Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 189
Irish Spirit: Pagan Celtic Christian Global edited by Patricia Monaghan
Paperback; 13.99 IEP / 16.00 USD / 12.50 UK / 17.80 EURO; Wolfhound Press, 335 pages [Add To Basket]
Ireland has long been renowned as a place of spirit. In ancient times, when the veil between this world and the other was thinner, divine races contended for primacy. Later, Ireland kept the faith when it was in danger of being lost, sending back the good word to light the continental darkness. Even later, Ireland became a place of backward superstition and fanatic sectarianism. Since the beginning of history and probably before, the life of the spirit has not been taken lightly in Ireland. In this book, the editor has assembled from Ireland and the Irish diaspora, the voices of people from a variety of backgrounds and professions - including poet, scientist, linguist, teacher, artist, drummer, folklorist, scholar, sociologist, science-fiction writer, ecologist, singer and philosopher. Wide-ranging, accessible and personal, the book explores the many ways in which thinking people today find spiritual inspiration in the Irish past.
Cries of an Irish Caveman by Paul Durcan
Paperback; 9.99 IEP / 11.50 USD / 8.50 UK / 12.70 EURO; Harvill, 160 pages [Add To Basket]
This is the poet's most inspired and surprising collection of poems. Through four distinct sections, he brings his tender lyricism to bear on the themes of love and loss, life and death. The first section describes an experience in Australia that provides a starting point for reassessing his past relationships and loves. The second returns to Ireland, its people and places, the celebrated and the unknown. The third section is a meditation on his daughter's marriage, placing within a historical and sacramental context a very personal event. And finally, in some of his most daring and original writing, he describes his own twentieth-century romance, replete with ecstasies and inevitable agonies, beauty and hope, but also brutality and self-abasement.
Capel Street: A Study of the Past, A Vision for the Future by Olwyn Jones
Paperback; 8.00 IEP / 9.50 USD / 7.00 UK / 10.20 EURO; Dublin Civic Trust, 84 pages, with b/w photos throughout [Add To Basket]
Capel Street is a narrow street leading to Dublin's quays. An aristocratic residential street in the eighteenth century, it is now a vibrant commercial street. In the book the reader discovers the story behind the change and development over the years; meets the people who lived and worked there and the buildings they occupied. This book brings the reader on a journey through the social and architectural history of the area.
With a Tap on the Knee: Memoirs of a Reluctant Banker by Bob Ryan
Hardback; 20.00 IEP / 23.50 USD / 17.50 UK / 25.40 EURO; MIS Books, 157 pages [Add To Basket]
From unknowingly witnessing the discreet transfer of Vatican gold to a bank in Cork, to nervously persuading Brendan Behan to address an assembly of bankers, to his involvement in AIB's first expansion abroad from the unlikely setting a laundrette in London, the author has chronicled his experiences in banking with humour, honesty and zest. An accomplished painter and natural raconteur, he was, he admits, 'dragged into banking through the back door.' In this delightful memoir, his acute eye and ear combine with an unfailing sense of fun to create irreverent situational sketches and sympathetic portraits of the many beguiling characters he encountered there, among them some well-known names. As an absorbing piece of social history, the book also reflects the changing face of Ireland in the second half of the twentieth-century. On the more serious side, it describes how three banks merged to become the powerful banking force that is now the Allied Irish Bank; the rise of the banking union, the IBOA; the back ground to the extraordinary seven-month bank strike of 1970; the bank's delicate handling of Charles J. Haughey's debt problems; and the ICI insurance debacle. The book is an entertaining human story.
Findlaters: The Story of a Dublin Merchant Family 1774-2001 by Alex Findlater
Hardback; 35.00 IEP / 40.00 USD / 30.00 UK / 44.50 EURO; A&A Farmer, 577 pages [Add To Basket]
This book is an absorbing mixture of family, social and business history. This unique memoir tells the story of the family who ran one of Dublin's best-loved wine and food businesses. The story starts in Scotland, where 'Old Alexander' was a bosom friend of Robbie Burns. The author, of the fifth Irish generation, shows how the family gradually became part of the national life, expanding their interests into brewing and music halls as well as taking part in national politics, and earning themselves mentions in Ulysses, Finnegans Wake, and The Ginger Man on the way. The book is profusely illustrated from a unique archive of materials dating back to the firm's foundation in 1823 and earlier.
Maverick: A Dissident View of Broadcasting Today by Bob Quinn
Hardback; 15.99 IEP / 19.00 USD / 14.00 UK / 20.30 EURO; Brandon, 280 pages [Add To Basket]
This important, thought-provoking book offers a unique and challenging insight into Irish broadcasting today. Its insider's view opens up debate about one of the most pervasive influences on modern society. The author has been involved in broadcasting since he joined Ireland's national broadcaster, RTE, in 1961. He walked out in 1969 and worked as an independent filmmaker thereafter, making drama, documentary and experimental films for the BBC, Channel Four, SBS, UTV and others. His spirited independence of mind has resulted in him being described as a 'maverick'. It is of course this very independence of mind which makes this book such a fascinating account, raising serious issues about where broadcasting is going and what it is doing to its viewers.
Arthur O'Connor, United Irishman by Jane Hayter Hames
Hardback; 20.00 IEP / 24.oo USD / 16.50 UK / 25.40 EURO; Collins Press, 338 pages [Add To Basket]
In 18th century Ireland, radical intellectuals embraced revolution. One was Arthur O'Connor, born in 1763 and heir to estates and influence. He studied law, became an MP in the Irish House of Commons and High Sheriff of Cork. He joined the United Irishmen in 1795 and travelled with Lord Edward Fitzgerald to bring the French to Bantry Bay. An incredible orator and pamphleteer, he was arrested in February 1797. Released on bail, he set about rousing the country. En route to France for in 1798, he was arrested in England, tried for treason and acquitted but immediately re-arrested and was not released until 1802 after agreeing to exile in France. He settled in France and became a General de Division in the French army and negotiated with Napoleon for another expedition to Ireland. Moving in radical circles, O'Connor, aged 44, met and married Eliza, aged 17, only daughter of the philosopher Condorcet, in 1807. They bought an estate south of Paris and raised three sons, all of whom tragically predeceased him. He got permission to return to Ireland in 1834 to sell his mismanaged Cork properties and then spent most of his retirement writing and publishing. He died in 1852 and was buried in the grounds of his estate. This book is his fascinating life story.
Under the Duvet by Marian Keyes
Hardback; 10.00 IEP / 12.00 USD / 8.50 UK / 12.70 EURO; Michael Joseph, 272 pages [Add To Basket]
This book collected Marian Keyes's journalism: regular bulletins from the woman under the duvet. It features a wide compilation of writing from magazines and newspapers, plus some exclusive, previously unpublished material. The book is bursting with funny stories: observations on life, in-laws, weight-loss, parties and driving lessons that will keep the reader utterly gripped - either wincing with recognition or roaring with laughter.
Expecting Emily by Clare Dowling
Paperback; 10.00 IEP / 12.00 USD / 8.50 UK / 12.70 EURO; Poolbeg, 356 pages [Add To Basket]
Emily is expecting. She is 34 weeks pregnant, her ankles are swollen, her hair is falling out and she's worried about the baby. Now she's been passed over for a partnership in the firm of solicitors where she puts in more than 48 hours per week selling boggy bits of farmland. And if that weren't enough, it looks as if her arty husband, the piano-playing Conor, may have been running his finger over more than the ivories while on tour in Germany. Depressed, demoted and drugged, Emily finally realizes that inside every good girl, there's a bad one waiting to get out …
Up and Down Under by Jeff Connor
Hardback; 17.99 IEP / 20.50 USD / 15.99 UK / 22.90 EURO; Canongate, 192 pages [Add To Basket]
This book is subtitled: An Inside Account of the British & Irish Lions Tour of Australia. The 2001 British and Irish Lion rugby tour of Australia began in bright optimism and ended in something close to total shambles. After a series defeat against the world champions - that owed less to any lack of ability among the tourists and more to off-field bickering, commercial interest and a complete breakdown in communication between management, players and the travelling press - serious questions were asked of those in the game's highest echelons. It was a tour that was driven by separate agendas among leading Lions personnel and it was plain to many, long before the end, that this was an expedition that could only end in tears. There were, however, also moments of high farce and as well as detailing the elements that lead to the Lions' downfall, the author has produced a hilarious account of daily life on a rugby tour, the internecine strife among media and management, the cynical Australian muck-raking and the insular nature of sports reporting. The book is an acerbic and enlightening account of one of the great misadventures of modern sport.
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