TOP 100 BOOK SITES
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| Video: Highlights of Marina Hyde's interview with Charlie Brooker Marina Hyde talks to fellow Guardian columnist Charlie Brooker about his new book The Hell of it All and how the stress of writing Channel 4 zom-com Dead Set reduced him to sitting sobbing in his pantsCharlie BrookerMarina HydeAndy Gallagher feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Paul Durcan, Eleanor Catton and Christmas lists In today's podcast, Claire Armitstead, John Crace and Sarah Crown tackle the celebrity "books of the year" lists, asking why they've become such a fixture of the newspaper calendar. John Crace provides a digested codebook that will help you to read between the lines of the celebrities' recommendations, and in case you're not taken with their suggestions, the panel come up with a few of their own.Next, the poet Paul Durcan talks to Sarah Crown about the challenges of collecting 40 years' work into a single volume, and, in advance of next week's Guardian first book prize, Claire Armitstead talks teenagers with Eleanor Catton, whose brilliant and controversial shortlisted debut novel The Rehearsal is set in a girls' high school.The Guardian books podcast books of the yearThe Rehearsal, by Eleanor Catton (Granta)Life is a Dream: 40 years reading poems 1967-2007, by Paul Durcan (Harvill Secker)The Children's Book, by AS Byatt (Chatto & Windus)The Gate at the Stairs, Lorrie Moore (Faber)The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (and/or the previous two in the trilogy), by Stieg Larsson (Maclehose Press)Family Britain, 1951-57 by David Kynaston (Bloomsbury)Perfumes: The A-Z Guide by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez (Profile)100 Facts about Pandas by David O'Doherty, Claudia O'Doherty and Mike Ahern (Square Peg)Big Chiv! My Goals in Life by Martin Chivers (Vision Sports)Claire ArmitsteadSarah CrownJohn CraceScott Cawley feeds.guardian.co.uk |
This week's comedy previews Mark Watson's Earth Summit, LondonVariously a novelist, experimental theatre director and TV quizmaster (on BBC4's We Need Answers), as well as one of the UK's most consistently entertaining standups, Mark Watson's output is certainly eclectic. Not everything he does gets rave reviews, though: his venture fronting the Magners Pear Cider ad campaign saw him accused of selling out and inspired a hefty chunk of advert-phobic Stewart Lee's current set. However, it's hard to muster anything other than admiration for the integrity of this latest offering, which develops on the themes of his 2008 book, Mark Watson Is Crap At The Environment, to create a gag-packed lecture on climate change, loosely in the vein of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth (in fact, Watson received prep training from Gore). On top of the Summit, Watson will be offering some work-in-progress featuring straight stand-up.Soho Theatre, W1, Earth Summit, to 20 Dec; Work In Progress, to 13 JanRussell Howard: Big Rooms And Belly Laughs, On tourWhile Michael McIntyre's graduation to stadium gigs has received a lot of attention and comment, 2009's also seen another hyperkinetic observational comic moving up to the major leagues. Off the back of several years' hard touring (allied to a regular spot on Mock The Week and, more recently, his own topical BBC3 show), Russell Howard is now able to fill some of the biggest venues in the country. You might wonder how Howard's deliberately unshowbizzy, slacker-ish manner will fare in such cavernous spaces, but the secret of his seemingly ever-increasing success rests on an awesome ability to connect with an audience. At heart, Howard's simply an instinctive entertainer, and one who can hit the spot whether in a pub or at Wembley Arena.Cardiff International Arena, Sat; Wembley Arena, HA9, Sun; Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, Mon; Trent FM Arena, Nottingham, Tue; Liverpool Echo Arena, Wed; Birmingham NIA, Thu; AECC, Aberdeen, FriMustard MagazineThe past few years have seen the joyful birth of not one but two first-class comedy fanzines. Unfortunately, both enterprises are having some difficulty weathering the current economic climate: The Fix is facing closure following a dispute with its landlords (watch out for a benefit gala at the Bloomsbury this month), while Mustard has temporarily parked its print incarnation in favour of an online-only existence. Fortunately, the refurbished website provides more than enough to keep comedy fans happy, including reprints of exclusive (and very revealing) interviews with the likes of Father Ted creator Graham Linehan, Michael Palin and comics icon Alan Moore, plus original humorous content from the Mustard team. In its short existence to date, the mag's picked up a lot of admirers; Linehan even used copies to decorate the set of The IT Crowd. A Mustard book is planned for 2010.ComedyStewart LeeAl GoreAlan MooreJames KettleGraham Linehanguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
This week: Umar Farouk Abdulmullatab, Margaret Thatcher and PD James Lucy Mangan on the people making the headlines whether they want to or notIntelligence testUmar Farouk AbdulmullatabHey, look, we've all been there. You suffer a break-in (or the worst terrorist attack in history), you install an anti-burglar device (or a $40bn airport and airline security system), and then you forget to set the alarm.Thus it was that the 23-year-old Nigerian was able to spring gaily aboard a aeroplane from Amsterdam to Detroit and apparently try to detonate – with a syringe full of chemicals – the high explosives he had strapped to his leg, despite members of his family warning US officials in November he had extremist views, his presence on a watchlist and intelligence from Yemen that a branch of al-Qaida was discussing the readying of "a Nigerian" for an attack. And a very happy new year to you all. Going anywhere nice in 2010?Iron sideMargaret ThatcherShould auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind … There is always the National Archives and the 30-year rule to remedy the situation. This week files charting the first weeks in office of the Iron Lady (pictured) in 1979 were opened and revelations coursed out like bitter sweets from a poisonous piñata.Her first days on the job were spent telling her home and foreign secretaries it was "quite wrong that immigrants should be given council housing whereas white citizens were not", chopping spending, suggesting people who wrote to disagree with the limitations on accepting Vietnamese refugees be invited to accept one into their homes and – oh, just being altogether too delightful for words. Thirty years ago and it seems like only yesterday. Probably because the worst of her lives on in every particle of the tottering infrastructure of the country. It's almost like she'll never leave us.Smart inspectorPD JamesA late entrant but clear winner for interview of the year arrived on the final day of 2009 when the 89-year-old crime novelist put the boot – exquisitely politely – into the director general of the BBC, Mark Thompson.A former governor of the institution, James likened the corporation to a giant, unwieldy ship carrying too much cargo and likely to burst the plimsoll line at any moment. She questioned its captain on how much executives are paid and why so little seems to trickle down to the people making the programmes, its alleged ageism, whether the BBC had lost its sense of purpose and whether her life was much the poorer for not having seem parts of its output like Dog Borstal.Thompson replied respectively "Umm," "Err" "Nnngh" and "Mmpf". We paraphrase but not much. PD James for DG, PM or anything else she wants in 2010, s'il vous plaît.What the said"From one Queen to another." Tom Binns, the BRMB radio DJ sacked for interrupting HM's speech when the station accidentally switched its feed, and put on a Wham! song instead."Trying to figure out my plans for new years. Know what I want to do but it's not that easy."One of the status updates on the Facebook page belonging to Craig Lynch, who escaped from jail three months ago."I was a complete wally to have it in the first place."Actor Susan Penhaligon resolves on a new year without Botox.What we've learnedNew York's murder rate in 2009 is the lowest since records beganUK's oldest duck, mallard Edwina, 22, has diedOne in five Britons will holiday at home this yearThere is a general for every 415 men in the armyJack and Olivia were the most popular names for those born in 2009Publishers pulp 77m unsold books a year… and what we haven'tWhich shops are going to restore the VAT cut, when and on whatMargaret ThatcherPD JamesBBCMark ThompsonLucy Manganguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Betweenland I and X by Philip Gross Two poems from The Water Table, Philip Gross's TS Eliot prize-winning collectionBetweenland IA body of water: water's bodythat seems to have a mind (andchange it: isn't that what makesa mind, its changing?) not muchprone to thinking – rather, thoughtscurl through it, salt or fresh, or hangbetween states; sometimes glossthe surface with their oil-illuminations.Wind-worried to dullness, pulled two ways(earth and moon like parents not quitein accord), unquiet body, it can neverquite lay down its silt; always tryingto be something other, to be sky,to lose itself in absolute reflection. Betweenland XJust after sunset, and the tidehigh, almost white, dull-lambent like nothing the skyholds or could lend it. Eachshore, this and that shore,black, a particularblackness pinned in placeby each house- or street-lamp.Done with. As if landwas night, and us its night-thoughtsand the river was the draining downof daylight, westwards and outof the world, so how could you not(your gaze at least) feel drawnand want, half want, to follow?The Water Table by Philip Gross is published by Bloodaxe BooksTS Eliot prize for poetryPoetryOriginal writingguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |