The latest paperbacks reviewed.
I Didn't Do It For You: How the World Used and Abused a Small African Nation. Michela Wrong, Harper Perennial, £8.99
Small, proud and stubborn Eritrea has long attracted interest far out of proportion to its size. From Sylvia Pankhurst to Thomas Kenneally, writers have come, seen and admired the struggles of this wretchedly-poor East African state. Eritrea was Italy's first colony, and Eritreans battled the worst excesses of Fascism and Marxism, suffered as pawns in the Cold War and fought the world's longest-running guerrilla war. Michela Wrong, a Financial Times foreign correspondent, mixes travelogue and history to chart the effects of colonialism on a country which has little more than the population of Dublin. Although she counts herself one of the "True Believers" in Eritrea, Wrong is honest enough to record its decline into persecution and paranoia since independence in 1991. - Paul Cullen
Ryanair: How a Small Irish Airline Conquered Europe. Siobhan Creaton, Aurum: £6.99
Reading Siobhan Creaton's excellent updated account of the rags-to-riches story of Ryanair is akin to taking a familiarisation course in the storyline of a soap opera. For what you get with Ryanair is a daily news story. And one suspects classic soap bad boy Michael O'Leary would have it no other way. For it is he who provides the copy; whether it's bashing Bertie or buying Boeings, the company is a constant headline maker. Profits and passenger numbers continue to soar above its rivals. It is estimated that 35 million passengers will fly Ryanair this year. And all of them should read this book, and thank Dr Tony Ryan for convincing Michael O'Leary that he could turn this small, loss-making, Irish airline into the biggest no-frills carrier in Europe, and create a role model for the airline industry worldwide. - Martin Noonan
The Truth Club. Grace Wynne-Jones, Tivoli Press, €8.99
The title and cover of this book belie the fact that Grace Wynne-Jones has written an entertaining, intelligent and genuinely funny story. Sally Adams considers herself a "bolting bride" after running out on Diarmuid, her husband of mere months. Meantime, she has been busy writing magazine articles about interior design, feeling like a fake, drinking lots of tea and eating far too many chocolate biscuits. She becomes intrigued by the disappearance of her great-aunt Dee-Dee and by Nathaniel, her "beautiful stranger", who possesses the ability to understand her where others have failed. Buoyed up by her friends Fiona, whose marriage seems perfect, and Erika, whose obsession with a married man is bound to end in tears, Sally attempts to make the life-decisions which have remained unmade until now. This is a great read, especially for commuters, guaranteed to shorten any journey. - Claire Looby
Complicated Shadows: The Life and Music of Elvis Costello. Graeme Thomson, Canongate, £8.99
Quite a few music journalists have attempted to pin down the flighty life of Elvis Costello, and quite a few have found it virtually impossible. Three cheers, then, to Graeme Thomson, who - even without official access to the subject - has managed to write what is by far the most substantial account to date of Costello's life and work. It's a dizzying journey - from faux punk rocker to celebrated songsmith, from collaborations with The Brodsky Quartet and Burt Bacharach to writing chamber opera pieces. While Thomson stumbles slightly on defining the almost pathological eclecticism of his subject (something to do with Costello's ego-driven desire to ensure that his musical legacy will be viewed as monolithic), he is spot on as regards the music. - Tony Clayton-Lea
Willing Slaves - How the Overwork Culture is Ruling Our Lives. Madeleine Bunting, Harper Perennial £8.99
In Willing Slaves, Guardian columnist Madeleine Bunting presents a well-researched and passionate critique of what "work ethic" means in the modern world, and how it is damaging both the individual and society. She dismantles three basic assumptions of the post-industrial world: that, with the dwindling of religious faith and political activism, it is work that bestows meaning upon life; that the "politics of well-being" are a nonsense perpetuated by the lazy; and that it does no harm to society when the care of children and the elderly is abdicated to the market. Is work life? asks Bunting. Obviously not, yet so many people never even stop to ask this question. How long can we be driven by a facile consumer culture? What about identity and a sense of belonging? Bunting analyses the problems with clarity and conviction, and, thankfully, proposes answers; whether we respond remains to be seen. - John Lane
Nelson: Britannia's God of War. Andrew Lambert, Faber, £8.99
A well-researched and assured biography that follows Nelson into every cove and current, from his early initiation as a student of war, to fame, deification and primacy in the pantheon of British seamen. From the deck of the flagships Agamemnon, Captain, Vanguard, Elephant and Victory, Lambert extrapolates the real from the myth, capturing the intensity, single mindedness and intuitive seafaring of "Britannia's God of War" (a phrase from Byron's Don Juan). While never quite piercing the soul or identity of the illustrious vice-admiral, the narrative impressively maximises the foreplay of the great battles of St Vincent, Nile and Baltic without the celebratory jingoism of the denouement, save for a graphic, brutal telling of the heroic Trafalgar. In short, more semi-textbook than hardcore tell-all. - Paul O'Doherty