Read Ireland Book News - Issue 28
<-- [Back To Main Menu] 1. Reach for the Sky by Pat Falvey with Dan Collins (hardback; 17.99 IRP / 27 USD approximately) [Add To Basket]
Pat Falvey, adventurer-guide and motivational lecturer, is the first person from Ireland to climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents which includes Everest, the highest mountain in the world. His is a story of courage and triumph, of how to turn adversity to advantage. A millionaire by the age of 26, at 29 he was almost broke. But the tough times experienced in his childhood stood him in good stead. As he coped with personal and financial problems head on, he was also discovering the great outdoors. His incredible positive energy propelled him to new goals in the world of adventure. This culminated in his odyssey to the southern hemisphere from January to March 1997, during which he climbed Mount Vinson in Antarctica, Mount Cook in New Zealand, and Mount Kosciusko in Australia, as well as exploring the jungles of Irian Jaya in New Guinea. The latter involved a period as a guest of the Dani tribe, currently in danger of extinction from the occupying Indonesian forces.
2. Rose and the Blade: New and Selected Poems, 1957-1997 by John Campbell (paperback; 6.45 IRP / 9.70 USD) [Add To Basket]
For over four decades, John Campbell has chronicled the rhythms of Belfast life - by turns tough, ironic, cruel, dark, tender and lyrical. In his previous books of poetry he has created a world at once uniquely his own yet familiar to us all: the real Belfast of bars and bookies, of 'hard chaws and brass,' of characters battered but not beaten by the hard life. Yet, running in tandem with this, is a more reflective, intimate world of daily routing, of home and family and domestic joys and sorrows.
A former worker on Belfast Dock, his words speak straight to his audience, remembering and recovering the feel of times past, vividly portraying times present and looking forward with optimism to times future.
Selected from his previously published poetry and including poems never before collected, this book firmly establishes the author as a poet worthy of his chose place and people.
3. If Only: Short Stories of Love and Divorce by Irish Women Writers (paperback; 7.99 IRP / 12.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
The theme is love. But the stories in this unusual collection by contemporary Irish women writers are as richly diverse as the Ireland of the 1990s. From the vantage points of rural villages and Dublin suburbs, from London, New York and Dallas, the authors explore the quest for marriage and its hidden shoals. Adultery, bigotry, even polygamy, dreams and deceit, loss of innocence, love-children, love betrayed and love triumphant.
The writers included in this collection are: Ivy Bannister, Sheila Barrett, Maeve Binchy, Mary Rose Callaghan, Kate Cruise O'Brien, Ita Daly, Margaret Dolan, Mary Dorcey, Mary Gordon, Katy Hayes, Jennifer Johnston, Marian Keyes, Mary Leland, Liz MacManus, Mary Maher, Mary Morrissey, Mary O'Donnell, Patricia Scanlan and Gaye Shortland.4. John Stanislaus Joyce by John Wyse Jackson (hardback; 22.00 IRP / 33.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
Long before Nora Barnacle had found her singular place in the imagination of James Joyce, the influence of his father was apparent and profound. It is well known that James retold many of his father's anecdotes in his writings, but, to an extent never before conceded, the lifework of James Joyce was an imaginative recreation not of his own life but of his father's. This is the story of the father: John Stanislaus Joyce, only son of an only son of an only son and inheritor of an intensely proud family line.
A heroic drinker, superlative swearer and 'praiser of his own past', with ambitions to become a Parnellite MP, he was a Corkman who becames the quintessential Dubliner and was the father of at least 16 children, almost all of who he tried to ignore. A nightmare to those children he denied, he was an inspiration to the imagination of his first surviving son, James. John Stanislaus was a prodigal father: prodigal with his money, his repartee, his love of music, gossip and controversy. He demanded that photographs of his former sweethearts be displayed alongside the family portraits on the piano, and on one occasion claimed to have cured himself of syphilis.
Born just after the Great Famine in 1849, he was part of Dublin life during the era of great Irish renaissance as nationalism, literature and learning combined to make the city as volatile and as dramatic as any in Europe. He saw the social and political history of those exciting times from a perspective now almost lost, and by the time of his death in 1931 Dublin's colonial days were over for ever.
5. Selected Writings of James Connolly edited by Peter Berresford Ellis (paperback; 15.45 IRP / 23.20 USD) [Add To Basket]
On 12 May 1916, James Connolly was executed by the British for his part in the Irish Easter Rising. A Marxist theoretician, historian, trade union organiser and revolutionary, he was a prolific writer. He is regarded as a founding father of the modern Irish state in spite of its rejection of his political ideals. Yet Connolly's teachings have had a profound affect on recent generations of Irish nationalists and socialists, especially in the North of Ireland.
This highly regarded edition of Connolly's writings draws together some of Connolly's most representative work and provides an accessible introduction to one of the major socialist thinkers of the 20th century. It is now reissued with the addition of a new preface by the editor.
6. The Lost Writings of James Connolly edited by Aindrias O Cathasaigh (paperback; 15.45 IRP / 23.20 USD) [Add To Basket]
James Connolly confronts us as one of the most important socialist thinkers of his time. His early activism in the Scottish socialist movement; his involvement in the American labour movement; his activity as a union organiser in Ireland; his revolutionary stand against the first world war; and his leadership of the 1916 uprising for Irish independence - all point to a crucial figure in the development of the workers' movement during one of its most intriguing phases.
Connolly was more than an activist, however: he was an outstanding and powerful essayist and polemicist who wrote books, tracts, articles and essays - and conducted a voluminous correspondence with ideological friends and foes of every persuasion. While his books have remained almost continuously in prince since his execution in 1916, much of his remaining literary output was, until now, effectively lost. This invaluable selection of previously uncollected articles and essays will for the first time make available to a wider audience - and an entirely new readership - some of Connolly's most incisive, inspiring and illuminating work.
7. Legends of the Ash by Brendan Fullan (hardback; 16.99 IRP / 25.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
Author Brendan Fullan has researched, interviewed and written about hurling legends from all over the country for the past 18 years. In this book he brings to a culimination his unique record of the game of hurling Ð with contributions from many of the 68 legendary players themselves, photographs, signatures, fascinating facts and ideal team selections.
This book records the big names of the game of hurling over the last century. It captures the memories, nostalgia, fulfilment, skill, great games and friendship associated with a truly unique sport.
8. Irish Railways: 40 Years of Change, 1956-1996 by Colin Boocock (hardback; 19.95 IRP / 30.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
Over the last 40 years, railways in Ireland have developed from a collection of worn down, largely steam hauled by-ways to an impressively modern, though smaller, network. The old narrow gauge lines have now all gone, but the broac gauge (Irish lines are 5ft 3in between the rails) are at last receiving the investment they deserve. This book uses the photographs of Colin Boocock to chart the changes from the sometimes timeless scenes of the 1950s, through dieselisation and rationalisation, to the first electrification in Ireland and the latest developments that are setting the scene for decades to come.
Though the books's pictures come from a 40 year period, they give a flavour of Irish railway trains that have run throughout this century while still looking forward to those that will be in use well into the next. The book also highlights aspects of the industrial railway scene and the efforts to preserve the best of Irish railway heritage.
9. Voices of Cork by Vincent Power (hardback; 14.99 IRP / 22.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
In this collection of colourful and compelling interviews, 18 of Ireland's best-known personalities from Cork talk openly and frankly about their lives. Read the inside track on their remarkable achievements in politics, business, sport, media and the arts. Discover what made them who and what they are today. The author interviews: Ted Crosbie, Joe Lynch, Sonia O'Sullivan, Eilen Nolan, Noel C. Duggan, Peter Barry, Bill O'Herlihy, Brendan O'Brien, Darina Allen, Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Barry Galvin, Niall Toibin, Professor John A. Murphy, Alice Taylor, Billy Morgan, Fergal Keane, Fiona Shaw and Ben Dunne.
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