www.list.co.uk/books
Events
Events are listed by date, then city. Submit listings at least ten days before publication to suzanne.black@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Suzanne Black.
Glasgow
FREE Gordon Ramsay Borders Books. 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. lptn. The tempestuous chef gets all chummy in his ('(mkingfor I-‘riendx. FREE Dubravka Ugriesic Waterstone‘s. 153— I57 Sauchiehall Street. 332 9l05. 6.30—~7.30pm. A visit from lfgresic. author of The Ministry o/‘l’ain. for (ilasgow University's Festival of Cultures.
FREE Sasa Stanisic (ioethe liistitut. 3 Park Circus. 332 2555. 7pm. Ken Cockburn introduces Stanisic. who reads from his debut novel. How the Soldier Repairs the (;I‘(IIII()])II()II(’. in (ierman and linglish.
Edinburgh
FREE Catriona MacPherson Waterstone's. 83 Cieorge Street. 225 3436. 7.30-9pm. Ticketed. MacPherson launches the latest title in her series about l920s society sleuth Dandy (iilver. lllt’ Minter (iromtrl.
Poetry Translation Centre World Poets’ Tour Scottish Poetry Library. 5 Crichton's Close. Canongate. 557 2876. 7.30pm. £5 (£3). The only 2008 reading from the World Poets‘ Tour iii Scotland features Kajal Ahmed (froin Kurdistan with new linglish translations by Mimi Khalvati) and Al Saddiq Al Raddi (from Sudan with translations by Sarah Maguire).
Scottish International Storytelling Festival Scottish Storytelling Centre.
43 45 High Street. 5569579. l'ntil Sun 2 Nov. times and prices vary. Scotland's annual celebration and showcase of storytelling as a contemporary art form and a rich part of Scotland‘s cultural heritage. Performance. workshops. talks and children's events follow this year's ‘.\'orthlands and Sagalands’ theme. FREE The 12th Edinburgh Independent Radical Book Fair Out of the Blue Drill Hall. 30—36 Dalmeny Street. Leith. 555 7101. L'ntil Sun 2 Nov. times vary. Returning for its dozenth year. the Radical Book Fair features exhibitions. talks and film screenings.
Glasgow
Conversation Pieces: Graeme Pearson Royal Concert Hall: Strathclyde Suite. 2 Sauchiehall Street. 353 8000. lptn. £5 (£4 in advance). Following the release of his book The Iz'Ii/oi'i'er: A Life lighting Crime one of the L'K‘s most vocal senior police officers discusses his extensive career.
Edinburgh
FREE Mark Cousins Filmhouse. 88 Lothiatt Road. 228 2688. 5.30 7.30pm. The launch of Cousins‘ ll’itlesereen: Hate/tint: Real People Iz‘lseii‘ltere.
Glasgow
FREE Seeds of Thought (‘(‘A. 350 Sauchiehall Street. 352 4900. 7.30pm. Live spoken word. acoustic music. drama sketches and open mic.
Edinburgh
Reading Group: New Books Scottish Poetry Library. 5 (‘richton's Close. Canongate. 557 2876. 6.30- 8pm. £5 (£3). Librarian Julie .lohnstone selects llu’ Bestiary' by Sam Meekings for discussion. For booking and more details please phone or email reception(“\spl.org.uk
Tuesday 4
Edinburgh
Alexander McCall Smith
Queen's Hall. 87 89 Clerk Street. 668 20l9. 6.30pm. £6. The hugely successful Scottish author and creator of the popular .\’o 1 ladies l)(‘l(’('lll’(’ Agency series. McCall Smith reads from and signs copies of his latest novel. La's ()re/iestra Saves the World. See review. page 30.
Wednesday 5
Glasgow
FREE Niall Ferguson \N’ellington
Church. 77 Southpark Avenue (off l'niversity Avenue). 287 2870. 6 7pm. Ticketed. ,Fresh from Channel 4. Ferguson talks cash in The Aseent of iVIonev.‘ A Financial History oft/1e War/(l.
Thursday 6
Glasgow
FREE Alasdair Gray
\V'atcrstone's. I53 157 Sauchiehall Street. 332 9l05. 6.30 8pm. We've peeked under the cover and between the pages in his recent biography by Rodge (ilass. .\'ow Mr Gray launches the script of his Faustian play. I-‘leek. FREE Sally Magnusson and Bill Shackleton Borders Books. 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. 7.30pm. Shackleton's new book. Kills. Confetti aml (‘onspiraev has hit the shelves and who better to promote it than the illustrious BBC TV presenter Sally ‘l)aughter of Magnus’ Magnusson‘.’
Edinburgh
FREE Elisabeth Horem Life in Iraq: Shrapnels and Un Jardin a Bagdad lnstitut Francais d’licosse. 13 Randolph Crescent. 225 5366. 6pm. French-Swiss writer Horetn discusses (in French) her accounts of life in Baghdad. Shrapnels and (fit Jan/in a h’agtlatl.
Saturday 8
Glasgow
FREE Hal Lever Borders Books. 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. l lam. The car crash survivor signs I'm Not Drunk. Ilone.v!.'. an updated version of the story of his struggle to overcome physical infirmities and society's prejudices.
Edinburgh
FREE Edinburgh Festival of Libraries Various Libraries. l7ntil Fri )4 .\'ov. times vary. A celebration of the wealth of libraries in Scotland‘s capital city. Many library and information services will showcase their resources. and there will be talks. exhibitions and activities for children. For full programme see www.cdinburghlibrariesagencyitifo
Lei
Glas ow
Chris Ryan Mitchell Theatre. 6 (iranville Street. 287 2999. 7 8pm. £5 (accompanied children free). Books for the boys this one. as ex-SAS tough gtty Ryan. author of the Code Red series for readers aged |0+ talks about his writing for adults and young people.
Wednesday 1 2
Edinburgh
Storytelling Cafe Scottish Storytelling Centre. ~13- 45 High Street. 556 9579. 7pm. £4. Storytelling. music and song in a relaxed cafe atmosphere.
Glasgow
FREE Julia Lazar and Gyorgy Dragoman Waterstonc's. L53 157 Sauchiehall Street. 332 9l05. 6.30—7.30pm. James Sutherland-Smith leads a discussion by two Hungarian authors.
Comics
DREAMS
JESSE REKLAW The Night of Your Life (Dark Horse) oooo
Since 1995 American cartoonist Jesse Reklaw has invited readers of his website (slowwavecom) to submit synopses of their dreams. then adapts the best into four- panel comic strips. Reklaw's second compilation (after 2000's Dreamtoons) features a surreal disc0unt shopping spree With Yoda. a woman who marries a carrot. and the kudos of giving birth to a baby monkey. Although each page tells a separate tale. the strips are illustrated in the same striking style. economically bringing to life some very complex worlds. It's the ideal medium to Succmctly capture the aDSurdity of dreams. and the prosaic locution — 'l was in a forest. A badger asked if I was here to VlSIl the talking )elly' — makes it all the more bizarre. Occasionally poignant rather than funny. the stories often seem
Surprisingly familiar. A great book to dip into before bedtime . . . for inspiration. (Murray Robertson)
SUPERHERO
ROY THOMAS, STEVE ENGLEHART & VARIOUS Avengers: The
Sentinels Strike (Marvel UK) 0..
More reprints from the Marvel archives as the Avengers go up against the Sentinels. the Beast Brood. Magneto and more in these adventures from 1972-73. The Avengers are Marvel's premiere Super team. as famed for their relationships as their daring and here we get a ClaSSIC line-up including
Captain America. Iron Man, Thor and Quicksflver.
The stories are packed With thrilling eprOi’is but run at a different pace than modern readers may be used to. with far more convoluted plots. (Henry Northmore)
TEXT BOOKS
WILL EISNER Comics and Sequential Art
(Norton) «coo Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative (Norton) oooo Expressive Anatomy For Comics and Narrative
('NOrton) oooo
Undoubtedly what editor Denis Kitchen calls the 'primary treatise on the theOry and mechanics of modern comics'. Eisner's influential textbook Comics and Sequential Art and its two companion guides get a makeover for the digital age. Honed from lectures Eisner used to give at New York‘s School for Visual Arts. this educational trilogy was first published by Poorhouse Press. a tiny cheapo imprint overseen by Eisner's brother Pete. Those (now highly prized) editions were made Without any modern technology. and Xeroxed paste-ups often sat next to shoddy Photostats. For these new editions. illustrations were scanned from Eisner's original artwork and grammatical errors were corrected. The biggest change is the new sidebars (courtesy of James Sturm at the Center for Cartoon
Studies and others) of contemporary graphic art from an 'ever changing digital comics world'. None of which detracts from Eisner's universal. revealing and generous scholastic legacy. These are essential purchases for anyone interested in a career in graphic stOrytelling.
(Paul Dale)
ART
DAVE GIBBONS Watching the Watchmen
(titan) oooo
If pushed to name the greatest comic ever. most WOuld say The Watchmen. Aimed at an adults. when writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons created a hugely detailed world where heroes did exist. they made it so realistic it was almost another genre of comics altogether from the rest of the capes and tights bngade.
While we tentatively hold Our breath for 2009's film version. this wonderfully packaged companion takes us behind the scenes on the comic. Gibbons gives his history of The Watchmen from concept to execution through to the reception and fall Out. Pages of deSign work. concept sketches and art bolster this glossy hardback. giving a real insight into the creation of a masterpiece.
(Henry Northmore)
WIN WATCHING THE WATCHMEN
And if you’d like to win a copy of the fantastic hardback history of the greatest comic ever written in Watching the Watchmen we have two copies to give away. Just visit www.|ist.co.uk/offers by 13 Nov
30 Oct-13 Nov 2008 THE LIST 31