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John Darnielle – Wolf in White Van | Review

Title: Wolf in White Van

Author: John Darnielle

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 216

Rating: 3.5*/5

John Darnielle – Wolf in White Van

This book took me a little while to get into, but I think that’s almost the point of it. It’s a multi-layered little thing, something you could re-read a bunch of times and pick up something different every time.

It’s actually kind of hard to explain what this book is about, but I guess I’ll give it a stab. We follow a kid with a facial disfigurement who runs a sort of cross between a Choose Your Own Adventure book and a game of Dungeons and Dragons via postal correspondence. And while there is a plot of sorts, it’s not necessarily linear, so the book itself is both confusing and kind of rewarding.

It’s also written by John Darnielle, the lead singer/songwriter of The Mountain Goats, which is one of my favourite bands. I guess that could potentially bias me in the book’s favour, but the truth is that it made me a tougher critic than I would usually be. Still, it was definitely an interesting book that was worth reading, I’m just not sure whether I actually enjoyed it.If anything, it was more like a workout for my brain, and that’s fine.

John Darnielle

Click here to buy Wolf in White Van.

Stevyn Colgan – Joined-Up Thinking | Review

Title: Joined-Up Thinking

Author: Stevyn Colgan

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 254

Rating: 8/10

Stevyn Colgan – Joined-Up Thinking

I first heard about Stevyn Colgan after a friend suggested that I should invite him to be a speaker at the writers’ group that I’m organising. He’s a local writer who’s attained a certain level of success, winning praise from Stephen Fry and Q.I. creators John Lloyd and John Mitchinson – in fact, Colgan went on to become an Elf on the show, a term that’s used to describe their researchers.

Because of this, I already knew quite a lot of the facts that Colgan includes in the book – many of them were recycled and used within the show, and I’ve watched every episode multiple times. That said, it didn’t really matter, because Colgan’s point here is that everything’s connected – he’s effectively using the six degrees of separation with facts.

For example, he may begin by explaining how to hypnotise a chicken, then relate that to chicken nuggets, then relate that to the gold rush, then relate that to the song Gold by Spandau Ballet, and then it might transpire that the lead singer for Spandau Ballet (Tony Hadley) keeps pet chickens.

Now, that’s a hypothetical example, and Colgan is much better at making links than I am, but it does illustrate how the book is laid out. In fact, every single chapter, including the final chapter which houses the acknowledgements and dedications, is written in a loop. Must’ve been challenging to plan, but it’s well-executed.