A selection of paperbacks reviewed.
That Neutral Island: A History of Ireland During World War II Clair Wills Faber, £9.99
This fascinating study of the second World War focuses primarily on "the cultural repercussions of Ireland's neutrality". As a professor of literature, Clair Wills in particular treats novels, short stories, plays and poems with impressive sophistication. She assesses the political context for neutrality, rightly stressing that, "There were sound practical reasons for Ireland to stay out of the conflict". For her part, Wills is interested less in whether than in how Irish people were to be neutral. She writes thoughtfully and she valuably attends to local detail, some of which (like the Cork Examiner's celebration of the increased "tourist traffic" which Ireland might expect as a result of the war), should still raise an eyebrow when set against the appalling experience in mainland Europe of Jews and other victims of Nazism. - Richard English
Julius Winsome Gerard Donovan Faber, £7.99
Julius Winsome lives in the woods of northern Maine along with his extraordinary library - 3,282 books in a log cabin, imagine - and his vivid memories of his father and grandfather, who fought in a world war each and never fired a gun thereafter. His mother, who died giving birth to him, he doesn't remember at all. There's a woman in his life for a while, but she drifts away, so then there's just him and Hobbes the dog. Until somebody shoots Hobbes; "and along with the sadness," as Julius puts it, "something else crept in the door. . .". In prose that is both evocative and spare, Irish writer Donovan evokes a world at once poetic, scary, and heartbreaking. This is a portrait of grief which anyone who knows the madness of loss will recognise: at the same time, Julius is all of us, wrestling with the madness of postmodernity. This book is a stunner. - Arminta Wallace
Winterton Blue Trezza Azzopardi Picador, £7.99
This third novel by Welsh author Trezza Azzopardi follows the stories of Anna, a sharp-witted but somewhat directionless character who has to leave London to look after her ageing mother, and Lewis, an evasive, quiet type who can't hold down a steady job. Struggling with her new role as the "noble daughter", Anna ends up on a sun holiday in Greece, bickering with her pesky, flirtatious parent. Haunted by the memory of his dead brother and an indifferent mother, Lewis realises he must return home to set the record straight. Using vivid, descriptive fragments - Anna watching the windfarms at sea, her mother's tourmaline ring, the small pouch where Lewis keeps his brother's bracelet - Azzopardi weaves the two narratives together at a steady, delicate pace. As both characters search for solutions, Anna slowly unpeels unsettling truths about herself and her family, while Lewis is forced to act upon his own obsessive nature. - Sorcha Hamilton
The Times, The Places Godfrey Fitzsimons In aid of Oxfam Ireland. €7
A life well-travelled is reflected in this short collection of articles by the former Irish Times journalist Godfrey Fitzsimons. The travel bug was caught at an early age, when each summer the Fitzsimons family moved lock, stock and barrel from Ballymena to his grandfather's place in Donaghadee. A spell as fourth officer in the merchant navy gave the young Godfrey more opportunities to travel and time for another love, reading. A penchant for songwriting is revealed in one essay, Sing a Song of Soap Suds. Eurovision surely awaits.
But the highlight is Godfrey F's take on Kafka's The Trial - the tale of an application for a holiday visa to "a great power, whose embassy building was on the south part of the city" - alone worth the cover charge, which is all in aid of a good cause, Oxfam. - Martin Noonan
The River of Lost Footsteps Thant Myint-U Faber, £9.99
Thant Myint-U is a senior diplomat in the UN and his family has been at the centre of Burmese politics for generations. His grandfather, U Thant, was the prime minister's most trusted adviser before presiding over a transformative 10 years as secretary general of the UN. The common misconceptions of Burma are disassembled without fuss here; this is not a sleepy backwater country, home to gentle Buddhists and an unfortunate military regime. It is a country with a history of constant turmoil, civil war and home to what Thant Myint-U calls the longest running conflict in the world. Recent civilian attempts to oust the brutal ruling junta have thrown the country briefly back into the limelight and this book contains many lessons as to what could be done to build a future for Burma. A fine memoir, vivid in detail, and unapologetically emotive. - Laurence Mackin
How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take to Change a Planet? Tony Juniper Quercus, £7.99
Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth knows the environmental perils our planet is facing but he's relentlessly optimistic. There are always the parrots to be saved; he adores parrots, especially the endangered species. He treks through a rainforest in Thailand to try to save the very rare Gurney's pitta and a thorn forest in Brazil to try to save the last of the Spix's macaws.
Juniper knows that ecologists must now become economists too to win the economic argument in favour of sustainable energy. He attends endless conferences and sometimes enjoys helping to disrupt them; these 95 practical proposals are targeted at governments, not individuals; it is no longer enough to change your lightbulbs at home. This is an energetic and committed book. Read it and then, as Juniper says, " . . . sell it, give it away or lend it. When it falls to bits, compost it". - Tom Moriarty