BACK LIST
WATERSTONE’S
Booksellers
Iain M Banks THE PLAYER 0F GAMES
invite you to meet
IAIN BANKS
to celebrate the publication of
THE PLAYER OF GAMES (MacMillan £1 I .95)
Monday 8 August, 7pm
114—116 George Street, Edinburgh. Tel 031 225 3436.
Booksellers since 1797
AUTHOR EVENINGS Thursday 4 August
FARQUHAR MACLAY — editor of WORKERS’ CITY
The Real Glasgow Stands Up
Tuesday 9 August
a slide presentation ofGlasgow‘s Great Exhibitions by
Perilla & Juliet Kinchin
7 for 7.30. ADMISSION FREE. Wine will be served
50 Gordon Street, Glasgow Telephone.- Glasgow 22] 0262
NEW OPENING TIMES 9am—8 p m M on (I ay—Fri (I a y 9am—5 . 30pm Saturday
I 2noon—5 pm Sundays; with live music 1—2pm
lifetime‘s lascivity.
Discovering the villa and its neighbours. tantalising with unanswered questions. Molly the sleuth uncovers unknown inner
' depths as she gets to the root of
things. including herself.
Aromatic with authentic Italian touches.it is a mild.ifskillful. mild domestic thriller. Though the plot is thinner than rice-paper. and eventually as unimportant. this ordinary fatnily somehow manages to book your attention until. in an olde worlde twist. the ends are neatly tied: sickly. but rather sweet. like ribbons on a cake-box. (Rosemary (ioring)
JUST PUBLISHED
I The Dictionary of American Slang Robert I. Chapman (Pan £4.99) ABC of dippy words. many of which are sex-speak (bouncy-bouncy). drugspeak and jailspeak.
I In the Skin ot the Lion Michael ()ndaatje (Picador £4.50) Rich tale ofemigrants to Canada. pioneering in work and love.
I The Remake Clive James (Picador £3.95) By Clive James. featuring Clive .lames. sounding exactly like Clive James even when it's not Clive James.
I The Return of a Native Reporter Robert Chesshyre (Penguin £4.95) After four years exile in the USA the Observer journalist came back to Blighty and found change and decay all around. In these articulate. thoughtful atid disturbing essays he documents the British malaise — indolence. racism. class. yobboism — not along party political lines but through the evidence of his own eyes and in the light of his experience abroad. This is the ideal companion to Ian Jack‘s Before the Oil Ran ()ut. an Stls Road to Wigan Pier. Catch it if you care.
I The Unlucky Family Mrs I lenry de la Pasture (Black Swan £3.95) Mr and Mrs Chubb inherit Finch Hall and with their eleven chicks leave London suburbia for the silver service. But all does not go as planned as the admirable Chubbs make mayhem in their new surroundings. A witty satire extravagantly praised by (iraham (ireene and Evelyn Waugh whose son Auberon contributes an informative introduction.
I Nothing Serious and The Clicking ot Cuthbert PG. Wodehouse (Arena £3.50 each) Two hot PC. tips as the master tees off for ten stories in each of these classic collections. He birdies every page with his pitch and wit. introducing characters from the Drones Club like Mortimer Sturgis who although he had never played golf. had not altogether ill-spent his life.
I Marching Spain vs. Pritchett (Hogarth £4.95) The venerable author's first book documents a 300 mile tramp across Spain with a stopover in Portugal. Shades of ‘As I walked ()ut ()ne Midsummer Morning‘ but Pritchett pre-dates Laurie Lee and though less lyrical is sharp-eyed and etches the characters
he meets en route vividly and with humour.
I NOT That Sort of Girl Mary Wesley (Black Swan £3.95) ()ne of fiction‘s latest starters (she wrote her first book at 70 and has published one a year since) Mary Wesley turns in a tale ol‘duplicitous love spanning the best and worst parts of the century which retains its sting to the last.
I The Ice is Singing Jane Rodgers (Faber £3.95) Marion leaves her husband and her young child and goes on the run. literally and metaphorically. escaping from her own tangled life by retreating into her imagination. Brutally powerful. brilliantly conceived and executed. I Amanda and the Eleven Million High DancerCarol I lill (Bloomsbury £4.95) ()r 'Zen and the Art of Roller-skating' as astronaut Amanda and cat Schrodinger go in search of love in the outer reaches of the universe. A brew of magical realism. sci-fi and (iothic horror.
I Mr Pottermack‘s Oversight R. Austin Freeman ( l logarth £3.95) Dr 'I‘horndyke unravels the mystery of an Egyptian mummy (What other kind of mummies are there'.’ Ed.) and finds blackmail. murder and love in an English village. Just what you'd expect.
I The Benson Murder Case S. Van Dine (Hogarth £3.95) Van Dine plays Watson to Philo Vance's Holmes in this case of the missing false teeth and toupee. Put your money on the grinning barber.
I Best Short Stories from Strand Magazine Edited by Lorna Tracy. Jon Silkin and John Wardle (Methuen £3.95) Angela Carter. Peter Carey. B.S. Johnson. Sid Chaplin and 14 others among whom is Iain Crichton Smith whose story "The Dying‘ is the sole Scottish contribution in this interesting anthology.
BOOK EVENTS Glasgow
I Hatchard‘s 5t) (iordon St. Launches: Thurs 4 Aug. 7pm for 7.3llpm. ‘Workers‘ City: The Real Glasgow Stands Up'. Tue 9 Aug. 7pm for 7.30pm. ‘(ilasgow’s Great Exhibitions‘ by Perilla and Juliet Kincliin.
I Sherratt & Hughes 45, 50 Princes Square. Sat (i Aug. noon to 4pm. Demonstration from "l'he Swinging Sporran’ of basic Scottish country dancing steps.
Edinburgh
I First Friday: Poems and Pints West End Hotel. Palmerston Place.
5 Aug. 8pm 50p. An evening of readings and music. featuring Donny ()‘Rourke. Alistair Blacklaw. Janet Paisley.
I Waterstone‘s Bookshop George St. Sun 7 Aug. 2pm—4pm. More of "The Swinging Sporran'. this time spilling onto the street. weather and audience participation permitting. Mon 8 Aug. 7pm. Launch of Iain Banks” new sci-fi novel The Player of Games. Refreshments.
44 The List 5— 11 August 1988