A selection of review by Irish Timescritics
Madresfield: The Real Brideshead Jane MulvaghBlack Swan, £9.99
While Madresfield and its family are the model for the doomed Marchmains in Evelyn Waugh's
Brideshead Revisited,the house and its owners have other claims to fame. Nestling in the Malvern Hills, Madresfield has been home to the Lygon family for almost 1,000 years. Waugh was a regular visitor in the 1930s but he was only one in a long line of distinguished artists (Dickens, Elgar, Joshua Reynolds) who were inspired by the house and its inhabitants. Members of the Lygon family featured in important historical events, such as the British cabinet discussions that led to involvement in the first World War. Lord Marchmain in
Bridesheadis based on the 7th Earl of Beauchamp, a public-spirited bisexual who was threatened with exposure by his spiteful brother-in-law, the Duke of Westminster, and forced to spend the rest of his life abroad. More a history of the family than of the house they inhabited, this is a lively and engaging read.
BRIAN MAYE
Divine Magnetic Lands: A Journey in America Timothy O'GradyVintage, £8.99
O'Grady, an American living in Europe, returns to Whitman's "divine magnetic lands". He drives a northern route from New York to San Francisco and, six months later, returns via the southern states. O'Grady is no Dervla Murphy; he drives, stays in motels and his car never breaks down. He's no Bill Bryson; he's intense and lacking in self-mockery. On his first trip, he writes well and concentrates on the eccentric, lost and often impressive ordinary people he meets but, on the second trip, he spends too much time fulminating against George Bush rather than just enjoying being, Kerouac-style, on the road. There's Irish interest in his interview with fiddler Martin Hayes in Seattle. O'Grady finds a bar, and often a drinker to talk to, every night of the journey, apart from one miserable evening in Texas.
TOM MORIARTY
Fabergé's Eggs: One Man's Masterpieces and the End of an Empire Toby FaberPan Books, £7.99
Tsar Alexander III raised the bar for Easter eggs in 1885, when he commissioned jeweller Carl Fabergé to produce a white enamelled egg with a golden yolk and hen inside, for his wife, Marie Fedorovna. The 50 Imperial eggs produced by Fabergé over the next 30 years as part of this tradition, each with a surprise to amuse the Royal Family, are among the most iconic works of modern jewellery. From the pride of the Romanov family to a crucial source of foreign currency for the Soviet regime, Toby Faber retraces the remarkable journey of these eggs, which were exhibited in department stores across America during the 1930s and avidly collected by the proprietor of Forbes, before being bought back by one of a new breed of Russian oligarchs in 2004. This meticulously presented work of scholarship, complete with family trees, a glossary and photos of the eggs, provides an original perspective on modern Russian history.
NICHOLAS HAMILTON
Panicology: Whats There to be Afraid of? Simon Briscoe and Hugh Aldersey-WilliamsPenguin, £8.99
To humorous and rousing effect, the authors of this sceptical book undercut some exemplary instances of media scaremongering. Going deep into the facts behind popular ominous threats such as avian flu, terrorism and asteroid strikes, the book explores whether the statistics, graphs and percentages that fuel hysterical headlines are interpreted in a realistic fashion. An amusing jadedness creeps into the seemingly endless exposés of obfuscation and misinformation among the melodramatic headlines which trump up the seriousness of various threats to humanity. The writers are well-informed and adept at identifying inflammatory statements which aren't quite lies, but aren't the full truth, and many intriguing comparisons are made. Is terrorism or peanut consumption more of a threat to the lives of Americans? It is a reassuring book in this age of maniacal health and safety rules, where "schools have banned children from playing with conkers", "firemen may no longer slide down poles", and "cats may no longer be rescued from trees".
COLM FARREN
Rigged: The True Story of a Wall Street Novice Who Changed the World of Oil Forever Ben MezrichBloomsbury, £7.99
Ben Mezrich’s latest whizz-bang offering is easily his weakest so far. It tells the true story of John D’Agostino, a 25-year-old Harvard Business School graduate who was instrumental in setting up the Dubai Mercantile Exchange, the Middle East’s first petroleum futures exchange. In a move that will keep literary theorists buzzing for years to come, Mezrich gives us D’Agostino’s real name at the start of his book, changes it to “David Russo” for his main text, only to invite D’Agostino himself to close proceedings with a personal Afterword. Mezrich’s refusal to query the ethics of the oil industry or the value system of its high-octane players only adds to the general air of unreality.
Riggedmay be full of tedious Gordon Gekko clones, but a cautionary tale on the perils of easy buck greed it is not. Morality, it would seem, is for wimps. A work of fairy-tale non-fiction, courtesy of an author running on empty.
DARAGH DOWNES