Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 333
The Irish Times Book of the Year 2005 edited by Peter Murtagh
Hardback; 28.00 Euro / 35.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 260 pages, with full colour photos throughout
This is the sixth edition of this highly successful gift book. A compendium of the most engaging, informed and witty writing in the newspaper from the period of September 2004 to September 2005, accompanied by stunning colour photography.
Magnum Ireland edited by Brigitte Lardinois and Val Williams
Oblong Hardback; 40.00 Euro / 48.00 USD / 32.00 UK; full colour photographs throughout [Add To Basket]
From Ireland's first attempts to forge a modern identity in the 1950s to the confident country of the twenty-first century, here is a stunning survey of a beautiful and complex place and people, as seen by the unrivalled talents of Magnum photographers.
The photographs include the extraordinary insights of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Elliot Erwitt, Joseph Koudelka, Inge Morath, Erich Lessing, Eve Arnold, Martine Franck, Martin Parr, Ian Berry, Donovan Wylie, Stuart Franklin and many others.
Comment and commentary is provided by six of the most notable Irish writers of our time – Anthony Cronin, Nuala O'Faolain, Eamonn McCann, Fintan O'Toole, Colm Tóibin and Anne Enright.
Organized decade by decade, the images show the lingering influence of rural life in the 1950s; the hidden stories of ordinary Irish men and women – as well as the sectarian conflict – during the troubled 1960s and 70s; and the country's renewed confidence and prosperity over the past three decades, right up to the present day.
John Banville, author of the introduction to 'Magnum Ireland', is the winner of the 2005 Man Booker Prize.
Irish Literature: The Eighteenth Century an Annotated Anthology edited by A. Norman Jeffares and Peter van de Kamp
Trade Paperback; 30.00 Euro / 38.00 USD / 21.00 UK; 400 pages
"Irish Literature in the Eighteenth Century" illustrates not only the impressive achievement of the great writers - Swift, Berkeley, Burke, Goldsmith and Sheridan - but also shows the varied accomplishment of others, providing unexpected, entertaining examples from the pens of the less well known. Here are examples of the witty comic dramas so successfully written by Susannah Centlivre, Congreve, Steele, Farquhar and Macklin. There are serious and humorous essayists represented, including Steele, Lord Orrery, Thomas Sheridan and Richard Lovell Edgeworth. Beginning with Gulliver's Travels, fiction includes John Amory's strange imaginings, Sterne's stream of consciousness, Frances Sheridan's insights, Henry Brooke's sentimentalities and Goldsmith's charm. Poetry ranges from the classical to the innovative. Graceful lyrics, anonymous jeux d'esprit, descriptive pieces, savage satires and personal poems are written by very different poets, among them learned witty women, clergymen and drunken ne'er-do-wells. Politicians, notably Grattan and Curran, produced eloquent speeches; effective essays and pamphlets accompanied political activity. Personal letters and diaries - such as the exuberant Dorothea Herbert's Recollections - convey the changing ethos of this century's literature, based on the classics and moving to an increasing interest in the translation of Irish literature. This book conveys its fascinating liveliness and rich variety.
Irish Literature in the Nineteenth Century volume 1 An Annotated Anthology edited by A. Norman Jeffares and Peter van de Kamp
Trade Paperback; 30.00 Euro / 38.00 USD / 21.00 UK; 400 pages [Add To Basket]
This, the first of three volumes, spans the first third of the nineteenth century. It documents Ireland's significant literary contribution to an age of invention, with Thomas Moore's romantic Melodies, Maria Edgeworth's regional fiction, and Charles Maturin's voyeuristic Gothic stories. It witnesses the rise of a quest for authenticity - mapping and transmuting the Gaelic past (in Hardiman's "Irish Minstrelsy", Petrie's essay on the round towers, and O'Curry's research into Irish manuscripts) and faithfully depicting the real Ireland (in the first-hand accounts of Mary Leadbeater, William Hamilton Maxwell, Asenath Nicholson, the peasant fiction of William Carleton and the Catholic fiction of the Banim brothers). In Jonah Barrington's "Sketches" it records the demise of the rollicking squirearchy, while in the stories of Lover it portrays the rise of the stage Irishman. But it also offers a selection from political documents and speeches, and from popular writings which were imprinted on the Irish consciousness. These are contextualised by historical documents, and by Irish forays into European Romanticism.
Impressions of Ireland by Einar Olafur Sveinsson
Paperback; 20.00 Euro / 25.00 USD / 14.00 UK; 124 pages
In 1947 Professor Einar Olafur Sveinsson from Iceland, accompanied by Hermann Palsson, a research student, and James Hamilton Delargy, Directory of the Irish Folklore Commission, visited Teelin, Glencolumbkille and the Bluestacks. Back in Iceland Professor Sveinsson wrote an article in which he paints a vivid picture of folklife in Donegal. In this article, he emphasises the links between Iceland and Ireland and recalls the ancient legends of the ‘papar’, the early Christian monks who went from Teelin to Iceland. Translations into Irish and English are given together with the original Icelandic text.
Conversations: Snapshots of Modern Irish Life by Darrach MacIntyre
Hardback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 20.00 UK; 377 pages
"Conversations" offers the reader a unique insight into life in Ireland at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The author talks with people from all over the island about their everyday lives, and the reasons - both inspirational and purely practical - which compel them to live as they do. We gain an intimate insight into what fascinates us most about other people - how they live, what makes them tick, what makes them get up in the morning...Inspired by the work of the pioneering American oral historian Studs Terkel, MacIntyre allows his forty-nine subjects to relate in their own words the stories of their lives. Typically, these are voices that are heard only rarely, but their distinct and compelling individuality resonates far beyond the final page. MacIntyre has selected his subjects with the reporter's instinct for what makes a good story and the filmmaker's feel for what is fascinating about the everyday. Shaped by their experiences, hopes and fears, "Conversations" captures something of the heart and soul of modern Ireland.
The GAA Book of Lists by Eoghan Corry
Paperback; 10.00 Euro / 13.00 USD / 7.00 UK; 436 pages [Add To Basket]
Did you know that Micheal Cusack nearly chose cricket as the national sport? Can you name the ten phrases only used by GAA writers? Or ten GAA competitions that no longer exist? How about ten GAA players that have been to the Olympics? Do you know who plays at Micheal Fay Park? Or which ground is most northerly? Can you name the great hurlers who never won an All-Ireland ? Or the two counties that have never won anything in football? In "The GAA Book of Lists", Eoghan Corry trawls the archives to find the bizarre, amazing and the ridiculous, bringing together the things you never knew about Ireland's national sports. Using lists and facts and giving all the details, this is a must for all GAA fans.
Green Days: Cricket in Ireland 1792-2005 by Gerard Siggins
Paperback; 19.00 Euro / 23.00 USD / 12.00 UK; 128 pages with black-and-white photos throughout [Add To Basket]
While Ireland’s qualification for the 2007 World Cup might have surprised many inside and outside the country, it is merely the latest stage on a journey that began in the Phoenix Park more than two centuries ago. Ireland’s cricket history is an extraordinarily colourful one, peopled by writers such as Joyce, Shaw and Beckett, statesmen such as the Duke of Wellington, John Hume, Charles Stuart Parnell and John Redmond, and personalities such as Lady Gregory, Thomas Andrews and Colin Farrell. With a fascinating collection of vintage photographs, and stunning action shots from the modern era, Gerard Siggins tells the story of cricket in Ireland from the earliest days up to the ICC Trophy final in July 2005. It is the story of a sport buffeted by the enormous social and political changes of the last 200 years, with war, famine, revolution, independence, and economic boom and bust all impacting on Irish cricket. Now, with recent victories over West Indies, Zimbabwe and Surrey, the Irish team is well placed to have a successful World Cup. Cricket in Ireland 1792-2005 tells the stories of Irish cricket’s darkest days and finest hours – and looks forward to many more to come.
On the Beat: A Woman’s Life in the Garda Siochana by Mary O’Connor
Paperback; 11.00 Euro / 13.50 USD / 8.00 UK; 200 pages, with a 16-page photo insert [Add To Basket]
It became obvious that this woman was not going to break for these men. Even when they showed her pictures of her child, with his head swollen the size of a football, she blank-walled them. She ignored the allegations that she had anything to do with his injuries, as if they weren't talking to her. All the while her little child was lying on a surgeon's table fighting for his life. Apparently the surgeon had said it was the worst case of child abuse he had witnessed in his entire 25 years dealing with children. 'Eight hours it took - eight hours of probing into her own personal life of being abused while growing up, of turning to drugs and living in a daze, of suffering cruelty constantly at the hands of callous men. Her father, her brothers and all her lovers had beaten her throughout her lifetime. That's all she knew. "I understand," I lied. With that, she threw herself down at my knees and cried. "Will my son die? When I came back I found him stuck between the bed and the radiator. It was on full blast," she said. "I was out getting a score. I was gone a long time."' This unsentimental, yet sensitive, account of the work of a Ban Garda is a unique book.
It’s Not Me … It’s You: A Girl’s Guide to Dating in Ireland by Anne Marie Scanlon
Paperback; 10.00 Euro / 13.00 USD / 7.00 UK; 275 pages [Add To Basket]
Well known by readers of the Evening Herald, Anne Marie Scanlon has been dispensing showbiz news, gossip and advice on men in her popular column, The New York Doll. Now, this New York Doll is about to release a reveal all on that life essential topic – DATING a Man. It’s Not Me, It’s You: A Girl’s Guide to Dating is THE bible for every woman. With chapters entitled: A Field Guide to the Male, Who is the right man for you? The distinguishing features, traditional attire and habitat of a host of different males, including: the Feathery Stroker, Bankers & Wankers, the Mad Bastard, the Corporate Climber and the Sports Billy. Complete with illustrations! to Your Questions Answered…… No frills, no punches - answers that you might not always want to hear….but need to know!
75 Years of the University College Cork Law Society
Trade Paperback; 19.00 Euro / 24.00 USD / 13.00 UK [Add To Basket]
Providing a historical account of how a college society affects the lives of its members and the greater society, this entertaining book details the history of an active and admirable college society. It is of interest to UCC alumni and staff, law graduates, and to people from Cork.
Dialogue in Fading Light: New and Selected Poems by Philip Casey
Trade Paperback; 13.00 Euro / 16.00 USD / 9.00 UK; 66 pages [Add To Basket]
In his widely acclaimed novels, Philip Casey has shaped a distinctive vision of the emergent Ireland. Now he returns to poetry, in his first collection in almost fifteen years. Quietly asserting that poetry waits to be discovered - rather than being explained or packaged - he blends re-worked older poems with new reflections on love, death and the times we live in, ranging in tone from the light-hearted to the contemplative.
Down A Road All Rebels Run by Mogue Doyle
Paperback; 10.00 Euro / 13.00 USD / 7.00 UK; 240 pages [Add To Basket]
This title is set in South Wexford, 1920 with Jim Rowe, the newly appointed captain of a volunteer company, who are fighting the Black and Tans. The Tans are brutal and emotionless and their orders are to crush any notions of Irish independence among the local population. Jim is young, idealistic and committed. Boosted by small successes, he plans an ambitious mission: the ambush of the local Tan garrison as they return to base one evening. But a callous betrayal, from within the volunteer ranks, leads the Tans directly to him. Their reprisal is more vicious and more personal than he could ever have imagined. Ordinary people are faced with unimaginable events in this haunting story of struggle and survival, driven by idealism, love, and a lust for revenge.
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