Paperbacks: our picks of the latest releases

The Anatomy of a Moment by Javier Cercas. Bloomsbury, £8.99

The moment is 23 minutes after six on February 23rd, 1981. Lieut Col Antonio Tejero and his Civil Guards storm the Cortes in an attempted coup against Spain's fledgling democracy. The moment is frozen in the memory of all Spaniards who were of an age to experience it. Cercas tried to write a novel based on the coup but couldn't; instead he produced this marvellous book. It is a thrilling story. Cercas traces the planning of the " golpistas" in forensic detail; events unfold gradually on that fateful day as Spanish democracy hangs in the balance. It is also a subtle psychological investigation; the nature of prime minister Adolfo Suárez, the ultimate "pure politician", is explored with a rare level of insight and empathy. Suárez, a beaten and spent politician by then, remains in his seat and defies the golpistas, emerging as the long-time Francoist who dismantles Francoism. It is, above all, beautifully written and elegantly constructed; a true story told like a novel. Tom Moriarty

Stranded at the Drive-In: The 100 Best Teen Movies by Garry Mulholland. Orion Books. £14.99

The savvy Brit music journalist Garry Mulholland is well placed to survey nearly 60 years of films that largely focus on teenagers and those inter-generational topics that never go away: “thwarted romance, peer pressure, school, the quest of night-time pleasure, fear of humiliation”. Beginning in 1954 with The Wild One (which, even without any actual teenagers in it, is essential to the subject because of its look and daddy-o swagger) and ending in 2010 with The Social Network, this is a topical, lively collection of essays with attitude. The movies covered range from foreign arthouse (The 400 Blows, Dogtooth, La Haine, Fish Tank) all the way to US gutter trash (Class of 1984). Just as interesting is Mulholland’s essay on all the films that didn’t make the cut. Kevin Sweeney

When I Am Playing With My Cat, How Do I Know She Is Not Playing With Me? by Saul Frampton. Faber & Faber, £8.99

He gave us the word "essay" – for which millions of students may cordially detest him. For the 16th-century nobleman Michel de Montaigne, however, an essay was simply an attempt to work out his thoughts on paper. He wrote 100 of these short pieces, amounting to a staggering half a million words, on all sorts of topics: losing his wallet, poking himself in the eye, going sledging down a mountain and enjoying the somewhat ambiguous company of his cat. Those who already love this most joyful and human of philosophers will appreciate Frampton's chatty, informative approach, which both places Montaigne in his own time and makes him profoundly relevant to ours. Those who haven't yet made his acquaintance have a treat in store. Arminta Wallace

Twisted Truths: Stories from the Irish selected by Brian Ó Conchubhair, foreword by Colm Tóibín. Cló Iar-Chonnacht, €18

Twisted Truths: Stories from the Irishdispenses with the traditional bilingual format, so the reader will read these 22 stories simply as stories in English. The rights and wrongs of such an approach is an issue that cannot be addressed in such a short review; however, what can be said is that the stories are all worth reading, and most of them have been specially translated for this volume. Readers of this paper’s Irish-language columns will recognise many familiar names in the book – Alan Titley, Gabriel Rosenstock and Mícheál Ó Ruairc – as well as Seán Mac Mathúna, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Mícheál Ó Conghaile and Angela Bourke. The stories themselves are imaginative, challenging and provocative. A fine collection that gives a very valuable insight into contemporary Irish-language literature and should challenge (inaccurate) preconceptions as to what Irish-language writers actually write about. Pól Ó Muirí

The Murdoch Archipelago by Bruce Page. Simon & Schuster, £14.99

Despite his avowed goal being simply to “make the world a better place”, Rupert Murdoch is here portrayed as an inveterate liar and tergiversator, single-minded in his efforts “to eliminate or marginalise competitive and other problems by seeking political advantage”. The Milly Dowler phone-tapping scandal prompted the revision of Bruce Page’s dense, meticulous examination of the history of the Newscorp media empire, and the character of its overlord. The book identifies Murdoch’s methods of cultivating obedience and consensus among his employees, and investigates his use of his newspapers as a propaganda apparatus, available to be rented by politicians willing to bend rules and change laws that impede Newscorp. Page also gives insightful analysis of the role of newspapers in democracy, and the unstable life of the ethical journalist. It is a passionate book, though Page controls his anger enough to refrain from the kind of crass name-calling one might expect from certain tabloids. Colm Farren