The latest paperback releases
Better Than Working by Patrick Skene Catling Liberties Press, 19.99
With much work behind him in fiction, non-fiction and some particularly successful children's books, the septuagenarian Catling regales us with the suggestion that his long life as a journalist was a breeze and a wheeze. Evidently, his journalist father advised correctly that the profession would be "better than working". In sprightly short chapters we are immersed in Catling's early years in England and the US, in his adventurer's time as navigator with the Royal Canadian Airforce during the second World War, and, most extensively, in his globe-trotting work for newspapers and magazines either side of the Atlantic. A what-ho mood suffuses all ground covered, with only a slight change at the end to a moving diversion on ageing and belief. Commemorative of booze-lashed entertainments and motley encounters as well as past times spent amid the practicalities of writing, the book is more than charming: it is a love letter to the profession's secret lore, to the life of, the teeming life in, journalism. John Kenny
Manly Pursuits: Beating the Australians by Richard Beard Yellow Jersey Press, £11.99
There's something peculiarly English about going to Australia to take on the locals at every sport imaginable just for the sake of undermining their arrogance, athletic prowess and over-achievement. But Beard does this with dry humour and aplomb, settling in the Sydney suburb of Manly (it of the Pursuits, get it), a microcosm of Australian sporting identity and a town DH Lawrence referred to in his novel Kangaroo as "like a bit of Margate with sea-side shops and restaurants". Beard tries his luck against the good and retired at bowls, the Frigid Frogs all-male weekend swimmers, the pub-to-pub half-marathon joggers and the Friday Afternoon Golfers (known locally as the FAGs), among many others. Although coinciding with England's 2005 Ashes victory in the UK, our hero's exploits concur with Thomas Keneally's observation that "while no Australian had written Paradise Lost, Don Bradman had made 100 before lunch at Lord's". Paul O'Doherty
The Hat Shop on the Corner by Marita Conlon-McKenna Bantam Press, £12.99
Conlon-McKenna is possibly best known as a writer of children's books, but her latest novel is a gentle, enchanting and quite old-fashioned romance set alongside the trials and tribulations of a contemporary young businesswoman. On her mother's death, Ellie Matthews finds herself the owner of a rather down-at-heel but well-established hat shop off one of Dublin's most chic shopping streets. Not only is Ellie faced with the choice between continuing with her own successful career and taking over her mother's business, but she must also take on the might of the property developer whose fingerprint is increasingly noticeable on the cityscape. After rediscovering her hat-making talent and giving the shop a stylish facelift, Ellie vows, with other small businesses on the street, to remain in operation, and her customers are testament to the power that a great hat can add to its wearer, whatever the occasion. If the art of the milliner were in need of attention this highly enjoyable book would be its greatest champion. Claire Looby
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion Harper Perennial, £7.99
This is a starkly truthful account of what American author Joan Didion describes as the worst year of her life. In 2003 her husband of nearly 40 years, fellow writer John Dunne, dropped dead of a heart attack at the dinner table whilst their only daughter lay in a coma in a New York hospital. This was the start of Didion's "year of magical thinking", during which she had to come to terms with the loss of her beloved husband and support her daughter through a serious illness. For months she remained convinced that he would be "fine in the morning", and found herself unable to give away his belongings - "he would need shoes if he was to return." Yet this is no morbid testament to grief. Instead, Didion pays tribute to their years together - "he waited every night to eat with me" - and creates a touching and poignant memoir of love and loss. Freya McClements
Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy By Malcolm Gaskill John Murray, £8.99
It is invariably a combination of complex factors that result in human tragedy on a grand scale. Gaskill writes with an acute awareness of this truism, and the result is a fascinating history of the infamous witch-hunts and their main protagonist, Mathew Hopkins. Witchfinders builds a complete picture of the social, political and moral backdrop which made the hunting of "witches" an acceptable localised phenomenon in 17th-century England. Gaskill shows a decent streak of humanity in his treatment of Hopkins and allows the reader to know the Witchfinder General first through his personality, and only later through his deeds. This book is easily labelled as essential for anyone with an interest in the macabre and the bizarre. Less obviously, it's also a good expose (and timely reminder) of how large-scale tragedies can occur once the right mix of circumstances are present. Marcus Keane