A selection of Paperbacks reviewed
Oh, Play That Thing Roddy Doyle Vintage, £7.99
In the second of his trilogy of Henry Smart novels, Roddy Doyle courageously leaves behind the familiar rhythms and speech patterns of Ireland and takes on those of the New World in the 1920s. On the run from his homeland, the irrepressible, good-looking Henry is a magnet for trouble, quickly targeted by the bootleggers of Prohibition-era New York. Reinventing himself again in Chicago, he hears jazz for the first time and meets the defining personality of the new musical era, Louis Armstrong. Doyle's portrait of the brilliant, elusive, quick-witted Armstrong is fascinating if not always convincing, and gives focus to a story which tends to jump around as wildly as the music it pays homage to. While it struggles to hit some of the high notes and takes a few self-indulgent detours, this is a fast-moving, entertaining read. - Giles Newington
The Granta Book of India Granta Books, £8.99
Collections of writing can be bitty and disconnected. What is needed is a skilled editor who can choose wisely so that there is both balance and variety. Here we have the steady hand of Ian Jack at the helm as writer after writer offers us their views on India and what it is like to be Indian, either by birth or default. Chitrita Bannerji, back from the States, finds the way Bengali widows are traditionally treated both intriguing and appalling. Amit Chaudhuri learned English from Ladybird books and Enid Blyton. Rory Stewart prefers the customs clerk turned Sufi holy man to the sanctimonious Muslim businessman he meets. Mark Tully, though reared in India, was never allowed to mix with Indians. As a child, he saw his parents twice a day - by appointment. Spurned by his father, he found the warmth he needed in his adopted country. Eighteen writers, each one with something precious to impart. - Mary Russell
Lizzie Siddal: The Tragedy of a Pre-Raphaelite Supermodel Lucinda Hawksley André Deutsch, £7.99
Elizabeth Siddal was the model, muse and finally wife of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and she lived out all the supermodel stereotypes 150 years before the catwalk queens decided how much they would demand to get out of bed. Born into a down-on-its-luck family, Siddal was an unusual beauty, tall, red-haired and elegant. Discovered by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Siddal quickly became a favoured model of the group (John Millais's Ophelia is probably the most famous painting of Siddal). She also became romantically involved with the most dashing of the PRBs, Rossetti. Depression, laudanum addiction and ill-health quickly overcame her, leading to a predictably tragic end. However, while Hawksley relates this tale efficiently, there is a dryness which ensures Siddal herself remains a most intriguing cypher. - Davin O'Dwyer
Deceptions June Considine New Island, 9.99
Considine's most recent novel was chosen as a Rattlebag Book of the Year. A hit-and-run incident puts to a catastrophic end an unfulfilling illicit encounter; and, recently separated from her husband Adrian, artist Lorraine Cheevers moves herself and her 15-year-old daughter, Emily, out of Dublin to Trabawn to start a new life. Back in Dublin, the victim of the accident, 18-year-old Killian, lies in a coma; and PR shark Virginia, Lorraine's smart and sexy cousin, is in love with Adrian. The nebulous beginnings of the novel eventually come into clear relief when Michael, Killian's father, encounters Lorraine, and the fates shift the status quo back into harmony and equilibrium. There are no dazzling insights into the human psyche here, but the story unwinds a human drama of self-deception in minute contemporary detail. - Christine Madden
The Irish Game: A True Story of Crime and Art Matthew Hart Vintage, £7.99
Did you know that each year $10 billion worth of art is stolen and that, contrary to general belief, there is a ready market for it? This is one of the nuggets of information to be found in this marvellous book, which deals mainly with the art robberies at Russborough House in Co Wicklow. In all there were four raids on the collection at Russborough, the first a rather amateur attempt by the heiress and IRA sympathiser Dr Rose Dugdale in 1974 and the last on September 29th, 2002, exactly two days after the recovery of paintings stolen in a previous raid. In between, the notorious Dublin criminal Martin Cahill, aka the General, also made a foray down to Russborough which may have cost him his life. Matthew Hart's book reads like a crime thriller. He writes with charm and good humour and always with erudition. A very satisfying book. - Eugene McEldowney
Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction Sue Townsend Penguin, £6.99
Adrian Mole is 35, and still as troubled as when he was an acne-ridden teenager. Loft-style living is eating away at his credit rating, the swans on the river are eating his hanging baskets and rats appear to be eating his stash of Walker's crisps. Worse, his travel agent is refusing to refund the deposit he paid on a holiday to Cyprus unless our hero can furnish proof that Saddam Hussein's Weapons of Mass Destruction actually exist - and Tony Blair isn't answering his letters requesting same. Sue Townsend is a marvel. Just when you think she can't possibly squeeze any more juice out of the Mole saga, she adds another instalment - this is the seventh - which can make you laugh and cry with equal ease, hits each of its satirical targets with greater ease than a Tomahawk missile and is, into the bargain, the easiest read in the world. - Arminta Wallace