Recent paperbacks
James Hughes-Onslow
A Reed Shaken by the Wind: A Journey through the unexplored marshlands of Iraq Gavin Maxwell (Penguin £2.95) Travels among the marsh Arabs with Wilfred Thesiger in the mid-Fifties. It was on this trip that Maxwell found Mijbil, the otter which achieved fame in Ring of Bright Water.
Economists For Beginners Bernard Canavan (Writers and Readers Co-op £2.50) The theories of Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, J. S. Mill, Marx, Alfred Marshall and J. M. Keynes humorously ex- plained with pictures and quotes. Elucida- tion triumphs over obfuscation: would these men have approved?
The 300 Best Hotels in the World Rene Lecler (Macmillan £5.95) A personal selec- tion by the travel editor of Harpers & Queen. Small is beautiful, he says, but Hilton hotels are surprisingly good. especially the Budapest Hilton. 'The Con- naught is not a hotel. It is a home' accor-
ding to this lucky traveller a club for People who are no longer easily impressed.'
Voices in the Garden Dirk Bogarde (Triad £1.95) After two autobiographies here is his second novel. A compassionate and funny story set in the South of France with over- tones of London and Berlin with a touching relationship between an old woman and a Young man. Bogarde has an actor's grasp of dialogue and character, especially when he Portrays a really appalling film director.
The Penguin Encyclopedia of Gardening (Anthony Huxley £4.95) An A-Z of tech- nical terms including species but not in- dividual plants. Digging, a very technical matter, is sub-divided into single-spit, dou- ble digging or trenching — so this can be an instruction manual as well as a glossary.
The Valley of the Horses Jean M. Auel (Hodder and Stoughton £4.95) A sequel to The Clan of the Cave Bear, this everyday saga of Cromagnon and Neanderthal (Stone Age) folk and their primeval animals has been doing very well in America and may well appeal to bereaved fans of the late Professor Tolkien.
The Golden Age of Science Fiction Selected by Kingsley Amis (Penguin £2.95) Seven- teen classic short stories from the Fifties. Arnis was one of the first to dignify this genre with an academic appraisal 20 years ago. Since then things have slipped so he in- troduces this anthology with a splendid diatribe against New Wave science fiction.
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