The latest paperbacks reviewed.
Black Earth: Russia After the Fall. Andrew Meier, Harper Perennial, £9.99
Meier is an American who has lived in Moscow, on and off, for 20 years, from the time of Andropov to Putin's reign. He clearly loves the place, and he brings that great experience and empathy to bear in this absorbing survey of the country's chaotic development/disintegration from the time Yeltsin came forth in the 1990s. My knowledge of the land and its peoples doesn't extend much beyond the pages of this newspaper (aside from an eye-opening week on board a training ship), but Meier's lucid prose and skilful storytelling make this an engrossing read for novice and expert alike. Meier is strong on Chechnya (the book is worth it for this alone) and Putin's Russia. - Joe Culley
Walker Evans: The Hungry Eye. Gilles Mora and John T.Hill, Thames & Hudson, £16.95
This retrospective takes a methodical look at the work of photographer Walker Evans (1903-1975). By exploring 50 years of creative projects in chronological order it attempts to trace the evolution of themes as well as Evans's creative development. This approach makes sense biographically but adds little to our understanding of a photographer who worked without any great order, using varied photographic formats and tending to happen upon subject matter. The book's format does little to enhance enjoyment of Evans's photography, with postage-size illustrations yielding very little detail. However, by featuring 470 images it does succeed in giving the reader a taste of the work's diverse range, from the architecture and street life of 20th-century America to the harshness of the Depression-hit South of the 1930s, not to mention the beautifully clinical images of common tools he made in the 1950s and beyond. - Bryan O'Brien
The Holy Grail: The History of a Legend. Richard Barber, Penguin, £9.99
Medieval scholar Richard Barber takes a unique look at one of history's longest running mysteries: the origins, myths and meanings of the Holy Grail. By tracing the Grail's origins from medieval romance literature through its central importance to the Christian Mass, to its place as the contemporary ideal of the endless search for perfection, Barber attempts to answer questions that have baffled authors, theologians and scholars for eight centuries. Relying heavily on medieval texts of Arthurian legend, he contends the Grail's foundations were laid as a secular literary device and gradually adopted devout religious importance. Barber ultimately credits human imagination both in literature and religious idealism, with helping the Grail legend to flourish into the representation of ethereal perfection that it has become. Barber succeeds, through historical examination and solid storytelling skills, in making this work as imaginative and interesting as its subject. - Will Sullivan
Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century. Graham Robb, Picador, £8.99
In a well-researched, easy-to-read history, Robb traces the treatment of gay men and women over 150- odd years: firstly, through the gaze of society and its medical and legal professions; secondly, by describing their lives and loves, sexual awakening and like-minded social interaction; and thirdly, by investigating the essence and history of gay culture. Awash with historical dates, quotes, references and celebrities, this is a useful flashlight on the somewhat hilarious assumption that this "disease" was curable either through law or medicine. Also, while at pains not to be revisionist, Robb makes some decent arguments in defence of his thesis that a number of early fictional detectives were gay: Sherlock Holmes and Dr.Watson, and Auguste Dupin (The Murders in the Rue Morgue), among others, and that Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tales were written with a gay conscience. - Paul O'Doherty
Andalus. Jason Webster, Black Swan, £7.99
In his previous book, Duende, Jason Webster explored the flamenco way of life in Spain. This time he seeks out his adopted country's Moorish past in a combination of travelogue and buddy story. Webster unravels the complex Arab influence on Spain, travelling with Zine, an illegal Moroccan immigrant whom he meets working as a slave labourer on a fruit farm. Crossing the country, visiting many famous tourist sites, he traces the Arab roots of the Spanish language, culture, history and people. Paella, olé, Don Quixote and hola: according to the author, the only emblematic thing about Spain that did not come from the Moors is bullfighting. An entertaining read, it reveals the country as one where the Muslim past is buried, obscured by modern day Christianity and revisionist history. - Eoghan Morrissey
Tumbling Jude. Nicola Lindsay, Poolbeg Press, €9.99
Bad things happen to good people, and Jude is, unfortunately for her, one of the good people. From domestic certainty and an enviable career, Jude's world crumbles in increments, beginning with her search for the father who deserted her and her beloved mother. Her initial journey brings her to Ios, a beautiful island worthy of a Greek travel brochure, but no nearer to the answers she seeks. Lindsay constructs an assured and warm character in Jude and the reader can't help but sympathise as her mid-life unravels. While some of the characters - and some of the storyline - will be familiar to readers of popular fiction, the book is a refreshing departure from the current "chick-lit" fad with people the reader can truly care about, or truly dislike. - Claire Looby