Recent paperback releases reviewed
Writing in the Dark: Essays on Literature and Politics
David Grossman
Bloomsbury, £8.99
In this collection of essays and speeches, the Israeli author describes the psychological experience of growing up in a country permanently in conflict with its neighbours. Grossman draws particularly on his own craft as a writer to suggest how the conflict between Israel and Palestine might begin to be resolved. Literature encourages readers to think as individuals, and, Grossman suggests, is an antidote to government propaganda, which simplifies complicated moral problems. Grossman describes writing a Nazi character in his novel See Under: Loveto try to understand how an ordinary German could become a perpetrator of the Holocaust. By providing insights into the minds of those on the other side, Grossman believes, literature offers the first steps towards reconciliation. His message of dialogue and compromise is strongest in the final speech in which he harangues the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, following the Lebanon war of 2006 in which Grossman's son was killed. Nicholas Hamilton
Waving at the Gardener
Edited by Kate Pullinger
Bloomsbury, £7.99
The Asham Award, partly funded by the sale of Virginia Woolf's summer home in Sussex, is Britain's only prize for short stories written by women. Whether the short story is a genre in trouble is debatable, but Woolf would probably have few qualms about encouraging new, female writers to pursue it. The stories in this collection are subtle and often revolve around women – whether children, mothers or grandmothers. Jo Lloyd's winning story, Because It Is Running By,is a tight narrative, showing lots of potential from this new writer. But Waving at the Gardenernot only features the winners and shortlistees of the 2009 competition, but four commissioned stories by the well-regarded authors Margaret Atwood, Ester Freud, Yiyun Li, and Alison MacLeod as well. Reading these powerful stories alongside the 12 new ones is a wonderful reminder not only of the potential of the short story form, but of women's mastery of it. Emily Firetog
The Invention of Air
Steven Johnson
Penguin, £9.99
In a biography about connectivity and inspiration, Steven Johnson considers the fascinating life of Joseph Priestley, an important scientist, preacher and philosopher, who influenced the founding fathers of America. It is powerful because it presents a man’s scientific innovation in relation to his radical views and his political influence.
In the latter part of the 18th century, Priestley is forced to leave Britain for America due to his public support of the French Revolution. His house has been burned down, and, more importantly, the laboratory where many believe he discovered Oxygen in 1771 has been destroyed. This combination of scientific discovery with destruction and exile provides the tone and the background to the book. As it progresses, Johnson's account reminds us of the political influence of science. It also reminds us that Priestley is "more than a footnote". JP Watson
The QI Book of Quotations: Advanced Banter
John Lloyd John Mitchinson
Faber, £8.99
We are a society drawn to erudition easily earned; hence the lively market in taxonomies of facts and figures, compendia of wit, and abridged literary classics. That the BBC's panel quiz QI(Quite Interesting) should seek to take advantage is hardly surprising. After all, its meteoric rise from fragile new commission to Friday night highlight has been built upon an irresistible appeal to the pedant within, softened by the Oxbridge charm of Stephen Fry. This volume, collecting several thousand quotations from luminaries both historical and contemporary on over 250 topics, creates an amusing universe wherein Woody Allen sits comfortably alongside Heraclitus, and Albert Einstein can join the debate with Frank Zappa. Though Voltaire claimed "A witty saying proves nothing", frequent perusal of these pages will most likely elicit agreement with Churchill, for whom "It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations". Conor Nagle
Alexis de Tocqueville
Hugh Brogan.
Profile, £14.99
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59) was one of the great writers on democracy and revolution. Comparatively little was known about him but this exhaustive, elegant and intimate biography admirably fills the gap in our knowledge. Brogan argues that we cannot understand de Tocqueville's theories unless we learn where the man himself came from – the pre-French Revolution Norman aristocracy. Although he felt a strong attachment to that privileged past, he knew the revolution had changed everything and he spent his life trying to convince his country that democracy was "an irresistible force". Democracy, he realised, has its flaws but it's the best we've got. His book, Democracy in America(1835), based on the nine months he spent in the US in 1831, is one of the seminal books of political science. Brogan's is a warts-and-all account by a scholar who, as he says himself, has lived with de Tocqueville for nearly 50 years. Brian Maye
