Yorkshire Soul Could Fail At 'A Book A Week' Shock ! It is this man's fault, blame him entirely. That bloke is Steven Erikson, author of the mighty Malazan Book Of The Fallen series. In January I thought I would take volume 6 of the Malazan series to read on holiday, but on starting the book I realised that I had lost touch with the plot and characters. Eighty or so pages in to The Bonehunters I realised that I wasn't understanding anything that was going on, so I thought I would read the preceding volume again to refresh my memory, but with the same problem. I ended up taking volume one, Gardens Of The Moon, to Spain with me and re-read that, and then all this year I have been making my way steadily through Erikson's incredibly well plotted and fantastically detailed fantasy world vision. The thing about these books is, each one is bigger than The Lord Of The Rings, Erikson just does not do short books, and yet the plot weaves and dances through the book, it is rare that the books appear over wordy (although I'd have to admit that The Bonehunters could have been trimmed a little). The numerous plots, sub-plots and distractions are taut and intense, you have to pay attention, a character or incident that may have seemed transitory in volume two may suddenly take on world shaking significance by volume five. Erikson also delights in the wholesale slaughter of his characters, this is no Harry Potter series, there appear to be no guarantees that any character, no matter how central or seemingly important, will reach the end of the book. I remember literally gasping when Coltaine was killed towards the end of Deadhouse Gates, the Wickan general was one of my favourite of all fantasy literary creations, but no-one is forgotten in Erikson's world, and his death echoes through volume six until its drawn out and blood soaked climax. So, here we are in week 29 of 2008, last year I managed to get through about 75 books in the year, this year I am behind the pace at only 28 books read so far, but it is Steven Erikson's tomes that are to blame, had I been reading normal books I would be well ahead, as this shows.... 1 Steven Erikson novel = 3 Tom Clancy's or 5 Kathy Reichs' or 7 Terry Pratchett's or 15 chick lit books (Photo by Aiden Moher, Aiden meets Steven Erikson)

Book Reveiw : The Lover - Marguerite Dumas** I have read only a handful of novels translated from French, and with the exception of Jules Verne's Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, I havn't really enjoyed any of them. This is no exception, I didn't enjoy the terse, taught dialogue free literary style at all, and wed to a story that wasn't wildly exciting or particularly well told it made for a damp squib of a book. The back page blurbs are hugely enthusiastic, 'a perfect tour de force' - New York Times Book Review, 'Rarely have I read a novel so flawlessly written' - Spectator, and so on. The plot, young daughter of French family on the down in the last days of France's imperial reach into the far East meets rich young son of wealthy Chinese family, has a lot of odd sex, sort of falls in love, family are withdrawn, uncommunicative and emotionally stunted. French authors (admittedly, in my limited experience of them) seem to love wallowing in some form of existential emotional angst, or just general weirdness. The last three French novels I have read (Atomised, School's Out and The Lover) all seem to edge around a similar theme of unrequited love, no, not unrequited, uncommited would be a better word. The French appear unable in these novels to commit to love, to lose themselves in it, to give themselves over to another person wholeheartedly, and thus they hover on the sidelines of love and passion, forever wondering and agonising over whether they should be experiencing something better but failing to see that this, the here and now, the present is actually what they are looking for.

2008 National Year Of Reading Not that I really need any encouragement. 2008 Year Of Reading I will be trying to read at least a book a week this year, it shouldn't be too much of a problem, I read 75 books last year in addition to a daily paper, the BBC website, numerous blogs and magazines..... For local readers, Chefling Caorl has pointed out that there is a discount bookstore under The Moors Centre in Ilkley. I had a quick look round this morning and came away with a dozen books from the SF Masterworks series, there's a ton of stuff from all genres though. Paperbacks three for a fiver.

Book Reveiw : Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer***** Some folk are just happy to be. TV, cinema, safe job, Friday night beers with their mates, a wife and kids and mortgage and that's enough. For other people, this isn't life at all, and Chris McCandless found he could only experience life when he put himself at some risk. Whether kayaking through unmapped waterways in Mexico, hitchiking through the American West, or on the journey of self suffiency into the Alaskan wilds that proved his eventual undoing, McCandless only found peace in extremis. His story has been researched and well told by Jon Krakeur, himself and adventurer and mountaineer and posessed at least in part of the mindset that drove Chris McCandless to do the things he did. For people who are entirely happy with their lot, this may prove to be a strange and unsettling read, why, why would he do such things. I suspect though that there are other readers like myself, who, whilst not desiring to push our boundaries quite as far, nevertheless understand on some level why these men do as they do.

Book Review : Touching The Void - Joe Simpson***** Joe Simpson's story is compelling and astonishing. On the descent of a mountain Joe falls and breaks a leg, his friend and climbing partner Simon Yates tried to lower him down the mountain in a series of long abseils, but when this ends in another fall Joe is left hanging over a void, and believing him dead, Simon cuts the rope. The book tells Joe's story as he gets back down off the mountain with a shattered leg. It had me wincing with every step that Joe describes, there are numerous points in the descent when it would just have been easier for Joe to lay down and die, I am sure that if I had been in the same situation I would never have had the courage and determination to survive, this bloke is a real hero.

A Book A Week in 2007 Done, the 52nd book was Jasper Fforde's clever and funny Lost In A Good Book. Due to never ending work commitments my exercise journey across the UK came to a sudden end earlier in the year, but I've kept up with my reading at least, so my mind should be good and limber even if the body is a little weak.

Book Review : Nymphomation - Jeff Noon***** Another great novel from the twisted mind of Jeff Noon. Daisy Love, Jazir Malik and the gang are trying to crack the weekend domino game, the lottery to which Noon's skewed future Manchester has become addicted. Will they crack the system and become big winners ? With the sponsored Burgercops hot on their trail and dark and sexy revelations following one after another, they're not having an easy time going head to head with The Company. Noon's novels are part sci-fi in a drug induced cyberpunk sort of way, but they are also laced with social commentary and overtones of Orwell. Noon's actual prose style is a joy, and combined with his lucid and vivid imagination it makes the events, sounds, sights and smells of rain sodden, curry cooking, blurb fly infested Manchester come truly alive. This is another cracking read, just as good as his earlier novels Vurt and Pollen, intruiging and thought provoking as well as being wildly entertaining.

Book Review : Down The Bright Way - Robert Reed*** I have just read two novels by Reed in succesion, of the two, Sister Alice is better than Down The Bright Way. That's not to say that this is a bad novel, it's just that most of Reed's other work is better than this. Bright Way charts the progression of The Wanderers as they move from world to world along the star path of the title, at each halt on their journey they make contact, then gently prod and cajole that world's society into one capable of peace and uniting with the other worlds along the path. A Wanderer from the opposite path has changed his philosophy after events witnessed on his own journey, and now seeks to do the unthinkable, to destroy the Bright Way and halt the Wanderers. This is a well trodden sci-fi path and although Reed tells a fair tale, it isn't up to the standard of Sister Alice or the brilliant Marrow and it's sequel The Well Of Stars.

Book Review : Relentless - Simon Kernick**** Fairly decent UK based thriller. I liked the set up, a normal family man recieves a phone call from a friend who is clearly terrified and in severe pain and who blurts out the man's address, what to do then ? Stay or run ? The protagonist runs, and runs, and runs, the pace of the book is as the title suggests and although the ending wasn't quite what I expected, it was still a good read.

Book Review : Helix - Eric Brown**** This space opera gets off to a really good start, some nicely rounded characters from a dying earth are sent off on a sleeper colony ship to found humanity anew somewhere amongst the distant stars. The colony ship crashes on the world system named in the title, the helix, containing thousands of worlds threaded in a spiral around a single sun. Once on the Helix, the crew struggle across the icy wastes of the first world before discovering a transport system to allow passage between worlds of the Helix, and after moving on become embroiled in an ideological and physical battle between the fanatic church of an alien race and its more open minded 'heretics'. I quite enjoyed Helix, but it didn't shine for me in way that some sci-fi does. There are plenty of good ideas here, but I felt that some of them were slightly rushed or breezed past without enough space being given to expand them. The adventure is a good one, but the idea of vastly superior alien makers / creators has been used so many times in sci-fi that it takes a something really exceptional to give it that sense of awe and brilliance.

Pottermania - Ilkley Good evening, or is that good very early morning, Potter fans. Yorkshire Soul, along with Mrs YS., and we're reporting (almost) live from the launch of the most recent and final Harry Potter book. Crowds were gathering early outside Ilkley's purveyors of literature with some brave souls reporting that they had braved the bleak midsummer (i.e. howling wind and driving rain) conditions since 7pm that evening in order to get their geeky hands on the final installment of JK Rowlings pension plan. Please note, the above picture is not blurred, it's atmospheric alright! There were dozens queueing at The Grove Bookshop (a fine and independent business), hundreds more at W H Smith (homogeneous high street doesn't quite know what it wants to be store), and I'm glad to report that some fine enterprising and fairly pissed young men had gone to the effort of stealing the advertising banner from Tesco (Superhyperglobalwe'regonnaowntheworld) and paraded it in front of the crowds of geeks. Lucy A, fine waitress of this parish, was first in line at The Grove, and sported a fine Harry-esque scar, very fetching Lucy. Scars were de riguer in Ilkley tonight, as these two lasses in the WHSmiths queue show, these two had also, quite sensibly considering the prevailing weather conditions, gone for a combination bin bag / wizards cloak ensemble to protect them both from rain and the necromantic power of Lord Voldemort. Also in attendance were numerous representatives of the drunken youth of Ilkley, who, in 'hilarious' fashion, repeatedly shouted "Harry dies", ah, being dumb is so funny when you're pissed. As far as I'm concerned Rowling is fantastic, anyone who can create this sort of excitement for a book deserves all the plaudits and money that will be thrown her way. Also, geeks are cool, and speaking as a comics / sci-fi / fantasy / Tolkienite / MMORG / Eve Online / Pardus / D&D / cricket / wine geek, I should know. The geeks will inherit the earth, because we bothered to read books to find out how.

Book Review : The Spanish Civil War - Antony Beever**** I wanted to read this as I've become interested in the writing of Ernest Hemingway and I'm about to read For Whom The Bell Tolls, I wanted to understand the background and history of the Spanish Civil War before I read the novel set during it. I knew very little about the war in Spain before reading this, I has general view of Spain being some pleasant bucolic place to be, but the terrible hardships faced by the mass of Spanish peasantry, enforced on them by the ruling classes, was truly awful. There is a quote early in the book that goes "Most of Spain's peasants would have been better off as slaves, because at least slaves would have been fed." Landlords often paid a pittance rent for land, 1 or 2 pesatas, while charging their farmers hundreds of times as much in ground rent. The war wasn't just along class lines though, after the left wing coalition was legally elected to power many right wing politcal groups banded together and others joined them when the right wing rising began. Spain split into two after the rising, the rebels held a large swathe of the centre of the country, the left held the Basque, the South and the capitol Madrid. Russia supplied the Republican (left wing) Government, Germany and Italy supplied the Facist rebels. All of these powers used the Spanish Civil War as a testing ground for new equipment and battle ideas, Hitler and his generals would create the Blitzkreig style of combined forces warfare from battles the Condor Legion and its Spanish allies fought here. Britain, well we buggered about, we refised to help the legally elected Government because we were afriad of Communism, or upsetting Hitler. It seems that British Naval officers actively helped Facist forces at times, especially with information provided from Gibraltar. Late in the war Britain realised that we could really do with more democracies in Europe (as Hitler annexed Czekovslokvakia and the Rhineland and moved towards Poland), but by then it was all too late and we settled on a truce to keep Franco out of WW2. The war was a dirty war, supporters of both sides lived on both sides, there were killings, reprisals and mass murder, as late as the 70's mass graves were being uncovered containing the bodies of thousands killed by the Nationalist/Facist forces. The Republicans fared little better, their forces were taken over by Communists, thousands of men including many in the famous volunteer Inernational Brigades, were shot by their own side for not adhering closely enough to Communist ideals. The Republic was often also woefully underequipped, towards the end of the war a general wrote that he had 250,000 men with which to defend Barcelona, but only 14,000 functioning rifles to equip them with. Aftr the Republic fell, most of it's leaders fled abroad, and a new wave of bitter reprisals began, up to 10,000 were killed in Barcelona alone after the war 'ended'. Like Britain, France failed to gain any glory from the whole episode, its newspapers had railed against the tide of refugees flowing over the border and tens of thousands were held in concentration style camps. Conditions in these camps were so bad that some men escaped back over the border to face a quick death by the facist bullet rather than starving to death in France. Beever's book is interesting and detailed, it helps to have a crib sheet by the book with the names of the dozens of important figures and their political connections so you know who is who. I'm glad I read it though, that's a chunk of European history history filled in for me, now on with the Hemingway.

A Reading Conundrum Right, I won this little competition over at Eleanor's place (thanks Eleanor!), but what should I d first ? Should I read Antony Beever's account of the Spanish Civil War and educate myself about the conflict and its politics, or do I plunge right into Hemingway's fictionalised account of the same war which has been praised as being one of the greatest war novels of all time ? Either way, I'm going to finish Saint Bob's ramblings around Africa first. I'm not exactly short of reading material.

Book Review : The Swarm - Franz Schatzing*** When I first read Jurassic Park, I thought - this would be really good as a film, and this is how The Swarm comes across, as more of a giant screen play than as a novel. It starts off in 70's horror mode, vanishing fisherman, exploding lobsters (I kid you not), invasions of crabs and killer Killer Whales. Then it veers into trying to a scientific thriller as teams of scientists around the world struggle to discover what is causing the varied sea creatures to act so strangely, then we have a quick stab at being a first contact novel as a new intelligence is discovered, and finlly we have a slightly farcical potential armaggedon scenario at the end with scientists and army types running around shooting at each other. It seems almost perfect for a brainless Hollywood blockbuster, lots of scope for big special effects a la The Abyss, which it 'shares' more than a few ideas with, monsters, bad guys with guns, lots of explosions. It's the bad guys with guns bit that really annoys me though, it's just too simplistic an approach to portray all American military types as gung ho war hungry kiddie killers, so the final chapters of the book appear just like the penultimate scenes of an action movie, which is a bit of a shame as there was scope earlier in the novel for a decent expansion on the first contact ideas. Schatzing rounds the book off with some cod philosophy (sorry, couldn't help myself) which will doubtless be cut from the forthcoming movie. It's fun in a fairly daft way, quite entertaining in parts, but at the end I felt it was all just slightly silly.

Book Review : Peace And War - Joe Haldeman*** The first two books in this volume share a storyline, Haldeman takes his experiences of the Vietnam war and uses them to paint a picture of a future war in space, the hopelessness and pointlessness of it all is well described. The sci-fi side examines what happens to the characters as their travels and time dialtion takes effect, although they may spend only months fighting in real time, decades pass back on Earth and their infrequent visits to their home planet become incresingly odd as the politics and culture of their world moves on without them. Haldeman suffers from an excess of ideas at the end of book two though, I thought the ending was left too much up in the air and the duex ex machina ending was all too contrived, a shame really, it spoilt an otherwise good sci-fi novel. Part three, Forever Free, looks at a different kind of war, a political and cultural clash fought by remotely controlled robot soldiers operated by mechanics sitting safely hundreds of miles away from the action. Here Haldeman examines a possibility for the end of all wars and all violence. So, Forever War is fantastic, Forever Free is good to start with but struggles by the end, and Forever Peace isn't a sequal to the original two books at all but is fairly good.

Book Review : The Old Man And The Sea - Ernest Hemingway***** After reading Hemingway's detailed description of turn of the (19th) Century Spanish bullfighting in Death In The Afternoon I was tempted to read some more by this author, so I asked around and Phedredelauney kindly came up with a copy of TOMATS for me, thanks. This long short story / short novel won Hemingway the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 and fellow author Anthony Burgess said about it..."It is unsurpassed in Hemingway's oeuvre. Every word tells and there is not a word too many." Which sums it up quite nicely. The old man is Santiago, a aged fisherman living on favours and the kindness of his off and on apprectice Manolin as his run of fishless bad luck runs to almost three months. One day the old man puts to sea and sails a little further than he should to try his luck, and what luck, a marlin the size of which he has never seen before takes the bait and the old man engages in a life and death struggle with the fish. Hemingway writes about the pursuits he considered manly, hunting, shooting, fishing, sport, war, but there is often a second theme interwoven with the more obvious gritty adventure yarn. Here we meet the old man almost defeated, but he is given a last chance to recall former glory, he endures a marathon test of strength, stamina, will and tempatation, and in losing the latter test it appears that he will return as he left, a useless, worn down old man. Hemingway has his principal character state that a man can be "destroyed but not defeated" and this mental (and spiritual) attitude leads to the old man taking some measure of victory from his fight. The book is also a vehicle for showing a man struggling with his faith, the old man represents the fisherman/disciple, he offers God his prayers if he can catch the fish, but he is in turn punished for his pride and greed as the sharks begin to circle his catch. The novel is a really good and gritty adventure yarn as well, Hemingway's writing is taut and focused, the constant pain and discomfort that the old man suffers (and that is reflected in the suffering of the fish) is cruelly brought to life, you can feel Santiago's unflinching (Christ like) suffering as the lines cut into his hands. A really good read, exciting, gripping and with a message or two. I enjoyed this much more than Death In The Afternoon, and if anyone has any more Hemingway lying around, I'd love to borrow a copy of For Whom The Bell Tolls.

Book Review : Extreme Cuisine - Jerry Hopkins***** The question you need to answer for yourself is, are you a neophile, or a neophobe ? That is, do you seek out the new and different, or do you fear and shun it ? In a culinary sense, I'd hope to place myself amongst the neophiles, I've always thought that there is very little that I wouldn't eat, no matter how strange it was. Jerry Hopkins excellent exploration of the world's stranger cuisines seeks to challenge these presumptions. Extreme Cuisine could so easily have fallen into the lads mag trap of over simplification and base shock and horror, but Hopkins' book is well researched and all the foods contained within are given a sympathetic tasting (the author has devoured almost every item in the book) and description, there is a brief but informative historical background for each foodstuff, notes on present day production methods and suppliers if appropriate, and a few recipes for those folk hardy enough to want to try their hand at cooking camel, jellyfish, sea slug or roasted crickets. What wouldn't I eat then ? Most of the stuff contained in this book I'd have a go at, bats, rats, mice and guinea pigs, yes, no problem. Jellyfish, I think I could, slugs, well, maybe, ants, bees, wasps, caterpillars, I think I could force myself, but there are two things in here which I think wouldn't pass my lips even at gunpoint. Fried spiders, oh the horror. I really don't think I could chew on a crunchy, hairy, fried tarantula. There is a worse horror within these pages though, balut..... This is a 16-18 day old fertilised duck egg, first you make a small hole in the end and suck out the juices, then you chip away the shell to reveal the chick embryo inside and eat the lot. Apparently it has the texture of cooked egg white and a flavour not unlike duck liver, but I think I'm never going to find out if that's true. Extreme Cuisine is a great book, packed full of the weird and wonderful foods from around the globe, weird to us Westerners perhaps, quite everyday and banal to the inhabitants of other countries. Things that might seem normal to us can be viewed by others as strange, unusual or horrific. Once at my parent's house we had some Chinese guests over for dinner, and after dinner, as we Brits do, a cheeseboard was served. The guests looked on in trepidation, they sampled tiny portions of cheddar, and then one brave soul put a small piece of stilton in her mouth, she looked appalled and ran from the table to the bathroom. Our guests found it difficult to believe that anyone could possibly eat something so obviously vile as rotting cheese.

Bought It, Didn't Read It A survey showed the following literary gems were the books most likely to be purchsed, and then ignored, by the British public.... Fiction Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling Ulysses - James Joyce Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell Non-Fiction The Blunkett Tapes - David Blunkett My Life - Bill Clinton My Side - David Beckham Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Lynne Truss Wild Swans - Jung Chang Ha ha, a quick survey of the huge 'unread' pile at Yorkshiresoul mansions reveals Cloud Atlas, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, and Vernon God Little.

Book Review : The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien**** I don't know if the author experienced the war in Vietnam, if he didn't then this is an even more remarkable work, the 20 plus linked short stories in this book paint as realistic a picture of the day to day life of a soldier in Vietnam than many other authentic war memoirs. From the opening story, from which the book takes its title, to the last page this book makes you eat, sleep and breath the American experience in Vietnam in tiny, unflinching, excruciating detail. Whether O'Brien is listing the contents of the infantrymen's backpacks or expressing his feelings after killing a young VC soldier, the language is clever, expressive and enthralling. I went through a phase of reading Vietnam books, Chickenhawk, Once A Warrior King, The 13th Valley, this book is the equal of any of them, a gripping insight into life when death is always close.

Book Review : Pride Of Baghdad - Brian K Vaughan & Niko Henrichson**** A bombing raid prior to the American invasion of Baghdad throws down the walls of the city zoo, a small pride of lions, and numerous other animals, are freed to eke out an existence on the war torn streets of the Iraqi capitol. Brian K Vaughan's (Y:The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways) latest graphic novel is illustrated by Niko Henrichson, and very nice it is too. As the lions explore Baghdad they encounter other animals escaped from the zoo, and more dangerous pets from Saddam's personal menagerie. Ultimately, they encounter soldiers with guns. On the surface Vaughan's story is about frightened animals, but it examines the realities of life and freedom, were the lions better off in their safe captivity ? Or was it better to have this short burst of freedom before horror closes in ? Pride Of Baghdad neatly encapsulates the human history of Baghdad over the past few years. It is a better work than Y: The Last Man, which has wandered and seems to be strugging to find its reason for being, Pride though is short, sharp, sad and beautiful. Brian K Vaughan's News Blog

Book Review - Durham Red : The Vermin Stars - Dan Abnett & Mark Harrison***** Phwoarr! It's Durham Red, the sexiest mutant vampire babe there is. This is exactly why teenage boys (and thirty something blokes) read comics, uber fit babes in skintight rubber outfits, vampires, big guns, massive planet destroying starships, bigger guns, what more could you ask for ? Plot ? It's got a babe whose idea of formal dress is a rubber bondage suit, what the hell do you want a plot for ? But there is one, and without revealing too much....Durham and her trusty companions the mutant Judas Harrow, and Matteus Godolkin the vampire killer (but he's fallen under her eveil spell see?), are searching across the known universe for a hidden secret, something to seemingly finally enable the mutants to destroy their hated human masters. Everything is not as it seems of course, but I won't spoil the ending. Mark Harrison's awesome computer generated art is good enough reason to buy this second volume of Durham Red, it is absolutely bloody (very bloody) fantastic. It's quite obvious that Harrison loves big breasts, big guns and big explosions, and why not, that's science fiction for you. It's great, good writing with a great twist in the plot, wonderful space battle filled art, and vampire babes in rubber, almost perfect.

Book Review - Hellshock - Jae Lee***** A bit of history, hope I get this right. Hellshock was originally a four part comic published in about 1994. Then there was a second series, destined to be another four parter, of which only three parts were ever published. Now Jae Lee has added the last chapter of the second series and the whole lot has been put out as a graphic novel. If you read the bumph on the back you might expect an entirely different novel from the one you are actually getting.... "In the confines of a psychiatric hospital a suicidal young woman meets an enigmatic stranger who believes he is an angelic presence not of this earth gifted with the powers of GOD. Is she being seduced into a cult ... or is she bearing witness to a miracle?" That really doesn't do the book any justice at all, Jae Lee has created a story that is far more subtle and thought provoking than the blurb writer would have you think. The young psychiatrist Christina Marceau struggles with her first internship at County General, she has come armed with hope, her brand new doctors qualification and the will and desire to better people's lives. Swiftly she comes to realise that she can do only a pitifully small amount to help those who need her most. She becomes entranced by the patient Daniel, he is mostly silent and enigmatic, withdrawn and bewildered, there is none of the talk of Godly powers as described in the blurb, instead we see Christina putting herself in danger, her already fragile mental state worsening into a mental condition of her own as she becomes obsessed by this man. She talks of her closeness with her patients, but she becomes so close that she cannot see she is begining to mirror her patients symptoms. Hellshock may be poorly titled as well, in fact it would be better served with a different title, blurb and by getting rid of the semi-Christian symbols that line the front and back covers, when a book tackles a serious topic, it deserves in itself to be treated seriously, instead the publishers have gone for a schlock horror take with the covers. Hellshock is beautiful though, the mental hospital is depicted as a crumbling piece of Victoriana, brooding and oppresive, the final chapter is stunning with a butterfly filled leaf stewn autumn contrasting with grim hospital, and serving to illustrate Christina's mental state in a clever and vivid manner. A very clever story, intelligent and also beautifully drawn and inked.

World Book Day World Book Day Read something, it's good for your brain. They want to know the 10 books you can't live without, I voted for..... Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien Iron Council - China Mieville Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdan The Hyperion Cantos - Dan Simmons Fables - Bill Willingham The Sandman - Neil Gaiman Lucifer - Mike Carey Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts Skinner - Neal Asher The Stand - Stephen King But I read so much, if they asked me again next week I'd probably change my mind about half of them.

Book Review : The Highest Tide - Jim Lynch**** What a lovely book, Jim Lynch's debut novel is a delightful coming of age story set amidst the weird and beautiful flora and fauna of a bay in small town America. Miles O'Malley, the shortest 13 year old in his class, is obsessed with the life of the sea and mud flats in a way that only small boys can be, but other things are starting to impinge on his early teenage consciousness, specifically Angie Stegner, the daughter of a judge who babysat him when he was younger and has now emerged ahead of him into an almost incomprehensible adult world of sex and drugs and rock and roll. Miles searches the foreshore for unusual clams and shellfish that he sells either to local restaurants or aquariums, on one of these expeditions he discovers the body of a giant squid, and this discovery pushes his life into a bizarre whirl of dubious media celebrity and scrutiny by a seemingly friendly local cult. Whilst Miles struggles with his new found fame and his feelings for Angie, his parents are splitting up. His mother believes she has married below herself and has often referred to Miles as a mistake, his father is obsessed with and vastly dissapointed by his son's lack of physical stature and neither can really comprehend how they have managed to raise a biology genius. Lynch's novel is funny and touching, he writes with a delicate touch. I especially enjoyed the interplay between Miles, who feels nothing but pure love for Angie, and his best friend Phelps, who notices a girl's breasts before anything else and talks constantly of sex. Lynch has a great memory for what it was like to be a boy on that cusp between childhood and teenager and he expresses it on the page in a wry and charming style. A beautiful and charming novel, gentle in parts, deliciously funny in others.

Book Review : White Line Fever - Lemmy**** Quicky review = Sex and drugs and rock and roll. That pretty much sums it up, Lemmy has always lived lived to the full, and beyond. He loves his music, from his early days with the Rocking Vicars, through his time with prog rock maestros Hawkwind and the three decades plus with thrash metal pioneers Motorhead, Lemmy has always playes it fast and hard. Lemmy has shown a bit of wisdom by enlisting journalist Janiss Garza to co-write his autobiography, with her on board White Line Fever comes over as a much more polished effort than the last autobiography by a rock star that I read, Adam Ant's Stand and Deliver. Whereas the strongest thing to pass Adam's lips though was a cup of strong tea, Lemmy has always been infamous for his narcotic consumption, although he strongly advises against taking as many drugs as he has, and many times in the narrative he warns of the dangers of heroin and laments the many friends in the music industry he has lost to smack. White Line Fever is wry and funny, Lemmy is as blunt as forthright as you would expect, he calls a spade a spade, pointing out the high and the low points of Motorhead's long career. The thing that lets the book down a bit though is Lemmy's refusal to write about his whole life, I've noticed this in a few rock autobiographies, I know fans want to read about the wild gigs, groupies and drug use, but what about friends, families and interests outside metal ? Lemmy has two sons, only one of whom he has any contact with as far as I can gather, but it would make for much more interesting reading were the book to be rounded out with events away from the music arena. That said, it was still a good read, you can't help but smile sometimes as Motorhead stumble, drink, snort, shag, fight and play their way to eventual success. There are namechecks for Metallica, especially Lars Ulrich, who Lemmy praises for the respect and acknowledgement they have given him, there is also praise for Ozzy Osbourne, Girlschool, Twisted Sister, Wendy O Wiliams and the Plasmatics and many others. Lemmy might seem a gruff hard man, but he has many kind words for his friends. I enjoyed this, Lemmy can be a prize lunatic at times, but he's lived a full old life, and when I say old, did you know that the grand old man of speed metal is 62 this year ? It's all the drugs, he's probably unkillable. I may have told this before, many times, but I met Lemmy once. I was at a nightclub, rather the worse for wear, and as I stumbled into the toilets, Lemmy was stumbling out, my brain froze. "Oh wow," I said to his face. "It's Lemmy from Motorhead." "Yeah," he replied. "So fucking what ?"

Book Review - Stand & Deliver, The Autobiography - Adam Ant** Poor old Adam, the beautiful face of punk rock, driven by bi-polar disorder and a fierce need for adulation and success, he became hugely popular in the UK and managed a minor level of celebrity in the States. His autobiography then should make for interesting reading, but sadly, Adam just isn't a great writer. I was a huge ant fan when they were at their peak, I painted my bedroom with a five foot high ant head surrounded by song titles, I had a drummer boy jacket (rock fashion is a circular thing, look at My Chemical Romance dressing up as little Adam's) and would wear nail varnish and white stripes on my cheeks, it was just the sort of look that went down really well in a small Yorkshire village. I really wanted this book to be good because Adam was one of my early musical heroes. His life story seems at first glance to leave nothing out, he is painfully honest about his childhood, his mental state and the obsession with sex, but for all the in depth stuff that he includes, the missing parts of the story spoil the book. I really wanted to know more about the break up of the Ants, but Adam dismisses it as "they had reached the end of their contracts," was that really it ? Just like that ? One of the most popular bands of that era ended because contracts had come to an end, I don't believe it was as simple as all that. Also lacking from the book is any real detail about his life after his musical career ground to a halt, the sad events that led to his arrest and sectioning are mentioned, but the last decade is skated over. Adam's obsession with popularity is painful to read, his desire for publicity seems boundless, it controls his mental state. He seems unable to comprehend why his acting career never reached stellar levels, well mate, the truth is this, as a singer you were great entertainment, as an actor you were bloody awful. Adam was fantastic on stage, mesmerising, brilliant, on film he was the opposite, dull, wooden, lacking any spark. He hasn't been great to people either, I suspect that some interesting parts of his life have been left out as they would leave him open to criticism from other people, and it's obvious that he really can't bear any sort of criticism. Stand & Deliver is a flawed work then, but given Adam's state of mind for much of his life, I suppose that is only to be expected.