The Unknown Genius. Gavin Stamp. Laurence King Publishing in association with Glasgow 1999.
Glaswegians always knew about Greek Thomson, even before the determined effort to bring him to a wider public in 1999. This book adds a wealth of information to that gut feeling of pride. Thomson, even in his own day, was conspicuous for never crossing the Channel, and getting his knowledge and inspiration from books. An independent thinker, he kept up diligently with architectural developments abroad. Shunned by Edinburgh and London, he was appreciated and given opportunities in Glasgow. Most of the wonderful photos here are recent, but some date from earlier times. The villas look great, but the terraces remain superb. Stamp has written many fascinating books, including others on Thomson.
Find it at Amazon: Alexander Thomson: the Unknown Genius
Bad Blood. Lorna Sage. Fourth Estate.
A best seller of 2001. With so many memoirs about it's great to find one as memorable as this. An academic, whose death before "Bad Blood" was published focussed attention on it, Lorna Sage put a tremendous amount of work into perfecting this short volume. The reader reaps the reward, with a book which is puzzling to begin with and creeps up on you till you reach the can't put it down stage. Her accounts of adolescence and the horrors of finding out about boys are brilliant. She got pregnant very young and went courageously on to carve out a successful career. A great advertisement for early motherhood.
Find it at Amazon: Bad Blood
The World Record Paper Air Plane Book. Ken Blackburn and Jeff Lammers. Workman Publishing, New York.
16 models, 100 planes and a runway all beautifully printed in super colours. Having grasped the "fold in on dashed lines and away on dotted" principle, hours of fun lie ahead. Essentials of flight are fully explained for the budding aeronautical engineer. There are similar books available apparently, but this has much to offer, including the model that set the world distance record [^] the square looking clouds one. Remember to photocopy each design before they're all used up.
Find it at Amazon: The World Record Paper Airplane Book
The Sneetches and Other Stories. Dr Seuss. Collins.
Another choice of Sean's. These are, he says, good stories, with nice drawings in good colours. They are also very funny.
There is nothing to add on Dr Seuss, it's all been said before. My own favourite is "The Lorax." His books are such a pleasure to read, and kids really do adore listening to them. Then they suddenly discover they can read them, with no effort involved at all.
Find it at Amazon: The Sneetches and Other Stories (Dr....
Diaries of a Dying Man. William Soutar. Canongate Classics.
The title is misleading. "Diaries of a startlingly alive poet" would be more appropriate. Diaries often read well because they are so effortlessly written. They are accessible when a novel is too much for the weary mind. Soutar never allowed his illness and bedridden state to overwhelm him. Friends brought the world of the 30s and 40s to his room at the parental home in Perth. He wrote up his thoughts on the times, plays on the radio, the view from his window and the human condition. So familiar with films from conversation, he forgot he hadn't been near a cinema in 15 years! His objective comments on his own approaching mortality make an amazing read. One of the best Canongate Classics, edited and introduced by the late Alexander Scott.
Find it at Amazon: Diaries of a Dying Man (Canongate...
How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci. Michael Gelb. Thorsons.
A far cry from the usual "five infuriating habits of smug gits" type of self help book. I heard this praised on the radio in 98 and bought it. No doubt eventually, results will be apparent, but it's a direction more than a destination. The breadth of content is impressive, ranging from the master's diet to mind mapping, learning from mistakes and the cultivation of confusion endurance!
This book makes you feel not a moment of life should be squandered, and follows Leonardo's footsteps into the present day. By the time you're done learning to draw, visiting museums and eating minestrone you won't have a moment left to earn a living, but it's nevertheless great that Michael Gelb brought this stuff together. How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci
Find it at Amazon:
The Artist in his World. Ian McCulloch, with poems by Alasdair Gray. Argyll publishing.
An unusual book, combining poetry with prints, some linocuts but mostly woodblocks. The pair met "as schoolboys in the art room of Eastbank Academy in June 1952." Gray's poems were written to accompany the prints, and a visual image is always an interesting start for writing. The woodcut, with its strong European tradition, is applied to contemporary themes in "Bosnian heads" and "Alba," but there are references to the mythical "as a means of tapping into the wisdom and experience of past ages." A lovely book to own with an amazing bibliography for further reading. Also an inspiration to get along to the Glasgow Print Studio.
Find it at Amazon: The Artist in His World: Prints 1986-1997
Misc.
The Guardian Books site is terrific. One could spend hours on it happily. They have a little Scottish Literature Quiz. I scored 11 out of 13 and felt very stupid when I saw the two I had wrong.
Two of Scotland's women crime writers will be at Ottakar's on Thursday 19 April, at 7.00pm. Alanna Knight is author of Dagger in the Crown and Alex Gray is launching her first book Never Somewhere Else.
Martina Cole, the best-selling crime writer will be in conversation with Ewan Wilson, resident crime buff on Tuesday 21 May at 7.00 pm. Ewan is Crime Book of the Month coordinator for all Ottakar's stores so he knows his stuff.
Eric Schlosser will be talking about his book Fast Food Nation at Borders on Wednesday 10th April at 7pm
"Compelling - Fast Food Nation will not only make you think twice before eating your next hamburger - it will also make you think about the fallout that the fast food industry has had on America's social and cultural landscape." The New York Times.
Battalion Commander Richard 'Pitch' Picciotto will be discussing his book Last Man Down at Borders on Thursday 11th April at 7pm. This is the story of how he survived the collapse of Tower 1 of the World Trade Centre. A royalty is being paid to the New York Fireman's fund.
Isla Dewar will be in conversation with Rosemary Goring of The Herald, discussing her latest novel; The Women Who Painted Her Dreams, on Thursday 18th April at 7pm at Borders.
From the archive: Book guide one
C. Macrae. March 02 - Email: christine@macrae34.fsnet.co.uk
Archive: Book Guide 1
Discuss my book selections in the Forum - and add you own recommendations.
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