The latest paperback releases reviewed
Status Anxiety, Alain de Botton, Penguin, £8.99
In this book De Botton singles out what he names Status Anxiety, the desire to be admired and envied by your peers, and tries to come to terms with the pressures and negative consequences it can bring. He searches for the roots of this condition via topics as diverse as lovelessness, snobbery and dependence, and tries to find a possible solution through the fields of philosophy, art and politics. In an age in which the respect of one's peers carries so much weight, this entertaining, insightful treatment encourages a necessary step back, to give oneself the chance to breathe and assess what is truly important. De Botton provides a platform for discussion of a topic which has previously been ignored or discarded, plainly stating that the best way to deal with this modern dilemma is to "attempt to understand and to speak of it". Tom Cooney
Dresden: Tuesday 13 February 1945, Frederick Taylor, Bloomsbury, £8.99
Depending on one's point of view, Dresden deserved the utter devastation Britain and its allies wrought upon it, or the bombing of Dresden was the unforgivable thing they did in the name of freedom and humanity. However one views it, this book is a masterpiece of scholarship, impeccably documented, and a compelling read. Taylor always tries to be even-handed, rarely apportioning blame. His shocking description of the first wave of the firebomb attack on the (in)famous night resembles something out of a beautiful but frightening fairy tale. The second wave, which came without warning, is a byword for massive slaughter. At least 25,000 inhabitants died while great treasures and works of art lay in ruins. Dresden, once considered the most beautiful, cultured city in 20th-century Europe was now destroyed or burning inexorably to destruction. Owen Dawson
Excerpts from a Family Medical Dictionary, Rebecca Brown, Granta, £6.99
A glance at the contents page of Brown's poignant diary of her car-trip-mad mother Barbara's unsuccessful battle with illness, convinces the reader that this is not a story with a happy ending. Chapter titles (and dictionary explanations) including Anemia, Chemotherapy, Baldness, Vomit, Morphine, Cremation and Remains, inject a foreboding note as life drops measurably from independence and hope to palliative care and final breath. In a painful and what seems like a cathartic short biographical postcard, Brown charts long , miserable and unknowing days as her mother's cancer refuses to go away. This is a depressing take on suffering in what is essentially a book about the juxtaposition of journeys: memories of past car trips across Europe and America, a planned excursion that never happens, an illusionary passage, and the last, fatal voyage through illness. Paul O'Doherty
The Spiral Staircase, Karen Armstrong, Harper Perennial £8.99
This is Karen Armstrong's second attempt to tell the story of how she came to leave the religious life. It is hard to imagine that an accomplished author, historian and internationally renowned scholar should ever have had difficulty expressing herself regarding religion and personal development, but clearly her self-assurance has benefited greatly from her astonishing secular career. Kept in the dark about developments around the globe until she left the convent in 1969 (think the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Cambodia, 1968 student revolutions and The Beatles), Armstrong struggled to come to terms with her new life to become one of the age's most politically and culturally aware public speakers on religion. Her journey is testament to the very human need for faith and compassion, be it within or beyond the bounds of organised religion. Nora Mahony
Howling at the Moon: The Odyssey of a Monstrous Music Mogul in an Age of Excess, Walter Yetnikoff with David Ritz, Abacus, £8.99
Walter Yetnikoff is the former president and CEO of CBS Records (now Sony), one of the most powerful positions in the music industry. Among the legends whose careers he guided are Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel. It was Yetnikoff who nurtured the solo career of Michael Jackson - who liked to call him his "nice daddy" - that led to the 25-million-selling Thriller album. The bright Jewish boy from Brooklyn graduated in law from Columbia and joined CBS in 1962. His power and his ego grew rapidly. A rock-star lifestyle followed as did the addictions. His autobiography is his shot at redemption - with an all-star cast - and a revenge on the industry that ultimately lost patience with his excesses. Martin Noonan
Don't Move, Margaret Mazzantini, translated by John Cullen, Vintage, £6.99
Winner of the prestigious Strega prize, Don't Move is Margaret Mazzantini's second novel. Dublin-born Mazzantini is best known in Italy as an actor, and is married to actor and director Sergio Castellitto, who stars in the film of Don't Move. Mazzantini's male first-person narrator is convincing - high praise given that events in the novel immediately challenge Timoteo as a father and a man. His brutal descriptions of his young daughter's scooter accident and his previous rape of an off-duty prostitute, which somehow blossoms into "love", follow in quick succession. Angered by Timoteo's disgusting egotism, and disturbed by his tendency to jump from recounting sessions with his lover to his fixation on his daughter's sexual maturity, the reader is ultimately utterly absorbed by this intense, exhausting novel. Nora Mahony