"We're sending millions to fight fascists in Europe, but they're here – metre and rhyme!" Hmm. The fact that battles fought in the library of Columbia University appear unavoidably peripheral when the second world war is raging elsewhere is just one of the problems facing this earnest, enthusiastic, but oddly irksome take on the birth of the Beat poets, a group already overserved by swooning cinematic tribute. Daniel Radcliffe makes a surprisingly strong fist of his central role as a young Allen Ginsberg, the nebbishy son of a poet who arrives at university with a head full of uptight anxieties, which are promptly undone by his infatuation with Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan, looking more like a young Leonardo than DiCaprio himself) and his first heady whiff of drink and drugs. Carr is a boisterous irritant who introduces Ginsberg to the equally youthful Kerouac and Burroughs (the latter first seen grimly inhaling nitrous oxide in a bathtub) while heading inexorably towards a grisly appointment with love and death. But before that, he must leap on to desks, tear up books, and shriek drunkenly about the "new vision" in the manner of one who needs a good slap, but instead finds adoration and indulgence wherever he looks. Despite all the talk about radical new forms of art, director John Krokidas falls back frequently on the traditional cliches – the tearaway artists frantically typing to jazz, or scribbling through cigarette smoke in cafes and clubs, the evidence of their emergent genius remaining all but impossible to dramatise. There's an admirable candour to the film's investigation of its subjects' sexuality, and a clear love of the material which seeps through the screen even as the characters alienate and annoy – one another, and us. Ultimately, it's oddly conservative fare; well played, handsomely mounted, but as inert as the books that its protagonists blithely hurl from the shelves.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Kill Your Darlings – review | Mark Kermode
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Young Bond series by Charlie Higson - review
I love all of Charlie Higson's other books like The Dead and The Enemy, which my dad introduced me to as he spoke to him on Twitter and got me a signed photo, so straight away I knew I would like this series of books. And I must say I did. They were packed to the brim with action, violence, strategy and gruesome deaths - all of which I love and really enjoy reading and writing.
James Bond is the main character in all the stories. There are five in the series starting with Silverfin, which is packed with secrets and strange eels, he also meets his soon to be life long friend, Red Kelly.
Then there is Double or Die where there is a cryptic message sent to Eton and James' friend crashes his car.
Next there is Blood Fever, which by the way if you don't like mosquitos you better not read this book. From fake gold to a mysterious girl going missing.
After that there is Hurricane Gold where kidnap and stealing is flowing out of the book along with a human rat run.
And finally there is By Royal Command, full of Russians, Germans, the Hitler Youth and mad scientists. What more could you want?
There around 350 pages long each. I recommend these to 11 or 12+ as there is quite a lot of violence and gore, and also some swearing. However they are some of the best books I have ever read. And I have read a lot. Charlie Higson has also written The Enemy series, which I recommend not to you but to you older siblings or your dad.
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Monday, December 9, 2013
Weekend picks for book lovers
Spend your weekend reading about a biography of Norman Rockwell.A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. A link has been sent to your friend's email address.What should you read this weekend? USA TODAY's picks for book lovers include a new biography of American painter Norman Rockwell, and essays about reading by Britain's Nick Hornby.
American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell by Deborah Solomon; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 441 pp.; non-fiction
Why is it that so many great artists were so screwed up? Even Norman Rockwell. Norman Rockwell, for pete's sake!
He is the cornball king, the artist as fantasy storyteller, the artist of Americana. But was he a "real" artist? Art-world types argue about it to this day. Even Rockwell (especially Rockwell) dithered, dismissing himself as a mere illustrator while secretly longing to be taken seriously as an ARTIST, all caps.
As his new biographer, Deborah Solomon, makes clear, Rockwell was more than an illustrator. He painted arresting images that move us, inspire us, amuse us, that tell us something about ourselves and our times.
But his full story is often surprising.
If you thought you knew what Rockwell was all about, well, Solomon suggests maybe not. Did you know that he spent years in therapy with a leading psychiatrist — Erik Erikson — decades before seeing a shrink was routine?
USA TODAY says ***½ out of four. "Highly readable, illuminating."
Ten Years in the Tub: A Decade Soaking in Great Books; by Nick Hornby, McSweeney's, 464 pp.; non-fiction
Collects Hornby's "Stuff I've Been Reading" columns from Believer magazine.
USA TODAY says ***1/2. "Ten Years in the Tub is something to soak in and savor."
Stella Bain; by Anita Shreve, Little, Brown, 261 pp.; fiction
In Marne, France, in 1916, a woman drifts into consciousness on a battlefield hospital cot and realizes "that she does not know her own name."
USA TODAY says ***. "An intriguing character study that delivers compelling mystery without melodrama."
Double Down: Game Change 2012 by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann; Penguin Press, 482 pp.; non-fiction
The authors' sequel to the best seller Game Change looks back at the last presidential election.
USA TODAY says *** ½ out of four. "Heilemann and Halperin's ability to get behind the scenes and into Obama's head makes Double Down nearly as riveting as their first work about the 2008 election."
Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith; Simon & Schuster, 304 pp.; fiction
Investigator Arkady Renko is on the case after an investigative journalist named Tatiana Petrovna – inspired by the real-life Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya – dies after falling from the balcony of her abandoned apartment building.
USA TODAY says *** ½ out of four. "Smith's writing conveys irony, social commentary and wry humor in whippet-sleek phrasing."
Contributing reviewers: Maria Puente, Korina Lopez, Jocelyn McClurg, Aamer Madhani, Patty Rhule
Sunday, December 8, 2013
The essential Nelson Mandela reading list
Remember Nelson Mandela with these six books.A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. A link has been sent to your friend's email address.Nelson Mandela is remembered as an iconic activist, an empathetic leader and the public face of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Learn more about the former South African president, who died Dec. 5 at 95, with these books by and about him, written for readers of all ages:
Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
By Nelson Mandela
"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion," Mandela writes in this comprehensive autobiography, published in 1994. Beginning with his early life, the memoir recounts Mandela's rise to leadership and his thoughts during his 27-year imprisonment, building up to his election as president of South Africa in 1994. The basis for the current movie, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
Conversations with Myself
By Nelson Mandela (paperback edition has a foreword by Barack Obama)
Mandela opened his personal archive for this collection of letters, prison diaries, calendars and transcripts from more than 50 hours of recordings, which gives readers a raw, unfiltered glimpse into his mind-set. The book, published in 2010, also contains unfinished passages Mandela wrote in the process of putting together Long Walk to Freedom.
Nelson Mandela: A Life in Photographs
By David Elliot Cohen, text by John D. Battersby
Nelson Mandela was a man of words, but photos of his struggle are often just as moving. This 2009 coffee-table book mixes rarely seen images and more iconic photos that encapsulate Mandela's career – from activist, to prisoner, to Nobel Peace Prize-winning symbol of compassion – and pairs them with text by South African journalist Battersby.
Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation
By John Carlin
"Sports has the power to change the world," Mandela once said. Carlin's book, which was adapted into the 2009 movie Invictus (directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon), tells the story of how the leader used the finals of the 1995 rugby World Cup to help mend a racially divided South Africa.
Long Walk to Freedom (for children)
Abridged by Chris van Wyk, illustrated by Paddy Bouma
Paired with vibrant illustrations, van Wyk adapts Mandela's best-selling autobiography for the younger set, covering his childhood, education and the forces that led him into the public sphere as a political activist.
Nelson Mandela (for children)
By Kadir Nelson
Award-winning artist and author Kadir Nelson brings his powerful, evocative style in this illustrated picture-book biography of the global icon.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson – review
The discovery of fire, writes Wilson, marks the moment when 'upright apes became more fully human'. Photograph: AlamyEarly on in this fascinating history of the kitchen, Bee Wilson ponders the possibility that there was, thousands of years ago, a single man who discovered for the first time that food could be transformed by fire. If such a man had existed he would not only have started off the entire history of cooking, but he would also have been responsible for altering our very physiology. Wilson, quoting anthropologist Richard Wrangham, explains how the discovery of fire marks the decisive moment where "upright apes became more fully human", providing, through a more balanced and nourishing diet, "a dull human body with a brilliant human mind".
Wilson's book seems light-hearted at first glance but through its deep inquiry into our changing relationship with food and cooking, throws light on the evolution and development of humanity itself. Effortlessly and elegantly, Wilson shows us, through discussion of spoons, forks, fridges and hobs, how the entire history of our species can be navigated in a journey around the kitchen.
Wilson takes us down almost all possible routes in her exploration of kitchen-related invention, from the earliest knives and pots to futuristic "smart fridges" with Wi-Fi and Twitter feeds. In an especially enlightening passage, she explains the emergence of the overbite in our anatomy as correlating with the development of blunt, non-corrosive table cutlery in the 18th century (a development that reduced the amount of cutting and chewing done at meal-times, eliminating the need for teeth that could "cut" for us).
Despite the fascinating content, however, Wilson's witty, colloquial style can sometimes feel forced (as, say, in the comparison between a medieval knife and Harry Potter's wand) and occasionally gets in the way of the otherwise concise narrative. But this remains both a poignant history and a reflective study of how we live today; modern kitchens, despite their "hard, chilly lines", are "filled with ghosts" of the inventors and engineers that have influenced the way we cook through history. No matter how futuristic our appliances, the act of cooking will for ever be "an old, old thing: using the transformative power of fire to make things taste better".
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Hello and Goodbye by Patrick McCabe – review
Master of Irish gothic: Patrick McCabe. Photograph: Eamonn McCabeHello and Goodbye contains two gothic novels in a single volume. They share a common trait: the narrators of both books are already dead.
Hello Mr Bones is narrated by Balthazar Bowen. In a former life this dashing aristocrat had befriended Valentine Shannon, a boy from a small village in the west of Ireland. Their relationship ended back in 1969 when Valentine accused his older friend of interfering with him. Faced with disgrace, Balthazar drove his car into a lake. His evil spirit presently lurks on the streets of London, seeking revenge from Valentine – now a 42-year-old virgin who is in love with a single mother called Christine Taylor.
McCabe's main protagonist, who takes on several personae – but usually goes by the name of Mr Bones – embodies a creepiness that will send shivers down your spine.
But depraved tales of child abuse, murder and gratuitous violence are subtly implied by the cunning narrator, rather than directly presented on the page. This is done through wacky, sinister phrases like "collywobbles jingle bobs" and "It's a bad day for us but a good day for doggies!"
In Goodbye Mr Rat we meet Gabriel King, a former IRA volunteer who became an informer and then fled to America, where he met Beni Banikin, a lesbian Amish writer from Indiana. Soon afterwards, Gabriel died from prostate cancer. In accordance with his final wishes, Beni brings Gabriel's ashes back to a small village in Ireland to be scattered.
It's at this stage of the story that McCabe descends into farce mode: Gabriel witnesses his own mock funeral, where former Republican comrades pay their respects by stamping his ashes on to the carpet of the local pub, and drunkenly bid farewell with abusive remarks like "Goodbye Mr Rat!" and "Goodbye fucker!"
Details of both novels are laid out in hoodwinks, sly remarks and warped sexual innuendoes, rather than a plot line of the conventional sort.
Over his distinguished career, McCabe has probably written too much fiction for his own good. Sometimes this has damaged his reputation. But this latest offering is a rewarding experience which sees the master of the Irish gothic genre return to his best form in years.
Friday, November 15, 2013
The Bone Dragon by Alexia Casale – review
'Things are easier at night' … images of deep, quiet water abound in The Bone Dragon. Photograph: Liam Grant Photography/Alamy"People get it wrong when they talk about innocence," says Evie, the narrator of Alexia Casale's tremendous first novel. "They think it's something to do with ignorance about the facts of sex and all the nasty things that happen in the world. But facts don't change people: it's understanding how the facts feel that does."
Analysing Hamlet for English GCSE (Evie has little patience for the Danish prince's dithering) is nothing compared to the self-reflection she needs to deal with the emotional fallout from abuse. Evie leads us towards the heart of her darkness via narrative techniques that echo her fragile state of mind. Drawn inexorably to her past, she is nevertheless unable to look at it directly; instead, she protects her secrets like a dragon protects its hoard. She constantly withholds information, prepared to seed clues, but won't commit to full disclosure. The reader, like Evie, must make sense of her early years using only those fragments that rise from the deep – and those she can bring herself to share. "Some things should never be said … If you name the mist … you turn it solid, into something that no one should ever hold in their hands."
The novel opens with Evie waking from an operation on her damaged ribcage. When the surgeon presents her with a piece of her rib, she makes a necklace from it, carving the pendant into the shape of a dragon. For years she has been surrounded by loving, decent people (against whom she constantly judges herself): her protective adoptive parents; a fun-loving uncle; supportive friends; and an English teacher who seems to understand the feeling of "deep, dull, constant pain". What she suffered, however, remains buried. Evie gives short shrift to people who think they can advise a victim on something they haven't themselves experienced. Her two counsellors "got it as wrong as people can get it". It is the eponymous dragon who leads Evie back to where she does not want to go – and for a purpose yet to be determined.
This is neither fantasy nor magic realism. Beautifully evoked, the bone dragon is willed into existence by a tormented soul in need of help. He moves, says Evie, "with sinuous grace, winding down my arm and sitting on the back of my hand, tail curled around my little finger, possessive and warm". His character is imperious, his utterances cryptic. He tells her she is meant to heal, that "the keystone of our contract is that you should only understand as much as is to your benefit. You must trust."
In a series of haunting sequences, girl and dragon escape into the moonlit Fens. "Are you nocturnal?" Evie asks. "Let us simply say that many things are easier at night," the dragon replies. Images of cleansing fire and deep, quiet water abound, the night and swirling mists working as a perfect metaphor in the context of Evie's quest.
Weaving the central story with subplots involving bullying and a fatal car accident, Casale barely missteps. Dark, with unexpected twists and a strong – if disturbing – ending, the narrative has a relentless emotional charge. "I have come to you so that you will be free," says the bone dragon, in an outstanding debut that vividly portrays the power and fragility of the human heart and mind.