$53, 'f‘. ‘ r , . ‘ . «‘u ‘ z -;..;-. . - g "I ‘ .
“39'7" .rb i \ ..x .. .‘ \ ~.
I Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About SEX But Never Dared Ask Robert (ioldenson and Kenneth Anderson (Bloomsbury £3.95) An extraordinary compendium. highlighting the depths ofone’s sexual ignorance. What is an elephant? A lip-clap? Love? A cat house? An Australian? It's hard to read without a dose of the giggly schoolkid-looking-up-rude-words- in-the-dictionary syndrome. but it is informative. I Agony Columns 1890—1980 Terry Jordan (Optima £5.95) Reading other people‘s problems is. as ever. a real antidote to your own. Makes an interesting socio-sexual history of euphemism and allusion. Confirms love. sex. children. work and money as the eternal angsts. I The 1989 Good Pub Guide ed. Alisdair Aird (Consumers' Association £9.95) Need one say more? I Medicines: The Comprehensive Guide (Bloomsbury £6.95) The mystery of five-hundred syllable medicine names is here unravelled. with details on uses. warnings and side-effects. May alleviate the increasing distrust in pill-popping and prescriptions. I Bloomsbury Good Reading Guide Kenneth McLeish (Bloomsbury £12.95) Self-education has never been easier. Novels and authors are listed alphabetically with enough theme style-related Read On suggestions to last a life-time. 7‘ HOLIDAY ‘ BUYING PAYING MONI;Y A HOME TAX
-- me PENGUIN —-
. PERSONAL " \ FINANCE GUIDE
i MAKE: YOUR MONEY “ WORK FOR YOU
:ALISON: MITCHELL
.e ._ - in..- .. ._ DIVORCE SAVING i PENSIONS I The Penguin Personal Finance Guide Alison Mitchell (Penguin £12.95) An
excellent make-the-most-of-your- money book from the Edinburgh- born TV financial whizz-woman. There are chapters on all matters unashamedly monetary — pensions. mortgages. saving. credit. tax. shares. children and money. self-employment (apparently I can set a hair cut against tax if! have it on the same day as doing an interview with someone important) and more.
£1200 OF BOOKS BAGK‘PAGE
BACK LIST
FUNNY
K‘s.
o-authors Victor Lewis Smith and Paul Sparks are currently
regarded as the ‘wittiest and most incisive humourists on radio' (Time ()u1)— ‘by people who sniff glue‘ (Victor Lewis Smith) and Buygones (Banyan 139/- [£().95]) is by far the most amusing thing I've read all year. Essentially. the book is a concise encyclopaedia of all the crap consumer items you got in the 1960s and '70s that simply are not around any more: Aztec Bars. the Magic Robot. Zoom ice lollies. Press Freedom in Britain. Lord Lucan and hundreds more. As such. it acts as an extremely welcome antidote to all those hideously po-faced style directories foisted upon us by the publishers ofglossy magazines.
Ironic nostalgia is big these days. what with Radio One‘s Simon Mayo playing tunes from Trumpton most mornings. and fights breaking out in pubs over the relative merits of Refreshers and Love Hearts. One receives a shock of recognition when reading Buygones: the idea is so simple. the subject such a standard part ofconyr'ersation. that it is a wonder no-one has produced such a volume before. It will be difficult for anyone else to do so now. such is the quality ofthis short work, the most admirable aspect ofwhich is the aridity of its wit. ‘Very poor‘ is the economical verdict on Zokko. a robot-cum-pinball machine which used to host a Saturday morning children‘s programme. Funny Faces. however. ‘ice lollies shaped like
fresh road accident victims. [with] rather sad chocolate eyes and
e3“ 1-“
The List‘s fun-boys two. lain Grant and Stuart Bathgate. rip-roar and groan at the Christmas releases.
CHA ALLEY
with MOVIES of TV FAVOURITES in FILM OARTRIDGES on SHOW WITHOUT THREADIHG
WITHOUT REWINOING
mouth’. provided their own unintentional wit with their advertisingjingle which went ‘Funny Faces heh heh heh. Funny Faces yeh yehyehi
Arranged alphabetically. the book subverts its own sense oforder with such entries as ‘HEAD. ability to urinate over own‘. and the somewhat dubious ‘THALIDOMIDES. teenage’ (apparently you used to find them at Church discos). Buygones is not only an extremely witty consumer‘s catalogue. it is an instructive account ofsevcral decades of idiotic products which most of us were daft enough to buy. Remember Lucky Bags (as in 'Where did you get your boyfriend? In a lucky bag?‘)? Those revoltineg religiosc koala bears Tinga and Tucker? The Pilsbury Dough Man. who chuckled inanely when you stuck a finger through his belly? This copiously illustrated book gives them all a severe metaphorical kicking. Buy it for someone you desperately want to impress this Christmas. (S.B.)
SHORTS
I Get Rich Quick Les Karamazov (MacMilIan £3.95). How to become a millionaire in 27 days starting with a penny. A book with a nice line in slick. sick money-making schemes. but it is far from consistent and less than brilliantly original. Alright to read on a train journey. (1.0.)
I No One Else Has Complalned Clement Freud (Elm Tree £6.95). A combination of food guide and
collection of humorous anecdotes. it
ANOTHER BESTSELLER FROM CANONGATE
A FLAVOUR OF FRANCE Odette Murray illustrated by Jonathan Gibbs £12.95
in v o U 1‘ I: ran c e
.\ l3
(i) (I C! l U l\l u l’ r a y es
‘(iood food is more than just cating.’ she (Odette) insists with an accent as evocative as a (‘ointreau I ad. ‘It is a whole way oflife.’ Hence her newly-published book. A Flavour ufl’rance. is tnuch more than a collection of recipes and cooking hints: it is a taste of living. in the true French way. at sensory full throttle. The Scotsman
Available from all good bookshops now.
CANONGATE PUBLISHING EDINBURGH
A The List 25 Nov - 8 Dec 1988 63