ALASDAIR GRAY: A SECRETARY’S BIOGRAPHY

This book was published in hardback on September 8th 2008, in paperback in September 2009, and was widely reviewed, by everyone from Time Magazine to the The Scotsman to Jonathan Coe in the London Review of Books. The vast majority of these were good, and the book won the 2009 Somerset Maugham Award for Non-Fiction. Suspiciously enough, Alasdair himself even reviewed it in The Guardian, and gave a general thumbs up (with a few small complaints…) A sample of the reviews can be found here:

Karl Miller in the Times Literary Supplement– ‘Faustian Fun with Alasdair Gray’
Allan Massie in The Scotsman – ‘Shades of Gray’
Ian Sansom in The Guardian – ‘It Didn’t Seem Like Much Fun at the Time’,
Lewis Jones in the Financial Times – ‘Old Man in Penury’
Michael Brunton in Time Magazine – ‘Shades of Gray’
and Alasdair’s own assessment of reading his life in print – ‘Be My Boswell!’

These are all generally positive, but you’ll find a couple of spikier assessments below:

James Purdon in The Observer– ‘In Shades of Gray’
Andro Linklater in The Spectator – ‘Perhaps the Greatest?’

HOPE FOR NEWBORNS

Rodge’s novel Hope for Newborns was released in paperback by his fiction publishers, Faber and Faber, on 4th June 2009. Review coverage for this was more widespread and more positive than for debut No Fireworks. Here are links to a few of the reviews for Hope for Newborns in trade paperback format, published in 2008:

Nicholas Royale in The Independent – ‘There’s Nothing Funny About Rodge Glass’s Excellent ‘Comic’ Novel’
Roger Cox in The Scotsman – ‘Razor Sharp View of Confusion’
Alfred Hickling in The Guardian – ‘Pride of Place’
Keir Hind in The Skinny , interview/feature – ‘One to Watch’
NB: You can read the first chapter of Hope for Newborns, ‘Aftermath of an Attack’, on the ‘From Glasgow to Saturn’ website:
A further extract is published in the July Issue of online magazine 3am
An interview with Rodge by Katie Popperwell at City Life Magazine can be found here.
An interview with Rodge by Sharon Blackie of Two Raven Press can be found here.

Reviews of No Fireworks:

“No Fireworks is both thoughtful and brave, offering a bleakly humorous and moving take on one man’s struggle to restore his faith – in himself, his family and ultimately, his God.” 
The Times Literary Supplement

“A superb debut novel…Like the best tragic-comedies, it is written with a pin-sharp sense of character, isn’t afraid to take swings at the deepest subjects and can spin between the two modes at will.” 
The Scotsman

“A fine debut novel” 
The Herald

“Rodge Glass is a very good comic writer” 
The Independent on Sunday

“A wonderful debut by a writer we will certainly be hearing more from. Touching, funny and compelling.”
Louise Welsh, author of The Cutting Room

“An impressive achievement…Charming and idiosyncratic, it is literary fiction reminiscent of Zadie Smith or Hanif Kureishi in its exploration of characters who are intriguing without exactly being likeable.”
City Life

“Glass has jumped on the Jewish bandwagon…even your houseplants will work out what happens at the end.”
The Daily Telegraph

Reviews of The Year of Open Doors:

"A very important book...a genuine breakout collection"
Irvine Welsh

"Everything that is brilliant about Scotland and new writing."
The Skinny

"Cargo Publishing has taken a risk here...[it] has paid off in spades. Deserves to be read. And recommended."
The Scotsman

"Immaculate collection...a mission to revive Scotland's independent literary tradition"
The List

"Buy two and give one to someone you care about...a superb collection, unbelievably important"
Indelible Ink

"The most Scottish collection of the year...a book to admire."
The Independent

Reviews of Dougie’s War

Here is a sample of the reviews. For a fuller account of Dougie’s War, please go to www.dougieswar.com

“…throughout the book Dave Turbitt finds effective ways to illustrate the sheer psychic disruption of PTSD, the sudden intrusion of nightmares into waking life. His most powerful images find a minimal modernism for Joe Colquhoun’s expressionism…”
Scottish Review of Books

“a hard-hitting tale of post traumatic stress syndrome… it hammers home its message without being preachy… as forceful as any conventional novel or non-fiction account”
The Big Issue

“its attempt to be honest, without being sensational or voyeuristic about the tragedy of war, is a successful and admirable one”
Sunday Herald

“a highly unusual novel with graphics… like the writing, the artwork is excellent”
Sunday Express

“…raises questions about the validity of the wars our country is conducting and, particularly, the effect these conflicts have on those involved.”
The Spectator