BOOKS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
GENERAL BOOKS
I The Cambridge Biographical Dictionary edited by David Crystal (CUP £29.95) Covering over 25.000 of the world’s most prominent individuals. be they alive or dead from Madonna to Einstein and back again. this is the first ever biographical encyc10pedia. A must for every inquisitive human being.
I Writing Home Alan Bennett (Faber £17.50) An autobiographical portrait of a self-confessed grumpy old man of letters. this is the ultimate entertaining and self-effacing biography of the year. The social satire that pervades his work is in mighty evidence here as we flit from diary entries to reviews and reminiscences.
I Frida’s Fiestas Guadalupe Riviera and Marie Pierre Colle (Pavillion £19.99) The step-daughter of Mexico's best-known artist has combined forces with one of France‘s best known chefs to produce this very plush and colourful melange of Frida Kahlo‘s favourite recipes and fragments of her diaries.
I Penguin Book Of Interviews Edited by Christopher Silvester (Penguin £12) A truly riveting anthology of interviews spans a century from 1859 to 1959 embracing just about every mover and shaker from the worlds of entertainment. politics. art and literature. Check out the major league players: Hitler. Oscar Wilde. Garbo. Thatcher. Lennon.
I The Silent Woman Janet Malcolm (Picador £14.99) A scintillating and controversial meditation on the art of biography. with the poet Sylvia Plath and her husband Ted Hughes plus their slew of biographers coming under the spotlight. The corrupt writer. the voyeuristic reader and the nature of truth are all exposed.
I Virago Book Oi Women’s Travel Writing edited by Mary Morris (Virago £15.99) Over three hundred years of the best and bravest women‘s travel writing from these dames on the road. From the acerbic wit of Freya Stark to the raw courage of Dervla Murphy the stunning journeys collected here are presented with imagination.
I Still life With Bottle Ralph Steadman (Ebury £18.99) The madly inspired talents of Steadman are in full flourish here with a book that traces his highly personal journey round the Scottish whisky distilleries. Bagpipe karaoke. mysterious whisky-fuelled tales and the art of blending all fall under the dervish‘s artistic hand.
I All The Trouble In The World PJ. O'Rourke (Picador £14.99) Pestilence. plague and multiculturalism are just three of the issues this hip gonzo of a writer turns his acerbic wit to. Criss- crossing the globe in search of answers. P.J. examines each worry in turn. A wind-up artist of the first order.
I Mcllvanney (in Football Hugh Mcllvanney (Mainstream £14.99) A legend in his own sporting journalism lifetime this is the definitive footballing book. Managerial giants from Matt Busby to Jock Stein are profiled. plus essays on Pele. Moore and Best.
I Radio Times Film & Video Guide Edited by Derek Winnert (Hodder 7 Stoughton £14.99) Perceptive. bite- sized reviews of over 18.000 films from the year dot to the present. replete with star ratings and bumper information on those in the industry. Essential.
l l l i 1 l 16 The List 2—15 December 1994
-lIEI- i Up to 5 years : More than just a story. Mick lnkpen‘s inventive and humorous Where Oh l Where is Kipper’s Bear? (Hodder & Stoughton £12.99). makes good use of . pop-up technology. For the two to seven year olds who want playthings | disguised as books there is David A. Carter's wierdly imaginative pop-up | Alphabugs (Orchard £10.99). Jan ; Pienkowski's flush-transmitting Toilet 1 Book (Orchard £8.99) and Lucy Cousins‘ determinedly bright and
chunky Maisy’s ABC (Walker £6.99).
5—1 0 years
illustrated by Quentin Blake. Joan Aiken‘s alternately poetic and witty collection of shadowy fairy tales. The Winter Sleepwalker (Jonathan Cape £9.99) inhabits a crossroads of the Brothers Grimm and Angela Carter. Don't miss out on Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s ingeniously comical it Was A Dark And Stormy Night (Puffin £4.99). Stephen Biesty's exquisitely detailed Cross Sections Castle now in
paperback (l)orling Kindersley £12.99) lovingly strips a medieval castle. layer by layer. Each absorbing page provides
a fascinating insight into a lost world with humanity and humour. Guaranteed to keep 7—13-year-olds engrossed. this whodunnit‘s centrefold is an
architectural masterpiece. Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes (Jonathan Cape
Grubs-up with Dahl
£9.99) includes the odd delicious one
' too. The easy~to-follow recipes are
inventive. accompanied by Quentin Blake‘sjovial illustrations.
10+
With over 1500 full-colour photos on 370 pages. Plantagenet Fry's History at the World (l)orling Kindersley £25) is the grandmother of all granny presents this Christmas. From the origins of life on earth to 1990. it presents well- ordcred summaries of world developments. (including the wider politics of home. culture and society) and compares different cultures in historical context. Novels may not elicit the most ecstatic response on Christmas
morn. but are enjoyed long after broken toys are consigned to the bucket. The pick of the bunch includes Anne Fine’s unpreachy. funny Flour Babies (Puffin £3.50) about unruly 4C‘s unlikely enlightenment; winner ofthe Kathleen Fiddler Award. Catherine MacPhail's timely novel of homlessness and bullying. Run, Zan, Run (Blackie £9.99); and Christopher Pike's not-too- creepy sei-fl/fantasy The Last Vampire (Hodder & Stoughton £3.99). (Gabe Stewart)
Anne Fine. author of Madame
Doubrfire: The [Ext/es A! Home by
Hilary McKay. ‘lt's absolutely the best
book I‘ve read all year either for adults
or children. It’s about four sisters who
sponsor a child in Africa for £10 a
month and the dreadful machinations
; and desperate moneymaking schemes they come up with to raise the money
I every month. lt’sjust so rich and so
funny.’
This season‘s hit with a slap is The Body by William A. Lewing (Thames and Hudson £16.95). a thick wedge of paperback crammed with images of nudes. With over 350 illustrations. the volume is divided into sections such as Fragments. Prowess. Idols and Politic. A plethora of photographs and images of taut. wrinkled. distorted and soft flesh come from names as diverse as Alfred Stieglitz and Helen Chadwick. Beautifully packaged. porn-free and small enough to be aimed at the bookcase rather than the coffee table. Anything with the word football in it provokes an uncontrollable lurch towards the off-button from this reviewer btrt Soccer Wonderland by Julian Germain (Booth-Clibborn Editions £19.95) is different. Created by an artist/photographer. this is a visual homage to everything about the game: the pitch. the fans. the cards. the tacky memorabilia and most of all the dreams. Witty. highly observant and
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fantastically inane.
Published to coincide with the exhibition at the V & A in London Street Style by Ted Polhemus (Thames and Hudson £14.95) focuses on styletribes and youth culture from 1940 to the present day. With vintage pictures and details of movements such as zooties. mods. new romantics. layers and cyberpunks. this book takes the tourist route through the back streets of urban Britain. With equal parts text and pictures. this is one to flick through and gag at rather titan ponder on any deep sociological relevance.
Fax You — Urgent Messages (Booth (‘libborn Editions £36) is the first book of fax art. The ideas. like the quality of transmission vary considerably. but as a testimony to the impact and embracement of new technology by artists. this volume is fascinating. For anyone with practising hip-status. The Graphic Language of Neville Brody (Thames and Hudson £24.95) is an essential purchase. Brody has moved on from his Soviet-block graphics to
grawak m Compmaige
Brody's bible
embrace a mellow. ethnic 90s style. A ; veritable graphics bible. (Beatrice Colin) In John Bellany (Mainstream £30). the f often pen'lous life and powerful i painting of one of Scotland’s flnest ‘ artists are brilliantly explored. John } McEwen’s text adds context to Bellany's work and locates him flrmly within a Scottish style and influence. ; The reproductions are beautiful and the paintings themselves are full ofthe : energy. expression and allegory that i have made Bellany into an internationally recognised modern master. (Lila Rawlings)
George Wyllie. artist: Lila by Robert Pirsig. ‘Art books aren'tjust about pictures. you know and this is more about art in an attitudinal respect. That sounds a wee bit pompous but it's not. It‘s a very analytical enquiry into morals and the philosophical aspects of
art.