Witty, clever observations of modern life

Three Little Truths

by Eithne Shortall

Corvus, £12.99

Poet Billy Collins said that humour is a gate of departure, a way of enticing the reader so more serious things happen later; funny is the first thing you'd say about Eithne Shortall's suburban drama. Its portrayal of the residents of Pine Road, in the small and large moments of their lives, is relatable, contemporary and exceptionally witty. Character driven but with a plot that doesn't draw breath either, it's well-paced with clever observations on our modern jealousies and insecurities. But the novel also tackles weighty subjects: Martha and her daughters' experiences of assault; Edie and her frustrated longing to have a baby; Robin and her old life of casual criminality which she is trying to jettison. Shortall does all this with such a light touch, you are drawn in with a smile, and left contemplative afterwards. – Ruth McKee

Rick O’Shea: ‘I was never passionate about the idea of being on the radio’

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Flying columnists: the provincial press and the fight for Irish freedom

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Poem of the week: A Diurnal upon St Lucy’s Day

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Wittgenstein’s Nephew

By Thomas Bernhard

Faber, £9.99

To mark the 30th anniversary of Austrian novelist Thomas Bernhard's death, Faber have reissued five of his novels. This one concerns his friendship with Paul Wittgenstein, nephew of Ludwig, their friendship based on a passion for music and a similar exasperated attitude to the world. Both were frequently hospitalised, Bernhard for lung disease and Wittgenstein for mental illness, and the narrator recalls one such occasion when they were in different sections and eventually got to meet. Though he gives biographical details about Paul, he's really writing a self-analysis caused by his friend's death. The dense prose, without paragraphs or chapters, doesn't make for an easy read and the tone grows increasingly darker as the novel progresses but he highlights society's shortcomings with dark humour and flashes of self-mockery. – Brian Maye

Farewell Happy Fields

By Norah Hoult

New Island, €12.95

Released from an asylum, Adam Palmer determines to embark on a revenge against God by destroying his own soul, in a systematic attack on the conservative community he has returned to. Banned in Ireland upon its release in 1948, this deliciously grim comedy casts a dark yet revealing light on an Irish generation of men and women consumed by the past and paralysed by thoughts of the future. The novel takes its name from an iconic line John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost and stands as a meditation on the subjectivity of reality and the capacity of the human mind to manipulate and transform that reality. Hoult's acerbic, crystalline prose is stimulating and engrossing. A female writer ahead of her time, her work deserves to be read for the insightful and uncompromising social commentary is it. – Becky Long

A Matter of Interpretation

By Elizabeth MacDonald

Fairlight Books, £12.99

MacDonald's debut novel has Michael Scot at its heart, a Scottish monk assigned to translate the work of Aristotle by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, but it is also a complex tale of knowledge, power, and intrigue and the struggle for supremacy between church and state. MacDonald's research in piecing together a story set in 13th century Europe, and its period details, is admirable. Although sometimes less is more, and her editors could have tightened many things: too many sighs heaving, eyes swivelling, and steps heard treading become grating, and the narrative is not helped with many sentences crying out for pruning. Nevertheless, this is a book that will appeal to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, and the philosophical ideas of translation and interpretation. – NJ McGarrigle

Christmas in Austin

By Benjamin Markovits

Faber & Faber

Christmas in Austin documents the seasonal get-together of the Essinger family. Paul, a freshly retired professional tennis player of middling ability, has moved back to Austin where he grew up. Dana, his ex-partner, will spend Christmas with Paul and his family, along with their four-year-old-son, Cal. The novel unfolds across one week in which the reader is made privy to the Essinger family's minor skirmishes and tensions. Markovits writes with lucidity of what might be called the boring complexities of family life: the trivial bickering; the internecine jealousies and resentments. Christmas in Austin, like Markovits' previous work, is eminently novelistic; it brilliantly explores the quotidian vagaries of human psychology and how we relate to those with whom we are most intimate. – Luke Warde