Edinburgh
Waterstone’s
MON
JUNE 7.00 PM
WED
JUNE 7.30 PM
THUR
JUNE 7.00 PM
MON
JUNE 7.00 PM
TUE
JUNE 7.00 PM
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11
Authors at
Waterstone’s
in June
WEST END
CORAGI—IESSAN BOYLE
“RIVEN ROCK” (Bloomsbury £16.99)
QUEENS HALL
CRIAG BROWN, ANDY MCARTHUR
AND GRAHAM SPIERS
“AUTOBIOGRAPHY” (Virgin £15.99) “OVER THE TOP WITH THE TARTAN ARMY” (Luath £7.99)
EAST END
KEITH JESSOP
“GOLDFINDER” (Simon & Schuster £15.99)
EAST END
NIGEL APPLEBY
“HALL OF THE GODS” (Heinemann £16.99)
EAST END
ANNE McCAFFREY "FREEDOMS CHALLENGE”
(Bantam £16.99)
CITY CAFE
WILLIAM SUTCLIFFE
books
new titles
The Willow Tree
Hubert Selber (Marion Boyars £16.95) ****
The fifth novel from Selby, the mind behind Last Exit To Brooklyn, returns to New York, the fountain that pushes Silver and pOison through the roots of his writing. Bobby, a thirteen-year-old black Bronx-dweller wakes to the sound of rats in the walls of his tenement room. When a sudden act of violence leaves his girlfriend hospitalised, he takes refuge in an abandoned cellar where he meets a strange elderly German who gives him shelter.
Written in a determinedly modernist manner — like Joyce beaten numb -- Selby’s novel covers pain, filth, terror, hate andiniustice while somehow allowmg moments to shineAnd in this book, Brooklyn hangs as a glowrng reprieve, a gentle place of light, (DL)
Inversions Iain M. Banks (Orbit £16.99) 'és'fi’dk at
Banks' latest science fiction outing takes the fOrm of two historical transcripts from one corner of an alien empire. One is the story of Vosill, phySlClan to the king, the other concerns an imperial bodyguard.
BankSian’s sooal realism add depth to the fantasy setting — as when the doctor is called out to visit a pauper child The girl's mother turns out to be a defeated women liVing in a slum tenement and has been putting her daughters on the game. The narrators are close to the powerful, but Wield none of their own, while the inner Circle fret about internal tensions as the masses seethes outSide, threatening to penetrate.
To say that all is not as it seems gives nothing away. As usual, Banks is not afraid to reveal plot deveIOpments through an aside in someone's diary, or an apparently innocuous comment. It is this Willingness to leave the reader to do the thinking that allows his sCience fiction to transcend the limits of a maligned genre. (SN)
Bitch: In Praise of
Difficult Women
Elizabeth Wurtzel (Quartet £12.50) «a 4: at A
Once described as 'SyIVia Plath With the ego of Madonna’, the author of
NOW OPEN 7
the best-selling Prozac Nation turns her attention to 'difficult women'. According to Wurtzel, a woman who puts herself first, is soon perceived as ’difficult'. Let's face it, being nice never got women anywhere and, despite feminism, women are still expected to please men. The bitch is a modern icon and the persona appeals because it creates an illLiSion of liberation.
Connecting the lives of women as diverse as Hillary Clinton, Nicole Brown Simpson and even Delilah, Wurtzel chronicles the relentless
double standards imposed on women by men. Bitch is inSightfuI and entertaining, though sometimes confused. Interestingly, Wurtzel isn't overly sympathetic to Paula Jones, trashing her cheap appearance, speculating that she’s in it for the money, and suggesting that she should Just shut up. Unfortunately for Wurtzel, she has missed out on Monica LeWinsky — she must be kicking herself. (AS)
Dancing After Hours Andre Dubus (Picador £6.99)
*fit‘k‘k
Andre Dubus is the Halley’s Comet of modern American writing, a profound phenomenon everyone should try to experience at least once in their reading IliC‘IImQ.
This collection explores the Subtle disharmonies and double-bind of love's selflessness and selfishness Strange acts of Violence and emotional brutality mingle With sharp portraits of individual pain while flawless characterisation draws the reader so deep into ordinary lives you feel you're actually there, watching and listening.
Although his themes are often dark, Dubus never fails to balance the shadows With rays of compassion, empathy or the possibilities of hope and redemption. The rare and necessary brilliance of these tales echoes long after the last page is hesitantly turned. This is as good as it gets. (CD)
REVIEWERS THIS ISSUE:
Brian Donaldson, Clark Dunn, Teddy Jamieson, Damien Love, Stephen Naysmith, Alison Stroak
STAR RATINGS rt '5' k a * Unmissable «r \87 fir "k Very 000 t it a» Wort a shot A ‘k Below average k You’ve been warned
DAYS
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at the Assembly Rooms. 18rh June 1998. 'I'ickcts £3/£1.S() from all branches.
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\N’A’l‘liRS’l‘ON IC'S
84 THE “ST 28 May - II Jun 1998