BOOK REVIEWS

      I have dispensed with my 'Books of the Year' postings  which covered the years 2009 and 2010, and now attempt to review a selection of books that I have read both good and bad, in editions old and new. Much of what I buy is often based on suggestions by others, or some train of thought that makes me think "maybe I should try..." so they are not necessarily all strange/supernatural fiction.
       With many small press books costing around £35-£40 each, and some seemingly worthy tomes changing hands on the second hand market for many times that, these reviews may also give the potential purchaser some indication of what they might receive for their money. Needless to say, my opinions should not be given any great value as I bring my own foibles to every review and these may change at any time.

Quentin S. Crisp 'Remember You're A One-Ball' 

(Chomu Press 2010)

This was previously reviewed by myself as one of my 'Books Of The Year 2010'.

      Quentin Crisp is a  "consummate prose stylist" as Mr. Joshi might say. His tale 'Ynys-y-Plag' from his collection 'All Gods Angels Beware' (Ex-Occidente 2009) was the best short story I read that year.  Whilst I have found Crisps stories a little too discursive at times, none of that is to be found in his wonderful debut novel.

      This is grim (in the best possible!) way, and concerns the dark underside of school life and the equally strange currents that drive those who teach in it. I am sure everyone has been in situations where they feel that something that affects them is happening elsewhere and they are not a party to it. The power politics of school and school-yard are brutally exposed and it is not until some way into the book that the true horror of the situation begins to emerge. The protagonist has to decide whether to expose it or become of it. 

       Crisp, as always, writes beautifully honed barbs of prose which he elegantly but brutally shoves into the reader. Visceral is a term overused in the horror genre, though one could equally classify this book as satire. Neither term really reflects or does justice to this book. It is the best thing he has written to date- and there has been plenty of fine writing before this.

      Chomu Press is relatively new but will certainly be one to watch in 2011 as its forthcoming book list looks wonderful.