Read Ireland Book News - Issue 35
<-- [Back To Main Menu] While the Grass Grows: Memoirs of a Folklorist by Brid Mahon (paperback; 7.99 IRP / 12.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
Brid Mahon, author and folklorist, worked for many years with the Irish Folklore Commission. In this book of entertaining memoirs she reviews the great variety of the Commission's work, moving freely back and forth through the centuries as only a good folklorist can.
Among the many who found their way to the Commission's offices on business and pleasure were Micheal Mac Liammoir, Burl Ives, Walt Disney, J.R.R. Tolkien, Frank O'Connor and Patrick Kavanagh. Brid Mahon writes of them all with wit and grace.
This book is an informal cultural history of Ireland throught the ages with fascinating glimpses of her own life and times.
The Gold Sun of Irish Freedom: 1798 in Song and Story by Danny Doyle and Terence Folan (paperback; 7.99 IRP / 12.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
Written and compiled by renowned Irish ballad singer Danny Doyle and author/historian Terence Folan, this book combines a linking narrative with the history, songs and poetry of the rebellion of 1798. The narrative gives a straightforward, readable account of the background to 1798 and the important events and personalities of the rebellion itself, in Ulster and in Wexford, as well as the French landings in Connacht. Stirring traditional ballads such as 'Who Fears to Speak of Ninety-Eight?', 'The Shan Bhan Bhocht', 'Boolavogue', 'The Wearing of the Green', 'Kelly the Boy from Killane', and 'Bodenstown Churchyard' come complete with musical notation and simple guitar chords.
The Bardic Source Book: Inspirational Legacy and Teachings of the Ancient Celts edited and selected by John Matthews with a foreword by Robin Williamson (paperback; 22.50 IRP / 33.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
In researching this unique collection of material on the Bards, noted Celtic and Arthurian writer John Matthews has made available to a modern readership a truly revealing and inspiring body of work. Not only does it contain a generous selection of texts by some of the greatest Bards - such as Taliesin, Myrddin and Aneurin (with many poems in new translation) --it also includes many previously hodden and forgotten gems from the inevitable 'anon', as well as some of the best historical and latter-day commentaries and writings in the Bardic tradition.
As the only large-scale sourcebook on the Bardic mysteries, it is an important contribution to available literature on the subject, providing an accessible and readable collection of the Celtic literary heritage.
The Irish Navy: What a Life! By Jim Brady (paperback; 7.95 IRP / 11.95 USD) [Add To Basket]
As a fifteen year old boy, Jim Brady was determined to join the Irish Navy because he wanted to see America. Unfortunately by the end of his six year service, he had only sailed as far as the Aran Islands.
This is a book written with style and comedy and it is bitingly funny when describing the numerous characters he was fortunate to encounter and never forget. The accuracy and descriptive observations makes it captivating reading. He describes in great detail the harrowing experience of continuously eating food laced with cockroaches, eating stinking meat because the fridges were useless, using toilets with no doors and facing each other, and no washing facilities.
But despite the awful treatment he and his comrades received, his lasting love of the service is clearly evident on every page, and his vast collection of hilarious incidents and anecdotes contained in this book are vividly recounted and are highly entertaining.
The Irish Navy: A Full Life by Jim Brady (hardback; 9.95 IRP / 15.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
In this delightful and eagerly awaited sequel is Jim Brady's hilarious descriptions of life in civvy street after his exemplary service in the Irish Navy. He writes vividly about his often frustrating encounters with prospective employers both here and in England whom he could not convince that we actually do have a navy.
He writes of his deeply embarrassing experience of losing his virginity to a nymphomaniac swank in Dalkey, County Dublin. His colourful descriptions of life in the Liberties where he was born, and of its characters, including Bang-Bang, the most famous of them all, are a joy to read. He describes in great detail the humiliating experience of being forced to re-visit the Iveagh second-hand clothes market, to purchase two suits for four pounds, after all his belongings had been stolen by prostitutes near University College Cork while he was celebrating his discharge from the navy.
His detailed portrait of his family's life following his discharge in the early 1960s and his recall to active service makes a strong contribution to a very enjoyable book.
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