than a hand-book fer thatSupposed nocturnal breed Nlll'l the OverSized thumbs.
Trigger Happy: The (riner Life Of
TRIGGER HHFPH
flél
I/ideogames puts the entire Culture into con- text concluding that as they have become such an intrinSic part of popular culture. games should be granted as much respect as TV. films and IITUSIC. Steven Poole's writing is light and Witty. but still informative, helping to challenge perceptions of games and gamers. and forces yOu to find out what all the fuss is about (Mark Robertson)
POETRY COLLECTION DONNY O’ROURKE 8: HAMISH WHYTE EDS
Back To The Light: New Glasgow Poems (Mariscat Press C7)
It's almost two decades since Glaswegian Alasdair Gray remarked in Lanark that 'no one can imagine liVing here'. Gray was being a little pessimistic about his city as this collection of poems demonstrates. Indeed. it is rather more difficult to imagine such a set of verses being written about Glasgow's east coast rival Edinburgh; the city, lest we forget. of Scott and Stevenson.
The quality of these poems is. as you might expect. varied. but
Overall. this collection of work from natives. immigrants and emigrants makes fer entertaining reading. They are rooted in a satisfying phy8lcal City of bus lanes. fear. laughter and buzzing chatter and told in Scots. English and Gaelic.
Established figures like Liz Lochhead and Edwin Morgan lend clout, and deceptively simple verse. to a collection that Is touching. scurrilous and Vibrant. if d8CId€CNy male. Surely more of Glasgow's women have veices werth hearing? (James Smart)
FILM CONVERSATIONS RAY CARNEY Cassavetes On Cassavetes (Faber
Sit 7.99) 0000
v.19”
Famous for his ratio of footage shot to footage used.John Cassavetes' most fervent admirer. Ray Carney. similarly pares away at excess. ‘The present text rep- resents a selection of less than one-fifth of the total amount with which I began,’ he announces.
But unlike Cassavetes the filmmaker. where each move was a work of intense observation and insight. he never quite mastered the articulate interview. and this BOO—page tome often gives us haran— gues which tell us a great deal about the critical abuse heaped upon him (the New York critics hated his work) but little about the distinctiveness of Shadows. Husbands etc.
Best then, to see it less as an analytical look at Cassavetes' own work. nor ‘the autobiography he never lived to write'. than as an energetic pertrait of the artist as messianic. self-financing maverick.
And feel the life-force that damn near single- handedly created an American indie scene. (Tony McKibbln)
FAMILY DRAMA ISLA DEWAR Two Kinds Of Wonderful (ReView €6.99) 0...
Kinds of . Wonderful
Families. You can't live With them but. as the amiany eccentric Roz discovers, liVing With0ut them can be Just as problematic. Roz left Edinburgh when her husband's incessant counting and insen- sitiVity grew too much. leaVing her children, the terminally lazy Jamie and histrionic Zoe. behind. When they turn up on her doorstep some years later. Zoe (now married with child) and Jamie (still heroically laid-back) force Roz to re-evaluate her past and future. Dewar is a compelling stOryteller. with a good ear for the amiable banter and the utter hatred that characterise most relationships at one time or another. This novel is wry, com- pasaonate and highly readable. (James Smart)
ALSO PUBLISHED
Sue Margolis Launderama (Headline £9.99) Naughty but nice relationship stuff Andrzej Stasiuk White Raven (Serpents Tai/ £72) As if Jack Kerouac had written Lord Of The Flies in Polish
Lauren Slater Spasm (Methuen £6.99) Controversial exploration of epilepsy from Prozac Diary author
Dennis Lehane Mystic River (Bantam £9.99) A Chandleresque psycho-thriller Malcolm Bradbury To The Hermitage (Picador £7.99) Dead academics final novel
Books
WATERSTONE'S
AUTHOR EVENTS HIGHLIGHTS GLASGOW, SAUCHIEHALL STREET
Tuesday 20th March
P D JAMES
'Death in Holy Orders' Acclaimed crime writer P D James reads from her latest novel. Tickets free.
EDINBURGH, WEST END
Thursday 29th March
ISLA DEWAR
'Two Kinds of Wonderful’ A reading by one of Scotland's best-selling authors of all time. Tickets free.
Details of all events at Waterstone's can be found in the listings section
SCOTTISH BOOK OF THE MONTH £2 OFF” in MARCH.
'THE FANATIC'
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The number one Scottish best-seller. Fourth Estate £6.99 Waterstone's price £4.99
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