Recent paperbacks
James Hughes-Onslow
Stephen Leacock selected and introduced by Robertson Davies (Penguin pp. 527, £2.95)Canada's answer to Mark Twain, or Thurber perhaps. 'You certainly seem to enjoy your own jokes, Professor Leacock."Madam, they are as new to me as they are to you.'
The Story of Paradise Julian Ford, (H&B Publications pp. 165, £2) Adam and Eve feature in most of the world's mythology, which suggests that a traumatic event did occur in man's primaeval history. Ford scours Mesopotarnia, the Kenyan Rift Valley and parts of the Orient but comes to no precise conclusion.
Revolutions and Revolutionaries A. J. P. Taylor (OUP pp. 165, £3.50). From Jacobinism to Bolshevism via Charterism and the Paris Commune. The Prof's first love, first heard as six TV lectures in 1978. Revolutionaries are most busy during counter-revolutions and political upheaval often happens by mistake.
Earthly Powers Anthony Burgess (Penguin pP. 649, £2.50). Last year's Booker runner-up about an 81-year-old lapsed Catholic homosexual second-rate novelist trying to reconcile sex with faith.
English Hours Henry James (OUP pp. 192, £1.95). An American view of Victorian England, first published in 1905, but written from 1872 onwards as James became more and more English. Sheep grazed in Hyde Park but Charing Cross Station was a national crime.
Anderby Wold Winifred Holtby (Virago pp. 310, £2.95). A solid Yorkshire farmer's wife falls in love with a charming but unsuitable young radical. Socialism and feminism raise their heads with dire consequences for the village. Men come off badly in this book, first published in 1923. A Gentle Occupation Dirk Bogarde (Triad Granada pp. 447, £1.95). After two volumes of autobiography Bogarde applies his total recall to his service in the Dutch East Indies in 1945. This time it's a novel but the characters and dialogue are cleverly based on sensitive observation.
My Guru and His Disciple Christopher Isherwood (Magnum pp. 338, £1.75). A search for mystical truth in Hollywood from 1939 until 1976. As a pacifist and homosexual Isherwood feels rejected by society but a Hindu Guru comes to the rescue. He cannot achieve true asceticism and relapses towards materialism. (1980) The Return of Eva Peron V. S. Naipaul (Penguin pp. 218, £1.50). Four pieces of reportage and reflection, on Michael X and the Trinidad killings, urban violence in Argentina, the regime of General Mobutu of Zaire and the writing of Conrad. The more paradoxical the situation the more at home Naipaul is.
Testimony: The memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich related to and edited by Solomon Volkov (Faber pp. 289, £2.95). The composer recalls fellow musicians such as Prokofiev and Stravinsky and his meetings with Stalin. A complete condemnation of Soviet Society and of western liberals who condone it.
J. R. R. Tolkien: The Shores of Middle Earth Robert Giddings and Elizabeth Holland (Junction Books pp. 289, £4.95). The Lord of the Rings is based on Shakespeare, Tennyson, Buchan, Kenneth Grahame, Rider Haggard and others, so Tolkien was even cleverer than we thought. Insatiable fans will love it.
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