Newly released paperbacks reviewed...
Book of Clouds
Chloe Aridjis
Vintage, £7.99
A Mexican and American fascinated by differences, Aridjis in Book of Cloudsborrows from her own life to follow Tatiana, a young Mexican woman living in Berlin who chooses solitude as an anchor for her own chaotic thoughts. She begins a job transcribing notes for Dr Weiss, who is obsessed by Berlin's history, and through him meets Jonas, a meteorologist who views the sky's changeability as an alternative landscape and reality. The three characters' relationships force a subtle, dreamy narrative, with Aridjis giving an astonishingly accurate account of Berlin's tormented history, its horror and its poetry, with Mexico featuring as Tatiana's earthy but just-as-complicated other "home". It's a stunningly original novel about identity but also practical magic – trying to grasp the unknowable and the wonder that sets new ideas in motion. - Siobhán Kane
Frank Ryan
Fearghal McGarry
UCD Press, €17
Frank Ryan is one republican figure who hasn't been enshrined in the Gaelic pantheon. Ryan joined the Civil War anti-Treatyites as a boy in 1922 and was a leading IRA dissident through the heated 1930s. Between bouts of prison and his journalistic career – he was editor of An Phoblacht– he exasperated De Valera, as he and his men repeatedly refused to "behave themselves". Cultivated, swarthy and attractively reckless, Ryan counted among his paramours Rosamund Jacob, whose diary extracts add allure to this little monograph. McGarry's writing is fresh, critical and impartial. The shadowy twilight of Ryan's life is, however, evasively handled. Ryan's fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War ended sadly in Germany, where he became an adviser to the Nazis, and this remains a subject of intrigue. Anybody interested in the anomalies of Irish history should read McGarry's book. - Maggie Armstrong
The Gilded Stage: A Social History of Opera
Daniel Snowman
Atlantic, £19.99
Many books have been written about the history of this "most complex of all the performance arts", but they concentrate on "the traditional trio of composers, works and performers". As well as being an art form, opera has always had social, economic and political dimensions, and it is these Snowman explores in this comprehensive, scholarly and witty book. He follows the spread of opera from the northern Italian cities of the 17th century through Europe, America and beyond over the subsequent centuries, focusing on what he considers key moments in its history. The themes of politics, finance, society, technology and art form are pursued. The scandals, temperamental prima donnas and disastrous first nights are there, as might be expected, but there is much insight also into economic conditions and attitudes to sexual morality. (It's surprising what went on in some of those curtained boxes.) - Brian Maye
Halfway to Hollywood: Diaries 1980-1988
Michael Palin
Phoenix, £9.99
The second volume of Michael Palin's diaries charts his transformation from Python into the man he presciently, albeit jokingly, predicted would be "the traveller that millions are happy to travel with". Through his earnest entries Palin sketches out how, at the start of the decade, he was immersed in the world of Monty Python, creating The Meaning of Lifeand working with Terry Gilliam on Time Banditsand Brazil, through his solo film-making efforts such as The Missionary, before finally reaching the starting point for his new journeyman incarnation, the documentary Around the World in 80 Days. As with all diaries, however, what really shines through is the person behind the persona: his character, his friendships, his observations of life. His self-deprecating wit is present on every page, presenting a warm personality that it is impossible to dislike. Although this is less fascinating than his first volume of diaries, Palin still manages to keep the reader engaged throughout. - Sebastian Clare
Atlas of Unknowns
Tania James
Pocket Books, £7.99
Dubbed one of the most exciting debuts since Zadie Smith's White Teeth, Tania James's novel deftly explores the relationship between the Vallara sisters as they are separated physically and by the cultural divide of east and west. Linno lost one of her hands when a firecracker exploded but has become a budding artist. Anju is so eager to leave home that she claims her sister's artwork as her own in order to win a scholarship to an elite school in Manhattan. Perhaps expectedly, Linno's art brings her international acclaim while Anju, her deception exposed, loses her scholarship and lives as a runaway. James's foremost accomplishment is avoiding any sense of cultural tourism in the novel; she isn't writing only of exotic fruit and spicy dosas – the Vallaras and their widowed father are unexotically middle class. More so, they are hyperaware of how westerners view their homeland and present a refreshingly new portrait of contemporary India. - Emily Firetog
