The Irish Times reviews a selection of paperbacks
Old School by Tobias Wolff, Bloomsbury, £9.99
In this, his first novel, Tobias Wolff confirms that he is one of America's finest writers at work today. His story is set in an exclusive boy's school in 1960, which instils an idolatry in its pupils in relation to the literary giants of the time. Famous guest speakers are often invited to lecture there. Each pupil is asked to submit a work of poetry or prose, which will be judged by the visiting notable, with the winning entry granted a private audience. When Ernest Hemingway is announced as the next guest, Wolff's narrator struggles with his own background, ethics and high aspirations in attempting to land an intimate session with the famous writer. Wolff uses this isolated, coded academic world to interrogate issues of honour, loyalty and discipline. He deals with these themes with his usual grace and flair, creating a sense of nostalgia, hope, betrayal and forgiveness at the dawn of a tumultuous decade. - Tom Cooney
My Life In Orange by Tim Guest, Granta, £12
When he was four years old, Tim Guest's mother dyed all her clothes orange, began chanting loudly in the sitting room, changed her name to Vismaya and then packed off to an ashram in India. This memoir of the boy's life in and out of the wobbly gravity of his mother is an intriguing and often humorous mix of straightforward 1980s nostalgia and cult delusion. Through the child's eyes, the recklessness and inanity of the adults is obvious: the bizarre naked sessions, attempts at building a new city and the ostentatious corruption of the leader, Bhagwan. But there is also real sadness here, as Guest grows up in a commune, surrounded by many people, but increasingly separated from his mother. It sags at times, but his account is often absorbing and always astute. - Shane Hegarty
France-Ireland: Anatomy of a Relationship: Studies in History, Literature and Politics, Ed. Eamon Maher and Grace Neville, Peter Lang, €52
So fascinating and varied is this cornucopia of essays on Franco-Irish relations, as recorded at an interdisciplinary conference in the Tallaght IT some time ago, that it is difficult not to keep reading - even if one is neither an academic nor a Francophile.The theme of the university - in Ireland and France, Irish students at French universities and recent French critical thought - is threaded through the work. Also examined are myths surrounding those twin pillars of power - politics and the Catholic Church. Notable are Phyllis Gaffney's essay on links between UCD's French Department in 1909-22 and the struggle for Irish independence, while two comparative essays - Eamon Maher's analysis of a John McGahern and a Jean Sullivan novel, and Angela Ryan's comparison of works by Kate O'Brien and François Mauriac - also make interesting reading. - Kate Bateman
POP: Truth and Power at the Coca-Cola Company Constance L. Hays Arrow Books, £7.99
In the history of empires it is often the decline and fall that is the most interesting period, and so it is with Coca-Cola. Founded in 1886 by Dr John Pemberton, its product originally marketed as a tonic, it grew to become the world's most recognisable brand, more American than apple pie and a metaphor for globalisation. It's not until we reach the 1980s, when a chain-smoking Cuban, Roberto Goizueta, becomes CEO, that the book gets fizzing. Although the man behind the disastrous 78 days of the stillborn New Coke, he survived to reign, alongside Irish American Don Keough, for the 17 most profitable years in the company's history. It was, however, during those years that the seeds of current, slow decline were sown. Hays's book is an informative read with plenty to interest both friend and foe of "the real thing". - Martin Noonan
Shadows Will Fall Rose Doyle Hodder & Stoughton, £10.99
Switch off the TV, stoke the fire, get comfy in your favourite armchair and pick up an Irish murder mystery. Rose Doyle's latest is a good choice for a bitter winter's evening. The stark opening sees Frances Shaw uncovering links between three beautiful women, murdered over a span of five decades; the enigmatic Alannah Casey, the latest victim; the romantic Lilya Borodin, in Coney Island, New York; the headstrong Shirley Walsh in Dún Laoghaire. All three bodies are left naked in morgue doorways, arranged in the same pose. The police suspect a copy-cat killer, who may have heard the story of the first woman, murdered in 1953, but Frances thinks otherwise and uncovers some surprises in her own family's past. These twists lend just the right amount of intrigue to this story of the strange lengths people will go to for love and truth. - Claire Looby
Dylan's Visions of Sin Christopher Ricks Penguin Books, £9.99
Bob Dylan has little time for critics who "dissect my songs like rabbits". Ricks nevertheless proceeds to scrutinise his work using the seven deadly sins, four cardinal virtues and three heavenly graces as a guide. Dylan is treated as not only the foremost singer-songwriter of the 20th century but also as a poet worthy of mention in the same breath as the great Romantics such as Keats. This is a book for the Dylan obsessive, requiring in-depth knowledge of his work. Like a Rolling Stone is seen as a study in pride, Blowing in the Wind referenced in relation to fortitude, while Forever Young is lauded as a reflection of hope. Ricks writes with elegance and fervour, his passion for his subject never clouding his critical judgement. While purists might baulk at this attempt to provide definitive answers where ambiguity is preferred; to others this study of sin, virtue and rhyme will be enlightening. - Tom Cooney