Resident Alien
Quentin Crisp (Flamingo £7.99) ***
Ultimately famous for being famous, Crisp's ResidentA/ien comprises his New York diaries. Bursting into life with intriguingly titled chapters (’Local cockroaches are having the next-door house remodelled' . . .) Crisp matches expectations by understating the bizarre foiling camp frivolity with serious consideration, bitching, name- dropping and theorising. Steeped in a quintessential Englishness, highly amusing. (SM)
In The Beauty of the Mines
John Updike (Penguin £6.99) 1' ** At almost 500 pages, this doorstop of a family saga spans four generations. Beginning at the turn of the century and set in America, the quite ordinary fortunes of the family are underlined with the effects of a changing world. Shifting values and the advent of new technology are portrayed through well rendered characters. (SM)
The Cove Shivering Club
Michael Curtin (4th Estate £6.99) *9: * A couthy comedy from Irishman Curtin
based in County Clare and beginning in the 505. When two ten-year-olds swim both ways across the bay they become members of the Shivering Club, a male-only bastion of childhood. Years later the men re-unite
Ben Watt
in order to make sense of their troubles and the modern world. (SM)
Patient
Ben Watt (Penguin £6.99) t **
To some (allegedly), a rare illness, as suffered by Ben Watt, is infinitely preferable to the music of his band Everything But The Girl. Flippancy aside, Watt’s initially undiagnosable disease, a freakish immune system disorder which destroyed most of his small intestine, is truly gruesome,
.justifying what could be seen as a self-
indulgent book. (SM)
REVIEWERS THIS ISSUE: Brian Donaldson, Rodger Evans, Damien Love, Susan Mackenzie
E R
I C A J I O N G
Waterstone’s, 128 Princes Street Ol3| 226 2666
ERICA JONG
Fear of Flying will be reading from her new novel
Of Blessed
Memory (Bloomsbury £14.99)
Wed 4 June 7pm
author of
92 THE usr 3o May—12 Jun 1997
books
events
Glasgow
Chico Buar ue, Rubem Fonseca, Patricia Me 0 and Joao Gilberto Noll Tue 3 Jun. 8pm. £2 (£1). CCA Studio. 350 Sauchiehall Street. 332 7521. A night of readings from four Brazilian authors. Buarque will be reading from Turbulence (Bloomsbury £6.99) and Benjamin (Bloomsbury £14.99). Fonseca will talk about The Lost Manuscript (Bloomsbury £14.99). Melo will discuss her book The Killer (Bloomsbury £14.99) and Gilberto Noll will read from Hotel Atlantieo (Boulevard Press £8.95).
Michael Moss Thurs 5 Jun. 7pm. John Smith & Son Bookshops. 57 St Vincent Street. 221 7472. Michael Moss will be signing copies and reading from his new book Clvtle (Canongate £9.99).
Anna Blair Thurs 5 Jun. 7.30pm. Cumbernauld Library. Allander Walk. Cumbernauld. 01236 725664. Novelist and short story writer will be reading from her work followed by a discussion with the audience.
Live Poetry Performance Fri 6 Jun. 10pm. Java Internet Cafe. 152 Park Road. 337 6814. The first Friday ofevery month sees a live poetry evening with regular performers and open mic. Lindsay Davis Wed 1 1 Jun. 7pm. Dillons. 174-176 Argyle Street. 248 4814. Crime author. Lindsay Davis will be talking about her new novel Three Hands In The Fountain (Century £15.99). Linton Kwesi Johnson Thurs 12 Jun. 8pm. £8 (£4). The Tunnel. 84 Mitchell Street. Tickets from the CCA. 350 Sauchiehall Street. 332 7521 and all Ticket Link venues. An evening with leading poet. recording artist. broadcaster and performer. Linton Kwesi Johnson. He is revered as the first dub poet and has been an inspiration to a generation of African-Caribbean artists and writers. Part of C C A 3' Motor Mouths .s‘eason.
Edinburgh
Rose Tremain and John Banville Fri 30 May. 7pm. Waterstone's. 13—14 Princes Street. 556 3034. Readings from two novelists shortlisted for the Booker Prize with Rose Tremain reading from The Way I Found Her (Sinclair Stevenson £15.99) and John Banville reading from his new novel The Untouchable (Picador £15.99). Trevor Jones Wed 4 Jun. 1.30pm. Waterstone‘s. 13—14 Princes Street. 556
Jenny Diski 3034. A signing session in aid of Regain — a charity for spinal injuries caused by sports and leisure activities. with Trevor Jones. who has experienced such an accident. There will be a chance to win his new book Hit/king On Air (Heinemann £15.99). a case of Red Bull and £50 worth of books.
Erica Jong Wed 4 Jun. 7pm. Waterstone's. 128 Princes Street. 226 2666. The author of Fear ()f‘l’lt'irtg will be reading from her new novel 0f Blessed Memory (Bloomsbury £ 14.99). Tom Watson and Matthew Fitt Thurs 5 Jun. 7pm. Waterstone's. 13—14 Princes Street. 556 3034. From roles in Hamish MacBeth and Cart/iat- Arrest. Tom Watson will be talking about his first collection of poems entitled Dark Whistle (Akros £6.95) and Matthew Fitt who writes his poems in old Scots. will be launching l’ure Rat/ye (Akros £2.95). Jenny Diski Thurs 5 Jun. 7.30pm. Waterstone‘s. 83 George Street. 225 3436. Diski will be talking about her new book Skating 'Io xlllltll't'llt‘tl (Granta
£ 15.99) which chronicles both an expedition to the far south and a remembrance of her estranged mother's
- eccentricity.
Linton Kwesi Johnson