ENTERTAINMENT

BOOKS

A FRACTION OF THE WHOLE

STEVE TOLTZ
OUT 1 JUNE, £17.99 (APPROX. €23)

Early on in this debut from novelist Steve Toltz, dejected narrator Jasper Dean sits in his prison cell with a riot going on around him, and muses that freedom isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, “Because out there in the real world, freedom means you have to admit authorship, even when your story turns out to be a stinker.” It’s an irresistible nod to the anxiety of a man working on his first novel, and the ambitious and fast-paced story that follows can be read as Toltz’s efforts to shun any genuine rookie jitters and deliver a unique voice to the world.

And for the most part it works. Toltz’s tale takes readers on a bizarre romp around the world, with Jasper recounting a family history that centres mainly on the adventures of his eccentric and abusive father and his charismatic criminal uncle. Having lived in the confusing shadow of his father for most of his life, Jasper finds himself freed by the old man’s death and is suddenly compelled to tell the story of the man who raised him. Toltz has been compared with Martin Amis and Chuck Palahniuk, and while he does share certain characteristics with those writers, Toltz’s style is defined by his love of one-liners. Glib punch lines tumble one after the other, his word play building a strangely off-kilter world and growing into real laugh-out-loud moments as the reader is swept away on what Jasper calls his “hideous odyssey”. It’s not all jokes though – the rapid-fire delivery helps to carry readers through the chunky novel’s 711 pages, but Toltz also has the sense and ability to offer more than just a stream of gags. It’s a cold-hearted reader who doesn’t begin to genuinely feel for Jasper and his touchingly dysfunctional family relationships, all of which combines for an impressive and distinctive debut from this promising new writer.

THE KHYBER PASS

PADDY DOCHERTY
OUT IN PAPERBACK 1 MAY, £9.99 (APPROX. €13)

An absorbing history of the world-famous route from Afghanistan to Pakistan, Paddy Docherty’s account of this rockily foreboding landscape is concerned as much with the confl ict and culture of modern day as it is with the forces that have shaped it for more than 2,000 years.

Thirty miles long, and at its narrowest just 16m wide, the Khyber Pass has long been a key asset for any force seeking to exert its infl uence on this part of the world. Docherty documents the Persians, Mongols, Greeks and, of course, the British and American protagonists who have all attempted to take the Pass, all of them finding it a dangerous and valuable place. Passionate about and well acquainted with his subject, Docherty uses his own travels to bring the history to life, creating a fascinating study of man’s desire to conquer the world around him.

MAGAZINES

PROUD.

AMSTERDAM MAGAZINE
FREE IN SELECT LOCATIONS AROUND AMSTERDAM

Commissioned by the City of Amsterdam and Amsterdam Foreign Investment Office, and produced by future-thinking marketing and advertising agency Bureau Pindakaas, Proud. is a new free magazine dedicated to promoting business opportunities in the city. “The project started life as a brochure,” explains Bureau Pindakaas creative director Peggy Stein, “but then the client wanted something more so we started to explore the possibilities of a magazine. Amsterdam is more than just a city to work in and the magazine reflects that – it’s a great place to live as well as a good place to do business, with a fantastic quality of life and a very good tax environment.”

Focusing on inspirational businessmen who have come from around the world to work in Amsterdam’s international companies, the magazine uses big, stylish photography to show its executives in their various working environments, while the simple, modern design reflects the city’s ambitions as one of the best places to live and work in the world.

MUSIC

SILENCE TALKS NICOLAS MEIER
OUT 21 APRIL, £12 (APPROX. €15)

Listening to Silence Talks, and especially its opening song October in Ankara, it’s easy to imagine that Nicolas Meier must be of Middle Eastern background. In fact, the British-based musician is originally from Switzerland, but his wife is Turkish and he draws much inspiration from her home country. Mixing these Turkish infl uences with jazz and fl amenco, Meier delivers a virtuoso album, his guitar playing dominating the music and astounding listeners with its speed and complexity. The rest of the band hold their own too, particularly Gilad Atzmon on clarinet and saxophone, his beautiful sections incredibly clear and pronounced. There’s no doubting that the quartet have been playing together for a long time, but Meier remains the star of the show, an inventive and hugely accomplished musician and one of the rising stars of British jazz.

JANUS PLAYS TELEPHONE THE LANDAU ORCHESTRA
OUT 5 MAY, £12 (APPROX. €15)

Marrying traditional orchestral instruments and jazz refrains with glitchy lines and playful electronic experimentation, this latest offering from The Landau Orchestra is an innovative and engaging album. The opening track Morning Child is misleading, its upbeat soul mismatched with the more introspective music that follows. Some of the most atmospheric moments come from the remixes of Javier Navarrete’s soundtrack to the Guillermo del Toro film Pan’s Labyrinth, combining h the brooding menace of the film with its fairytale magic and Spanish fl ourishes, all mixed up with the electronic intervention of the band’s laptops. There have been comparisons with artists including Autechre and Matmos, though the album is more immediately accessible than that, presenting a neat crossover between jazz and electronica.

MOVIES

CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR
OUT 5 MAY, £19.99 (APPROX. €25)

Based on the true story of playboy congressman Charlie Wilson and his key role in the arming of Afghanistan’s freedom fighters in their battle against the Soviet Union,Charlie Wilson’s War is an r odd film. Wilson’s Afghan project was the biggest covert operation in US history, but to champion this today without referring to the fact that it is now the US at war with Afghan freedom fighters rings hollow. The problem is tackled by focusing on the personalities involved, and Tom Hanks as Charlie Wilson and Philip Seymour Hoffman as sinister CIA operative Gust Avrakotos are a captivating combination, but the film is more interesting for what it leaves out than the action it includes.

VERHOEVEN COLLECTION
OUT 26 MAY, £24.99 (APPROX. €32)

Arguably the most successful Dutch director in Hollywood, Paul Verhoeven was the man behind such popcorn classics as Robocop, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers. He received critical acclaim last year with Zwartboek ( k Black Book), which told k the story of a Jewish woman seducing Nazi officers on behalf of the Dutch resistance. Following this success, Tartan Video is releasing five of his early films, featuring the recurring themes of sex and war, and serving as precursors to his Hollywood work as well as good movies in their own right.

ONLINE

www.ERRANDSETC.CO.UK

They’ll queue at the post office for you, pick up your dry cleaning, pay your parking fines or do practically any other mundane task that you don’t have time (or just can’t be bothered) to do. With such personal services identified as a key part of the new luxury market (see page 26) the idea of paying for your errands is likely to become more commonplace, especially as more people live in cities away from parents and other family members who would otherwise be called on to help out.