books


BOOK OF THE MONTH


THE GOOD SOLDIERS DAVID FINKEL (ANTLANTIC) Journalists don’t tend to write bad things about the forces they’re embedded with – that’s why the military like the procedure of embedding so much. Despite that caveat, it’s hard to deny that The Good Soldiers – David Finkel’s account of his time with the 2-16 battalion in Iraq during the 2007/8 surge – is a moving and often haunting work. It is a factual account, but one that unravels with novelistic insight and emotion. The soldiers of 2-16 are not painted as perfect heroes. The book does not flinch from recounting tales of gung ho helicopter crews firing on unarmed journalists, or of the racial slurs thrown around. In describing the hell


hole of a city tearing itself apart, Finkel does give some context for the men’s flaws. A complex and controversial war becomes a tale of personal loss and psychological disconnection that will dispel any remaining myths of war as glorious.MM


THE BIG PENIS BOOK 3D ed. Dian Hanson( Taschen)


Never has a book brought so much joy and de- spair in equal measure as The Big Penis Book did to the Buzz office three years ago. Now it’s back and in 3D so page after page you’ll find penises so frighteningly enormous the 3D gives the illusion they’re going to poke, sorry stab, you in the eye. A great coffee table book, unless you have children or a really insecure man in your life. AB


DOVETAIL


Jeremy Hughes (Alcemi) If you like thrillers, Dovetail is certainly worth your time. The story is masterfully built around one man’s pain after being physically abused at the age of 15 and his obsession with revenge. The suspense of when and how his reprisal will take place will keep you reading to the end. Dovetail will speak to those that have suffered, or know someone that has suffered, from bullying; serving as a perfectly viable example of how traumatizing it can be, and what it can turn you into. AF


KISS ME QUICK Danny Miler (Robinson Publishing) Set in Brighton over a bank holiday weekend in 1964, this visceral tale introduces us to the handsome detective Vince Treadwell who is sent to solve a murder and catch a recently released gangster. Rioting mods and rockers, love in unusual places, drugs, prostitution, pornography, gratuitous violence and a smat- tering of police corruption blend to make this a page turner with a compelling plot. With names like Bobbi Lavita, this is full of vivid and Machiavellian characters. Despite the graphic detail, this is a thrilling read. EC


MICROFICTION: SOOTHING MUSIC FOR STRAY CATS


PERFECT ARCHITECT Jayne Joso (Alcaemi) Driven by Jayne Joso’s personal passion for architecture, Perfect Architect deals with the nature of architectural, artistic and romantic obsession. With the loss of her architect husband, Gaia Ore discovers a secret stash of correspondence between her husband and an- other woman. These initially mysterious letters link with an architectural competition to design the perfect home. An intriguing read based on somewhat unusual subject matter; Jayne Joso demonstrates an insightful understanding of the natural obsession with attempting to discover that dream place we call home. GL


POOR MAN’S PARLIAMENT Martin Shipton (Seren) Political histories always reflect something of the author’s personal bias. There are times in Poor Man’s Parliament, however, when Martin Shipton’s determination to straw man the anti- devolutionist argument actively detracts from the story he’s trying to tell. That’s a shame because this is otherwise easily one of the most authoritative histories we’re likely to get of the Welsh Assembly’s fledgling years. Worth a read if you’re already sold on devolution; if not, it may just annoy you.MM


THE SLAP Christos Tsiolkas (Atlantic Books) Christos Tsiolkas’s novel examines the notion of political correctness in contemporary multicultural Australia. The titular slap takes place at a barbeque when a man disciplines a three-year-old by hitting him. This acts as a starting pistol for a chain of events which are explored through the interior monologues of each of those present. Through the breathless soap opera-like narrative, we learn that the perfect lives and liberal beliefs of the middle class characters are all just pretence and illusion. The characters aren’t endearing, but their explicit, brutal honesty is captivating. SH


I walked from room to room with a sort of shiver, I don’t know why. And I felt dead lonely. Ron hollered out that I should switch more lights on, but I could make things out well enough, and the whole super-bright bulb scenario was irritating me. I’d never thought about it before, how much artificial light bothers me, how it seems to suck more out of things than it ‘illuminates’, how it empties a place and stops you seeing. After a bit, I sat down on the corner of this massive double bed, probably ‘king size’. I dunno why, but I took me shoes off and I just sat there feeling the weight of my feet on these rough wooden floorboards, and then I felt this pain in my chest. I put my head in my hands. I felt very lost. I wondered if, in time, I would understand Jim; I wondered if I could work out why he’d killed himself – but at the same time, I figured that maybe you can only truly understand it when you’re just about to do the same, maybe you only know the ‘why’ of it yourself just before you go. And by then,


BUZZ 46


maybe there is no ‘why’ anymore, and maybe that’s what made him do it. He’d left no note, not that anyone had found, but if I thought for long enough would I be able to imagine what he was feeling? Part of me wanted to know what was going through that head of his, and part of me, I guess the bigger part, was scared of that. Total coward at heart. But how long had he been fighting it, how long had he wanted to do it? And the final decision, was that taken in that one last moment? And was there… one last moment… a snap of time when things could have been changed?


Having lived and worked in Japan and China, Jayne Joso now lives in London. Soothing Music For Stray Cats is her first novel. As well as fiction and drama, Joso has a huge fascination with architecture and her latest novel Perfect Architect is out this April and can be purchased alongside Soothing Music For Stray Cats at www.alcemi.eu


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