Paperback reviews

MY FATHER'S TEARSby John Updike(Penguin, £8.99)

UPDIKE was a tireless chronicler of two things in particular – the affair and the divorce. In these stories, his characters are mostly old men, looking back on their lives. They remember their childhoods, their affairs and their divorces, looking back as if all these things had been inevitable. It's brilliant. Youth is described, but impending death is the theme. One old guy says, "The boy I had been was dying if not already dead". He was 17. Poised and subtle.

THE HELL OF IT ALL

by Charlie Brooker

(Faber, 8.99)

What Charlie Brooker tells us, in these bracing columns, is that we are not living in some kind of capitalist heaven. Sure, our lives are filled with gadgets and endless TV channels and tasty snacks. But what are these things doing to us? They are driving us nuts. We are actually in hell. On Boris Johnson and Tories: "If Boris wins, their simpering pudge-faced smuggery is going to be unbearable." On Heston Blumenthal's burger: "Building a nuclear warhead would be simpler." On London: "It's horrible." On his own life: "It's not so great being a shambles. But it's the only life I know." Consistently spiky. Very readable.

HOW TO SELL

by Clancy Martin

(Vintage, 8.99)

TEENAGE Bobby starts his story by telling us how he stole his mother's wedding ring because his girlfriend was leaving him. "I knew I could buy her back," he says. Such cynicism! Then he goes to Dallas and works in the jewellery business. It's full of con artists, including Bobby's brother, Jim, an ex-vacuum cleaner salesman. Bobby learns to sell. He also falls in love with Jim's girlfriend, Lisa. At first he doesn't know what to do. Then he and Lisa take loads of drugs. There's a great stickup scene. And we keep wondering: is the rest of the world a better place than the jewellery business?

THE ORIGIN OF FINANCIAL CRISES

by George Cooper

(Harriman House, 10.99)

THIS is a technical book but it's superb. George Cooper, a fund manager who has worked for Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, has a gift for clarity. He explains why our financial system is prone to boom-bust cycles. He tells us the story of money, from its emergence to central banks and beyond. Over time, money has become less real, and so more unstable. Cooper explains why governments like a bit of inflation (it's a stealth tax), and why central banks, meant to stabilise the economy, actually encourage risky behaviour.