Recent paperbacks
James Hughes-Onslow
Alanbrooke David Fraser (Hamlyn £4.95) Chur- chill's wartime CIGS restrained some of the PM's wilder schemes, and annoyed his former boss when his wartime diaries were published in Arthur Bryant's The Turn of The Tide. This biography shows Brooke's influence to have been even greater.
Far Away and Long Ago: A Childhood in Argentina W H Hudson (Eland £3.95) 'The greatest living writer of English' said Ford Madox Ford when this book was published in 1918. 'The most valuable our age has possessed', said John Galsworthy. 'He writes as the grass grows' — Joseph Conrad.
A Boy's Own Story Edmund White (Picador £2.50) The explicit adventures of an American teenage boy struggling with his homosexual tendencies. After some dismal emotional ex- periences he concludes that sex without love is the answer, with a happy pornographic ending.
Afghanistan and the Soviet Union Henry S Brad- sher (Duke University Press £10.85) The story of Soviet intervention, with surprisingly detailed ac- counts of political scheming in Moscow and Kabul. If Afghan resistance is diminishing, he says, it's only because a quarter of the popula- tion is now in exile.
Diana, Princess of Wales Penny Junor (Sidgwick and Jackson £1.75) Considering how carefully guarded this superstar now is, Miss Junor has managed some meticulous research. But the flunkies should be happy with the result: 'She is far better suited to the role she will have to play as Princess of Wales than she could ever have been had she been a royal.'
April Ashley's Odyssey Duncan Fallowell and April Ashley (Arena £2.25) How a boy from Liverpool nearly became Lady Rowallan, crashing 'the barriers of sex and class' as it says on the cover. Ms Ashley has had a tough time, physically and emotionally. Mr Fallowell spares us no details of her ordeal.
The Wine Roads of Europe Marc and Kiln Millon (Nicholson £4.95) Alsace, Bordeaux, Jerez, Mosel, Tuscany etc — vines have a happY way of growing in pleasant countryside. There is no better way of touring Europe than visiting its vineyards, but take a teetotaller as a driver, say the Millons. Yes, but who?
A Book of Air Journeys compiled by Ludovic Kennedy (Fontana £3.95) Less interesting than Mr Kennedy's rail and sea journeys. More depressingly, all the best air journeys happened 50 or more years ago. Clive James, however, writes affectionately about Jumbos.
Wine Making the Natural Way Ian Ball (Paper fronts 85p) How to make use of this summer's bumper crop of grapes. Also some old country recipes for elderberries, elderflowers, blackcur- rants, sloes, and, a desperate last throw, tea and prune wine.
Return to the Marshes' Gavin Young (Hutchio- son £5.95) Wilfred Thesiger and Gavin Maxwell have been reprinted in paperback this year. Novi Gavin Young makes a sentimental journey to ex- plain why this uncomfortable part of Iraq is so evocative. It is changing for the better, he says.
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