THE BEST PAPERBACKS

NON-FICTION The Great Acceleration Robert Colvile Bloomsbury €14 You may think that modern life is conducted at a hectic rate, and if so you’d be absolutely correct – scientists have conclusively demonstrated, for example, that people walk much faster than they did a generation ago. This fascinating book suggests ways we can keep pace with a rapidly changing world, and offers compelling food for thought on every page. FICTION The Gun Room Georgina Harding Bloomsbury €12.59 A young British photographer on assignment with American troops during the Vietnam War takes an iconic picture that is reproduced in newspapers around the world and makes his name. Haunted by the horrors he has witnessed, he runs away to Japan to start a new life. A captivating, superbly written novel about the impossibility of escaping from the past. FICTION Sudden Death Álvaro Enrigue Vintage €20.99 This audacious novel features as its centrepiece a tennis match between a famous Spanish poet and the great Italian Renaissance artist Caravaggio. It’s certainly not tennis as we know it, and the brutality of the match is echoed in a parallel narrative set during the Spanish conquest of Mexico. A dazzlingly clever and thrillingly original book. NON-FICTION Burma ’44 James Holland Corgi €13.99 The exploits of Britain’s Fourteenth Army in Burma during World War Two have often been overlooked by historians fixated on Hitler and the West. In this superb account of an obscure but decisive battle fought in almost indescribably difficult jungle terrain, the always excellent James Holland tells a tale of heroism and grit to match any in the annals of war. Simon Shaw