Book Reviews

• John Elder Robison: 'Look Me In The Eye - My Life With Asperger’s'

  Brother of Augusten ‘Running With Scissors’ Burroughs, John Elder Robison has written his own book. 'Look Me In The Eye' covers various ground, but is specifically concerned with his Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism which means that he lacks the instinctive ability to socialise in the same way as ‘normal’ people.

   
• Steven Jay Schneider: '501 Movie Stars & Directors'

  There are more and more of these kinds of books these days – 2037 Arbitrary Things to Do Before You Have Breakfast et al – but they are always fun to dip into. Actors are the selling machines of films, always being wheeled out for interviews, so we already know too much about the recent examples listed here.

   
• Ed Wright: 'Celebrity Family Trees'

  In the future, it will be difficult to keep tabs on who’s who in Hello! world. The rich and famous are getting together and breeding ever more strangely-named youngsters solely so they can keep us amused with their tabloid antics when they hit their formative years.

   
• J.R.R. Tolkien: 'The Children of Hurin'

  If this is your first exposure to Tolkien, turn back. If you liked The Lord of the Rings but found the 15-hour extended DVDs too long, do not pick up this book.

   
• Darren Shan: 'Bec'

  Demon-hunting in an ancient world... Bec is a 12th century Celtic priestess-in-training when otherworldly demons invade, killing her teacher and thrusting her clan into terror-filled nightly attacks. A vision leads her to a druid who knows where the demons have come from and how to stop them, but requires her and a small group of warriors to guide his journey across Ireland.

   
• Michael Lailach: 'Land Art'

  Unless you were under a rock somewhere for the last six months, you probably know about the huge zig-zagging crack that turned across the floor of Tate Modern's Turbine Hall. (Indeed, you might have fallen down it.)

   
• Susan Cooper: 'The Dark Is Rising Sequence'

  A modern fantasy taking on the legends of King Arthur, Cooper’s five-book series follows the adventures of five children seeking the Things of Power—a grail, a harp, and a sword—to battle the welling forces of darkness and banish them forever from the earth.

   
• Pierre Et Gilles: 'Double Je 1976-2007'

  When Pierre met Gilles in 1976, an artistic marriage was made in heaven. The combination of Gilles' painterly sets combined with Pierre's photography has led to 30 years' worth of portraits ranging from the kitsch to the homoerotic, tinged with beauty and humour throughout.

   
• Bill Buford: 'Heat'

  Have you ever wondered if you were meant to be a chef? Test yourself: Imagine the toothpaste consistency of raw lard from a pig’s back hand-cured with herbs and salt; pasta with oysters and caviar; frogs legs fried in bread crumbs and served with fennel pollen - if these dishes sound delicious, you too may be destined for the three-star kitchens of 'Heat', where art and artistry collide.

   
• Chuck Palahniuk: 'Rant'

  The renowned author of Fight Club returns with his eighth novel and it presents an interesting stylistic development. Developing the postmodernist concept of the meta-narrative as being central to the literature of our age, Palahniuk offers an oral biography of a white redneck who develops a disease which is slowly wiping out the human race.

   

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