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1993-11-09
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7KB
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139 lines
Of the Faking of Books There is no End
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Are you tired of the Booker Prize? Tired of seeing the same few authors
review and reward each other? Ach, you must be tired of life itself!
STEN disczine, in assocation with FaberHarperCollinsMacMillanPenguinViking
CapePanMurdoch PLC, is proud to present its own 'Best of British' book
promotion. And before you say it, yes, we know that some of the authors
aren't British - but did we ever claim to be consistent? STEN will do
everything in its power to get Great Literature to the check-outs.
"Paint, Drying Slowly" by Anita Brookner
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"Paint Drying Slowly" continues Anita's obsession with the world of the
lonely, but genteel, Middle Class Lady of a Certain Age. Patricia, the
main character, lives a life of quiet desperation in which her only
consolation is the memory of her overbearing mother. Nothing really
happens in this book, but Patricia's memories and sad hopes are set down
beautifully, if endlessly. The title is a quotation from Eliot, "the
sadness of the last drop of paint, drying slowly"; an apt metaphor for
Patricia's isolation and private pleasures. This is a fine performance
by one of our best novelists, and a sad insight into a vanishing world.
Reviewed by Martin Amis
"Blood, Sweat and Shit" by Martin Amis
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Martin Amis' familiarity with his materials and characters has begun to
disturb me. How far can he think himself into the soul of an urban
outcast without becoming one himself? This book continues the theme he
set out in "South London Blues" of how the decline of the inner cities is
reflected in the desperation of their inhabitants. Those who can have
got out, and those who are left form an abandoned sub-class, observed by
media 'groupies' and the professional classes. They all have a stake in
the breakdown of society and, as events develop, it becomes increasingly
difficult to tell them apart. This is a bravura performance by the best
of our younger novelists, and a frightening insight into an amoral world.
Reviewed by Anita Brookner
"Same Enchanted Evening: Book 13 in the Tedium Cycle" by David Eddings
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Edding's epic imagination continues to astound me! This book, the
thirteenth in the twenty-four part Tedium Cycle, continues from where
"Sorceror's Afternoon" left off. Tarka the Other's quest has awoken the
God Skomer, and the Prophecy of Fiche is about to be fulfilled.
Tarka the Other faces the classic dilemma of a questing hero; should he
ally himelf with his people's traditional enemies, the Anoraks, or should
he continue to plough his lonely furrow in the hope that it will bear
fruit? I won't spoil the plot for you by saying any more (you can
probably guess it anyway!) but I think it's enough to say that his
writing goes from strength to strength, as well as from pillar to post.
The depth of the characterisation will come as a suprise to those of you
who only know Eddings from his sixteen book "Cities of Plastoid" Epic.
Eddings has already released the first six books in his next series, "The
Haemorrhoid", and his publishers are preparing a special Library Format
Paperback Limited Edition of the complete Tedium cycle, complete with
'sell by' dates on each cover. Buy it now, before it becomes a
collector's item!
Reviewed by Dr Willis E. McNelly
"Secrets of the Power Users: How to Revolutionise Your Company on the Sly"
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by Allen W. Alden, 107pp, Sunday Times Publications, £35
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Not many people know abaht Alden in Britain, but he's known in the States
as a self-starting business Samurai. His new book, "Secrets of the Power
Users" is just that - access to the fast promotion track for every man
with a 586 on his desk and a palmtop in his pocket. O.K, it's bullshit,
but it's plausible bullshit and I certainly didn't get where I am today
by being honest.
His last book, "The Way of the Fly" was taken up by American Army
Intelligence as a fourth level training manual, and applied to the
Iranian Hostage Crisis. And you all know how successful that was.
"Secrets of the Power Users" is for the Great and the Powerful - THE book
to have on your desk in '93. Go screw them before they screw you!
Dictated by Alan Sugar
"Suckers" by Madonna
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£250, Limited Edition, latex slip cover, printed on distressed acetate
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The Material Girl's latest opus has already been described as "A work of
genius" by Adam Sweeting of the Guardian, and Camilla Paglia's erudite
conclusion, "A most exquisite wank", still rings in my ears.
"Suckers" has a delicate and understated latex cover, enclosing 44 sheets
of large format photographic film. Each sheet reproduces an imaginary
event in Madonna's life, from early childhood to the multi-talented
present. Each sheet has been subjected to sufficient heat and light to
render it almost unreadable. It sounds pretentious, I know, but even the
most prejudiced viewer will warm to the fire that she brings to the
project.
Each imaginary episode reflects the dark side of Madonna. This, for
anyone unfamiliar with her work, is the left side when lit from the right,
or the right side when lit from the left. Whichever, it liberates her
from conventional restraints and frees her to instruct us. Her meagre body
becomes beautiful when wrapped in kitchen foil and baked at gas mark 5,
and the sheet's scrawled text ("if you can't stand the heat then stay out
of the kitchen") deserves to become an icon of the nineties. If '92 was
the year of Lesbian Chic, then '93 is the year of Bare-Arsed Cheek!
Julie Cairo ('19 Magazine')
~~~~~eof~~~~~