CULTURAL ANALYSIS
ZIAUDDIN SARDAR
Balti Britain (Granta) ooooo
Balti Britain is a comprehensive and startling exploration into how Britain and India have shaped each other’s fates. Ziauddin Sardar, an academic and cultural commentator, admits to his own ignorance of Asian history in the UK, which makes each of his findings seem like fresh discoveries rather than dry recountings of historical facts. His quest to find the origins of the word ‘curry’, for instance, is a page-turning mystery in itself.
Sardar brings the reader every step of the way around the corners of densely populated Asian communities in Glasgow, Birmingham and Bradford, and writes with an outsider’s wit and intelligence about his observations. It’s his compelling curiosity, driven by the universal question of identity, which creates fascinating reading for people of any origin. Typically for such an epic journey, answers to the big questions don’t come without a little navel gazing, and Sardar recounts his life and family history to bring context to the Asian Diaspora. He writes with affection during touching passages about his father and life in Pakistan and these autobiographical elements balance out the denser chapters of theoretical
debate.
The achievement of this book, however, is rediscovering the lost history of a complex migration that goes centuries beyond the widely known post-war influx. Cutting through imperialist psychology, Sardar seeks to unravel the true story of Mother India’s connections and does so in great depth. By demystifying ‘otherness,’ Sardar places the accent where it belongs, in a celebration of true multiculturalism. (Emma Lennox)
CRIME NOVEL ARNALDUR INDRIDASON Arctic Chill
(Harvill Secker) 0000
Crime fiction is routinely disregarded by literary types, but at its best it can provide the kind of sharp commentary on society that a million Oxbridge dinner party novels could only dream of. Arnaldur lndridason's Icelandic crime procedurals are rightly lauded internationally, and this fifth translated work is as good as any written originally in English. Erlendur is our brooding. deadpan detective, chain smoking and throwing out one-liners in contrast to his upbeat go-getting sidekick Sigurdur Oli.
lndridason uses these two to examine the dichotomy at the heart of Icelandic culture. a country steeped in heritage but also relentlessly progressive. This time round the pair are investigating the murder of a Thai boy in Reykjavik, a case which
34 Till LIST 4—18 Sep 2008
forces Erlendur to confront his own demons. and the complex topics of immigration, racism and paedophilia raise their heads in a book which combines utterly compelling plotting with genuinely perceptive insight into the human condition.
(Doug Johnstone)
BIOGRAPHY/HISTORY SEAN CONNERY & MURRAY
GRIGOR
Being a Scot (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) .00 Many Scots cynics. upon seeing the title of this new coffee table volume by our most famous actor. might be inspired to enquire just how much research on the subject can be done by an ex-pat who hasn't lived in the country for decades. It's an accusation which the SNP-supponing Connery constantly has to contend with, but this retirement project — written with documentary filmmaker Murray Grigor — goes some way towards
demonstrating that ‘Scottish' is just a state of mind.
It's an odd kind of work, a lengthily- researched piece of historical non-fiction which muses on Scotland's art. architecture, spOrt and humour. On every other page there are anecdotal asides from Connery concerning his career, his experiences and Edinburgh upbringing. Quite obviously pitched at an international audience (the word ‘Scotch', almost unforgivably, is used at least once as an adjective), it‘s still heartening to see that Connery can’t separate his own biography from that of his country. (David Pollock)
BLACK COMEDY TIBOR FISCHER Good to be God (Alma Books) 0000
Tyndale Corbett is worried that 'do- gooding. over-forgiving softies‘ have given religion a bad name. After stealing a friend‘s identity and fleeing to Miami to escape his dead-end existence. he wants to con a congregation into believing he's God. Decency and law- abiding got him nowhere. but his new role as a humble, yet hard-nosed vigilante. dishing out rough justice amongst South Beacn‘s crack dealers. bullshitters and
Good to be God
blamers. leads him to unexpected enlightenment.
Tibor Fischer‘s surreal morality tale is bullet- riddled with wisdom. but freed from worthiness thanks to his brilliantly dry. warped humour. Narrated by a washed- up loser who's met one too many wiseguys. Fischer is fooling no one. He delivers the gospel according to a very intelligent, far from perfect man (a bit like his fantasy plot. which revisits common ground from his previous novels), and although he'd like us to believe Corbett‘s a wrinkly old cynic, the black comedy lets slip his compassionate side.
(Claire Sawers)
SHORT STORIES ANNIE PROULX Fine Just the Way It Is (Fourth Estate) .0000
Fine Just the Way It Is marks Annie Proulx's return to Wyoming. the setting of two previous collections of short stories. The cast is. at
once. familiar and fantastic. The devil refurbishes hell, adding
to the decor centuries
of portraits by mortals; frisky female residents of a nursing home vie
for ‘the favors of
' palsied men with beef
jerky arms'; ranch hands and their families suffer hardship beyond endurance; and. bereft of children, a woman nurtures sagebrush.
Proulx's writing is exhilarating and unflagging in its brilliance. A mistress of chronicling the everyday. she transforms its mundanity into
; something that startles.
unsettles and enchants.
Though their setting is
frequently bleak and tragic. the stories are also relaxing because
they are faultless. There is beauty. cruelty.
ab8urdity and humour in her tales. all presented with Proulx's
characteristic lack of
hyperbole and with the
confidence that befits a storyteller of the highest calibre. (Kate Gould)
ALSO PUBLISHED
5 HISTORY PAPERBACKS Germaine Greer Shakespeare’s Wife The Aussie academic's biography of Anne Hathaway is neatly wrapped up in a telling of the social history of Will's time. Bloomsbury.
Lucy Worsley Cavalier The history of stately home life in the 17th century is featured in a book rammed with conspiracies. sexual intrigue and good old- fashioned gossip. Faber.
TJ English The Havana Mob The debauchery and corruption that Castro got shot of is detailed in this tale of the gangsters. gamblers and showgirls of 19505 Cuba. Mainstream.
Richard Fortey The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum We get a celebration of the museum's pioneering work and the eccentric characters and infighting involved. Perennial. John Man The Terracotta Army This is the incredible story of China's most famous archaeological treasure, the 8000 figures of warriors and horses belonging to the First Emperor. Bantam.