PAPERBACKS - l LETTER
I Unsustainahle Positions Esther l
Selsdon (Abacus £5.99) Footloose
Felicity. married Madeleine and unlucky Eliza are seemingly wildly incompatible girlfriends. trading advice and experiences in a dogged quest for true love. aided by a herd of colourful sidekicks. Occasionally disjointed btit consistently side-splitting. Selsdon‘s forte is inspired dialogue with i classic monologues and a shit-hot knack l of conveying the fetnale psyche and friendships.
l The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and Rock ’n’ Roll Simon Reynolds and Joy Press (Serpent's Tail £14.99) A bold. successful move from a husband-and-wife team which unflinchineg tackles the wonten-in-rock furore and comprehensively explores the myriad male approaches to the genre. ln itself a goldmine of factual and historical information, Set Roi-(ills offers numerous. often confrontational. ideas which avoid didacticism and provoke thought.
I The Great longing Marcel Moring (Flamingo £5.99) ()rphaned and subsequently fostered and estranged. twins Sam and Lisa and their elder brother are reunited in adulthood. liach has followed a highly individualistic path in life yet all harbour a sense ofemptiness which. when communally explored. takes them back to childhood. .-\ bittersweet and emotionally charged voyage with a high readability factor.
I Cigarettes Are Sublime Richard Klein (Picador £5.99) Hurrah! Astonisliingly. smoking is again becoming chic and Klein. an ex-smoker. has produced an academic study in homage to the weed. Charting the history of tobacco and its psychological. physiological and cultural r
implications. anecdote. trivia. fact and iii/"4'11"! "(WM MW 1" “PU/“£156 ’0 7M” dam pmducc a winning unnbimmou l.('n/i(tn/_fm’ f/I(’ llIf.\'(/llr)l(' in I/lt’ last issue. lnforrnative. entertaining and elegant - ’ ill/l" ‘/<’-"“"’il’“'“” ll" 3“"? “f him-""1!-WWI/(l plus pictures! ‘ k ; /l(ll‘(.’ read: 'l'nt (HI absolute lnmmnist. '
l was naturally pleased when your interviewer told me. when interviewing me by telephone for your magazine. that she had found the satirical-political pieces in the second halfof my new book to be very funny. I was pleased also. when referring to the book as a whole. she apparently commented on the book's fundamental ‘humanism’. 'Absolutely.‘ I said. ‘l‘m a humanist' This was why I gave the first three essays in the book the overall title Art as [Enron/tier. describing Art as a dialogue between one human being and another: and why I gave the next three essays the overall title Attacks on I/It’ Human. praising Charles Re/nikoff’s great poems on the Holocaust. and attacking the anti- humanist language-bombing in Britain which accompanied the actual bombing of the (iulf War. It was why also. I said. that in the poetry sequence nora 's place. nora arrived at that place where she could say lot just a human being/totally representative'. The genial portrait of myself which l appeared in your last issue. thanking your interviewer for noticing the humour in my work. and exclaiming ‘l'm an absolute humoristl' can no doubt be put down to the dangers of conducting an interview by telephone. l (In thank your interviewer for : her kind words about my satirical sketches. but I think it would be safer if in ' future I confined my interviews to face-to- f face meetings.
3 Toni Leonard
‘6”. publicity
0&0 distribution ‘3" nationwide
Edinburgh Arts (it Entertainment I.'d.
I. .65 Q0. 11 l’irrie Street Edinburgh IiHbSHY 'I'cl:(031)5551897
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~ * "TICKETS FOR ALL EVENTS FROM‘ERANCH
WATERSTON E'S BOOKSELLERS
WATERSTONE’S WEST END
128 Princes Street. Edinburgh EH2 4AD (0131) 226 2666
Thursday 23rd March IRISH LITERATURE
A wild evening of Irish literature and Guinness with Ireland's current talent. The following authors will be reading and signing copies of their latest novels. Eoin McNamce with Resurrection Man. Colm Taibin with The South. John MaeKenna with A year of Our Lives and Bridget O'Connor with Here Comes John. Free tickets.
.7.00pm'
Friday 31st March SIMON CALLOW
Will be the guest for a lunchtime event held at the Traverse Theatre to promote his latest book Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu. Tickets £2.00 from branch. ‘
12.30pm
7.00pm‘
Friday 3lst March DANAH ZOHAR
The author of The Quantum Self will be here as part of the Science Festival to talk about her new book The Quantum Society. Tickets free.
Tuesday 4th April
MARTIN AMIS
Author of London Fields and Money will be reading from his latest novel The Information. A rich comedy describing the whole of society with the possible exception of the middle classes. Tickets free.
7.00pm
MICHAEL PALIN
will be signing copies of
HEMINGWAY'S CHAIR
his excellent debut novel
at James Thin, Gyle between noon and 1pm on Saturday lst April
Please call 0131 539 7757
to reserve a signed copy
MEET THE AUTHOR
Ti” 1 Lawn L4,...L A.“ 100C :11