A selection of paperbacks reviewed
The Third Policeman, The Best of Myles, The Dalkey Archive
Flann O'Brien/Myles na Gopaleen
Harper Perennial, £7.99
He once was on Lost and now he's found. Flann O'Brien had been due for a reissue, according to the publishers. But The Third Policeman's cameo on a cult TV series nudged the event further up the agenda. This set is a useful introduction to Ireland's funniest writer, although The Third Policeman's role in the latest revival carries a sad echo. After the critical success of his debut, O'Brien was disheartened by the publishers' response to the follow-up and buried it, along with his literary career, for 20 years. By the time of his first rediscovery in the 1960s, drink and illness had diminished him and The Dalkey Archive betrays some of the damage. The intervening decades had been dominated by the Irish Times column, collected as The Best of Myles. Maybe he sacrificed himself for it. Maybe it was his real masterpiece. Nobody disputes its brilliance. - Frank McNally
Toxic Childhood: How the Modern World is Damaging Our Children and What We Can Do About It
Sue Palmer
Orion, £7.99
If you're the sort of parent who likes to be made anxious about your parenting so that you can regale friends about how your children don't watch TV and love broccoli, this is for you. If, like most of us, you're muddling along trying to make a fair job of it, this isn't for you. As Palmer aptly states in a sentence or two, the children who are really in trouble are the ones with vacant eyes whose parents are on drugs and neglect them or beat them. They won't buy this book, but parents who are concerned by her statistic that one in five children suffers from mental health problems or behaviour disorders, just might. This statistic may hide the true toxicity that needs to be questioned - perfect parents want perfect children, and a host of studies and experts will prove to them that they're not perfect enough and sell books in the process. - Kate Holmquist
Flaubert: A Life
Frederick Brown
Pimlico, £14.99
In chiselled, graceful prose, Brown brings the reader through the life and times, mind and soul of a most unusual artist. Flaubert appears as a troubled, passionate character, plagued by frail health and family tragedy. From the sensitive, bookish child to the anxious youth and cynical adult, there appears a man who demanded great intensity in life as in art. This was reflected in novels which broke barriers of nicety, beautifying the ugly, vulgar, and dissolute. Under the didactic moralism of the Second Empire, this earned him much fame, little fortune and, for Madame Bovary, a prosecution. A reveller, a socialite, yet an isolated character, this was one of life's more brilliant onlookers and commentators who loved life profoundly, but with detachment. - Claire Anderson-Wheeler
The Tenderness of Wolves
Stef Penny
Quercus, £10.99
As it won this year's Costa Book of the Year Award, The Tenderness of Wolves inevitably comes burdened with heightened reader expectations - ones that Stef Penny's yarn of a murder in Canada in the mid-1860s never comes close to satisfying. The main plot centres on a grisly murder of a trapper in an isolated settlement and the hunt for the murderer through the freezing wilderness. There are subplots involving everything from marital infidelity to the whiteman's theft of land from native Indians, from disappearing children to sibling rivalry and, while it all makes for an occasionally colourful read, nothing seems realised enough to truly convince. More of a TV mini-series than a satisfying read. - Bernice Harrison
On the Road to Kandahar: Travels through Conflict in the Islamic World
Jason Burke
Penguin, £8.99
British journalist Jason Burke is better qualified than most to comment on Islam, having spent 15 years travelling around and reporting from places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Morocco. In this enlightening account of those travels, Burke forcefully conveys to us just how incomprehensibly complex and varied the so-called "Islamic World" actually is. Beginning with his own experiences fighting with Kurdish rebels at the end of Desert Storm, right through to 9/11, Afghanistan and, of course, the disastrous invasion of Iraq, Burke analyses the religious, cultural and political histories of various regions of the Middle East and beyond in a clear, thoughtful and, most admirably, respectful manner. Burke's riveting reportage reminds Western readers that this endlessly contradictory "Islamic World" will continue to defy easy categorisation and easy answers. - Declan Cashin
Mating in Captivity: Sex, Lies, and Domestic Bliss
Esther Perel
Hodder & Stoughton, £12.99
Marital sex - after the honeymoon period - might be boring or even non-existent. Psychotherapist Perel addresses this in a book so honest it hurts. The case histories are the best: "Doug" describes the transcendent high-octane sex he enjoys with "Naomi", his bit on the side, then Perel - as therapist - tries to unravel his misplaced desire in an effort to justify why he remained with "Zoe", his wife. She decides that Doug wants warmth, comfort and pancakes with the kids - while enjoying carnal intensity at night. "But Doug will never experience the same intensity he has had with Naomi. Secrecy, torment, guilt, transgression, danger, risk and jealousy are highly combustible, a Molotov cocktail far too threatening in a home with children." Bring out the standard advice: sharing fantasies, making time; this guide to mending marriage is like a cookbook, full of recipes you may never prepare. - Kate Holmquist