The Complete Book of Wild Swimming in Ireland
By Maureen McCoy & Paul McCambridge
Gill Books, €19.99
This journey around every county is filled with enthusiastic writing and outlines the best beaches alongside stories from each area. Writer and photographer reveal a raft of activities such as pier-jumping, skinny-dipping, rock-pooling, diving and children’s paddling. Informative sections deal with tips for winter and night swimming, or how to deal with jellyfish stings. But it is also a trip through cultural and natural history, discovering the meaning of Lucky Shell Beach, where to find natterjack toads, and fascinating tales such as the declaration of the Poitín Republic of Urris in the Inishowen peninsula. Keep this book in the glove compartment of your car for all the family to explore hidden caves, secluded coves and inland mountain lakes, or uncover tiny sea creatures of the underwater world. Paul Clements
Reading Lessons
By Carol Atherton
Fig Tree, £18.99
Carol Atherton has been an English-literature teacher for 30 years. Here she considers how novels, plays and poems she has taught have shaped our beliefs, values and interactions as a society, because they make us think about “issues of class, gender, sexuality, race, justice, power and social responsibility”. Her discussions of some 16 literary works are insightful, thought-provoking and wide-ranging. For example, she expands on how Browning’s My Last Duchess concerns power, gender and control to include the ghastly Andrew Tate, and asserts how the plea for social responsibility in An Inspector Calls (1945) still remains unanswered. It would be hard to better her reading of Jane Eyre and its Wide Sargasso Sea companion book. Autobiographical details enrich this paean to dedicated teaching. Brian Maye
Cloudspotting for Beginners
By Gavin Pretor-Pinney & William Grill
Particular Books, £20
There are 10 main types of cloud (three high, three mid-level and four low), each with its own special qualities. They’re described in a clear, easy-to-understand, pleasantly appealing manner. For example, cumulus is termed “a happy-go-lucky cloud” that everybody loves; stratocumulus, which forms over vast areas of ocean, if seen from an aeroplane is “a landscape for your imagination made of rolling cloud hills and valleys”; stratus is “a low cloud blanket to fall asleep in”; altocumulus “likes to be neat and tidy”; cirrostratus is “quiet, shy and retiring”, while the lofty cirrus resembles “locks of wild white hair combed out across hundreds of miles”. We learn how they’re formed, their weight, why they look white, and much, much more in this beautifully illustrated production. Brian Maye
India at 75
By Makhan Singh, Steven McCabe & Beverley Nielsen (eds)
Bite-Sized Books, £12.99
The first 75 years of independent India’s history are explored in this essay collection. The nation underwent a traumatic birth, with some two million deaths and the largest human migration in history. The new country’s leaders faced immense challenges, amid dire warnings about the impossibility of independence succeeding in such a diverse environment. But succeed it did. The mainly UK and Indian academics, journalists, businesspeople and politicians who contribute write about economic, social, cultural and technological progress, covering such areas as industry and agriculture; transport; health; economics; fashion, music and cinema; the space industry; Indian Muslims and future perspectives. It’s been a far-from-flawless journey but the now fifth-largest economy in the world has remained a sovereign democracy with its population growing from 340 million to 1.42 billion. Brian Maye
Books in brief: From wild swimming in Ireland to double-edged weight-loss drug Ozempic
The Golden Road by William Dalrymple: India at its most influential was open, tolerant and receptive to ideas
The Red Emperor. Xi Jinping and the New China: An exceptional Machiavellian operator
A History of Irish Magic: Occultism of national life explored
In Pursuit of Love: The Search for Victor Hugo’s Daughter
By Mark Bostridge
Bloomsbury, £20
Mark Bostridge, acclaimed biographer of Vera Brittain and Florence Nightingale, has adopted a new approach to writing the life of Adele Hugo – Victor Hugo’s mysterious daughter – and her tragic tale of unrequited love. Interspersed with Adele’s story is Bostridge’s personal narrative as he traces her footsteps and discovers parallels with his own life. While the memoir elements are significantly less captivating than the story of Adele, it is nonetheless interesting to have such great insight into the research and writing process of a biographer searching for the truth of a lost life. Helen Cullen
Giant
By Mollie Ray
Faber, £18.99
As someone who is motivated by words, a silent graphic novel needs to be exceptional to hold my interest. Giant is that. Ray uses a visual metaphor to tell the story of her brother’s experience with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The metaphor itself, her brother’s giant stature, is a touching representation of the loneliness of illness as it marks one as different from their peers. What Ray also captures in her artwork – hand-drawn in black-and-white ballpoint pen – is the radiating effect of illness. We see shadows of worry beneath his parents’ eyes, and Ray’s creative use of panelling displays the almost constant “elephant in the room” that becomes part of the family home since the life-threatening diagnosis. A stunning meditation on illness and care. Brigid O’Dea
A History of Rest
By Alain Corbin, translated by Helen Morrison
Polity Press, £12.99
It may seem unusual to an uninformed reader, such as I, that the term “rest” has not always been synonymous with comfort and relaxation. In a concise and academic book, French historian Corbin explores the history of “rest” in western society, from the viewpoints of religion, philosophy and culture. Corbin explores the metamorphism of “rest” from a “prelude to eternal life” to the more therapeutic and hedonistic forms of “rest” that exist today. Along the way, we visit sanatoriums, burnout, the morality of idleness, and the “great century of rest” during which the current concept of “paid leave” emerged. While not exactly a restful read in itself, this book is effective in expanding one’s theoretical understanding of what this reader had considered to be, simply, a very lovely thing to do. Brigid O’Dea
The Wife’s Sister’s Wee Boy
By Ken Thatcher
Colmcille Press, £12
Ken Thatcher, who grew up in Derry and still lives in the city, shares his recollection of the halcyon 1950s and 1960s pre-Troubles era when he lived in the city and countryside, as well as in Scotland. His memoir is suffused with nostalgia of bygone times, and ranges across early schooldays, secondary education at Foyle College and activities from snooker, fishing and card-playing to spending time in Yannerelli’s coffee bar and his first drag on an illicit Gallagher Blue cigarette. A standout memory is Hurricane Debbie in September 1961, which tore the roofs off buildings. The story ends in 1968 as the first Civil Rights march takes place in Derry. Today the author runs a popular independent bookshop – the most recent incarnation of his colourful career. Paul Clements
Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight-Loss Drugs
By Johann Hari
Bloomsbury, £20
This is a study of Ozempic, the most effective weight-loss drug to date. Using his own experience with the drug as the basis of his investigation, Hari candidly dissects his own attitude towards his body and what it says about the culture. As the subtitle suggests, Hari’s attitude to Ozempic is ambivalent; the book’s strength lies in its ability to analyse the complicated, intersecting issues raised by the new drug without moralising or simplifying. Hari begins by explaining how the drug works and then delves into the history of how our eating habits and brain chemistry have been rewired by capitalism. If, as Hari predicts, Ozempic will soon be as prevalent as the contraceptive pill, its impact on the culture could be as dramatic. His predictions are fascinating and considered, even if the book often feels packed with unnecessary personal history intended to stretch the word count. Ruby Eastwood
