One of the few great pleasures in life is to pick up a book that one hasn't read for years and to find yourself enjoying it even more than you did the first time around. For the pleasure to be complete, the procedure must be totally unplanned, otherwise the natural spontaneity of the joyful surprise is compromised, not to say altogether lost. A number of years ago, for no reason at all, I picked up a stray copy of "Treasure Island" and within minutes found myself totally immersed in the genius of Stevenson's prose. This in turn led me to the wonderful pages of "The Master of Ballantrae" and "Kidnapped".

This type of adventure is a rare occurrence as the re-reading of an old favourite is not always a successful operation and can be disappointing. Books, like Films, sometimes belong to a certain time in a person's life and to experience them outside that time frame can diminish the initial impact. They simply do not stand the test of time. Nowhere is this truer than with Satire, especially, Political Satire. Because of its very nature, Political Satire is of the moment and can only be fully enjoyed in the spirit of its time. Its terms of reference change with the political winds, and with that change the satire can become dull and uninteresting.

With these thoughts in mind, it was with some trepidation that I picked up last month one of the funniest books I have ever read, "The Short Reign of Pippin IV" by John Steinbeck. I had first come across this unusual gem many years ago and opened it out of curiosity more than anything else. I vaguely remember a paperback with a ridiculous cover of a rather portly small gentleman on the cover sitting on a mock throne wearing oversized regal vestments and holding a somewhat ludicrous insignia of power. My curiosity was heightened by the fact that this was a most unusual Steinbeck title and that I had just returned from a three year stint in France.

The most abiding memory I have of the book however is the delicious savagery of the satire. In its pages, Steinbeck lampoons the political ideas and histrionics of the French and, to a lesser extent, the Amerians.

I had lost sight of the book but over the years had come across a copy of the first English edition (unfortunately without the dust wrapper) which I acquired for my own personal library. It was published in 1957, rather last in Steinbeck's writing career. I have never been able to find out what motivated him to write it or why he picked a subject so far removed from his habitual literary landscape.

A chance remark during a recent conversation made me search out the title on my shelves and, with some apprehension that the magic may no longer be there, I opened it. I needn't have worried. Steinbeck's magic is still infectious and within pages, I found myself chortling with delight.

While I had a general memory of the book, I had forgotten the wonderful "one-liners" that dot its pages. We are told that our hero Pippin Heristal was "not political except in so far as he distrusted all governments, particularly the one in power, but this too might be said to be more French than individual". During Pippin's short reign political fraternity reaches new heights. "The Christian Atheists achieved a clause imposing an amusement tax on church services. The Christian Christians were ready with a law for compulsory attendance of mass".

In a world where political cynicism is rife, and where fortunes are being made in a frantic search for truth through expensive tribunal after expensive tribunal, books like "The Short Reign of Pippin IV" are like a breath of fresh air. They renew one's faith in the power of literature and strike a bow for common sense.