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Non-Fiction

The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy since 1796
By Christopher Duggan

It took the arrival of Napoleon to unite the diverse regions that we now know as the nation of Italy. He was the latest in a line of conquerors (among them, various popes) to boot its people around; but, Duggan explains, following his fall, the carve-up of the peninsula between the great powers sowed the seeds of the Risorgimento which, with Garibaldi at its head, made common cause between Calabrian peasant and Milanese industrialist, Roman noble and Sicilian bandit - even if that involved, in Duggan's phrase, a 'willing suspension of disbelief'. The trouble is, Italy has always been a family divided against itself - city against its neighbour, north against south, church against state - existing more as an ideal than a reality: always trying to match the achievements of
ancient history, and always falling short. And yet, like its fractious parliament, somehow the country works. Duggan's account is full of affection, and fairly crackles with action. A big book, but an engaging and informative read.

Allen Lane , £30
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Dandy in the Underworld
By Sebastian Horsley

Why should we care about Sebastian Horsley? Though he has strived beyond the call of duty, his only, slight claim to fame so far is a failed 'art work', in which he tried to have himself crucified by Filipinos one Good Friday - and fell off his cross because he was too heavy. And why should we believe this autobiography when it is written by a self-confessed junkie who steals other people's jokes? Better to treat it as a darkly humorous work of fiction with an unreliable narrator - for then Horsley's account of a privileged but dysfunctional upbringing, leading initially to a depraved manhood and finally to bored acceptance, might be seen as a minatory fable. Still, not to be too po-faced, Horsley tells some fantastically tall tales; and once you are drawn into his ghastly world, turning the page becomes as addictive as the crack on which he was also once hooked.

Sceptre, £16.99
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The Wagner Clan
By Jonathan Carr

As anybody who has witnessed one of Wolfgang Wagner's blowsy productions at Bayreuth will confirm, a surname is no guarantee of talent. Wolfgang clings on, says Carr, because he thinks it is his destiny. And in a sense - since the festival's charter prefers that the director must carry the mystical moniker - it is. More's the pity. There have been blameless Wagners, but too many have succumbed to ubermensch fantasies. We know the usual suspects - Cosima and Winifred - but to these Carr adds in-laws like Verena Wagner's husband Bodo Lafferentz, an admirer of Hitler and employer of slave-labour in the Volkswagen project, and intimates like the racist propagandist Houston Chamberlain. The abiding impression is of a bunch of bigheads to whom 'the Master' bequeathed traits more unedifying than inspirational. Bringing things up to date with 29 year-old Katharina's current bid for the directorship, Carr spins a gripping yarn that in its feuds and betrayal is almost, well, Wagnerian.
Faber, £20
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The Discovery of France
By Graham Robb

Another history that debunks the notion of a unified nation - at least until the last century. Graham Robb demonstrates how important the bicycle was to the process, and gets on his to discover what life was like before its invention. After 14,000 miles, and four years in the library, the result is a lively elegy that never slips into sickly nostalgia. Outside of Paris, it turns out the French had very little in common; not even language, since most spoke in dialect. The country was often unmapped, partly thanks to poor roads, probably because to leave them was to take your life in your hands. The locals were narrow-minded, half-starved illiterates - and yet they
had a dignity their wage-enslaved descendants might envy. Thrown on their own resources, provincials showed amazing ingenuity in adapting to their landscapes (the stilt-walking shepherds of Les Landes being a memorable example). Strange to think that the culture we seek on our holidays was dreamed up by marketing men.

Picador, £18.99
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Fiction

Starbook
By Ben Okri

What's distinguishes Ben Okri from JRR Tolkein or CS Lewis? Like those Oxonian Inklings, he writes fables, stuffed with spiritual symbolism and archaism. But while they adapted the form to the novel, he does the reverse. So don't expect to identify with his characters, or worry about their predicaments. In Starbook, we are in a distant time, following the fortunes of an African prince who seeks the princess of a tribe of artists. Holed up in the bush, these soulful types can only be found by passing between two trees - read thighs - and from them, the prince learns that life is a paradox. Then the princess dies, the people mourn - read Diana - and a "cold white wind" blows in, destroying memories, cultures, communities. Okri writes with great conviction, and one cannot doubt this work's integrity. Whether it says anything new, however, is moot.

Rider, £12.99
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Diary of a Bad Year
By JM Coetzee

Reading this, one can't help wondering if the Nobel laureate had some unfinished essays, which he decided to string into a novel by means of a romantic mystery - and then obscure the fact by pretending to have an alter ego. To explain: the book is presented as the diary of a famous South African author who lives in Australia, as Coetzee does, and shares the initials JC; it contains polemical pieces of various lengths and completeness which chime with Coetzee's own views; yet this writer feels he is a failure - unlike the great man - who needs to have his eyes opened to the wonders beyond rationalism by a pretty, useless secretary. And then there's a twist in the tale. Which is worst: a writer talking to himself, lecturing his readers or selling his audience short? Coetzee does all three, but such is his skill that there's still much to enjoy - or at least to mull over.

Hamish Hamilton, £16.99
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Picture this

Desert Realty by Ed Freeman

In his wanderings through the Californian desert, Ed Freeman has photographed structures - ramshackle houses, kitsch supermarkets, run-down garages - standing proud and (apparently) deserted in their arid and eerie surroundings. The images are beautiful, but if they look too composed and romantically tinctured to be true, it's because they are. A Photoshop devotee, Freeman removes anything that distracts from the building itself. Despite the intensified colours, unnatural skies and surreal lack of human context, it's still surprising when Freeman unashamedly admits 'I cheat. I lie.' But this is his point. 'We trust photographs' he says, when clearly, we shouldn't. Still, great to look at.

Chronicle £14.99
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Paperbacks

Bowie, Bolan and The Brooklyn Boy
By Tony Visconti

It's a curious fact that some of British rock's feyest androgynes found their sound in the productions of a red-blooded American (not least, Morrissey, who writes the foreword). Now Visconti, who's 66, lifts the lid not just on them, but on his music biz marriages. After divorcing number two, Mary Hopkin, he is currently spliced to May Pang, the companion of Lennon's 'lost weekend'.
Harper, £8.99
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Calcio: a History of Italian Football By John Foot

Although the author is an academic, his writing is anything but. This first history of Serie A soccer in English reveals how and why the Italian psyche and the beautiful game are so entwined. In a mixture of serious analysis and comic storytelling, the games and goals are thrillingly described - as are the endemic corruption and scandal.
Harper Perennial, £8.99
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Travels in the Scriptorium By Paul Auster

An old man wakes alone in an almost empty room, unable to remember his past. The only clues to his identity are a manuscript, a stack of photographs and a visitor called Anna who sparks memories of lost love and tragedy. Is the ageing pin-up of American letters addressing himself in this mystery about literature, manhood and temps perdu?.
Faber, £6.99
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Ladies of Grace Adieu
By Susannah Clark

These eight short stories predate the author's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and seven have been published before. Like her surprise smash hit, they are set in the same world of 18th century fairies and magic, but are, in the end, too slight for Clark to weave her spell as effectively. Nonetheless, an interesting insight into the formation of a writer and her themes.
Bloomsbury, £7.99
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