Time for a Smile by George Ryan (George Ryan £4.80)

We have funny writers in Ireland, with Myles na gCopaleen still leading the field, like Michael Collins in many cinemas these days; however, George Ryan's savage humour is satire which would make Jonathan Swift smirk in his grave in St Patrick's. Ryan, onetime Bridge Correspondent of this newspaper, is a former schoolmaster, and much of his book is devoted to the ploys he and his wastrel colleagues used to cheat pupils, parents, headmasters and school inspectors - not to mention Ministers of Education - out of their rights. Truth is, after reading. Time for a Smile, I just wanted to be back in school armed with the information revealed in it, so that I could blackmail my superiors into handing me the academic honours which I never attained.