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Saturday, August 04, 2007
Read Ireland
Read Ireland Book Reviews – Issue 386 – Recent Reprints and New
in Paperback
-------------------------------------
Contents:
1. An Prionsa Beag (The Little Prince) by Antoine De
Saint-Exupéry (translated into Irish by Breandán Ó Doibhlin
2. Connemara Listening to the Wind by Tim Robinson
3. Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy
4. Luke Kelly by Des Geraghty
5. Matters of Life and Death by Bernard MacLaverty
6. Mothers and Sons by Colm Toibin
7. This is Charlie Bird by Charlie Bird
8. Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks
9. The Vanishing Acts of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
10. The Singer and the Song: Sixty Irish Songwriters and their
Favourite Songs by Audrey Healy
11. Against the Tide by Noel Browne
-------------------------------------
1. An Prionsa Beag (The Little Prince) by Antoine de
Saint-Exupéry, translated into Irish by Breandán Ó Doibhlin
(Paperback; 10 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 100 pages)
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry first published The Little Prince in
1943, only a year before his Lockheed P-38 vanished over the
Mediterranean during a reconnaissance mission. More than a half
century later, this fable of love and loneliness has lost none
of its power. The narrator is a downed pilot in the Sahara
Desert, frantically trying to repair his wrecked plane. His
efforts are interrupted one day by the apparition of a little,
well, prince, who asks him to draw a sheep. "In the face of an
overpowering mystery, you don't dare disobey," the narrator
recalls. "Absurd as it seemed, a thousand miles from all
inhabited regions and in danger of death, I took a scrap of
paper and a pen out of my pocket." And so begins their dialogue,
which stretches the narrator's imagination in all sorts of
surprising, childlike directions. This book is now available in
an Irish language edition, translated by Breandán Ó Doibhlin, of
St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth University, Ireland.
-----------------------------------
2. Connemara Listening to the Wind by Tim Robinson
(Paperback; 13 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; 440 pages)
In its landscape, history and folklore, Connemara is a singular
region: ill-defined geographically, and yet unmistakably a place
apart from the rest of Ireland. Tim Robinson, who established
himself as Ireland's most brilliant living non-fiction writer
with the two-volume "Stones of Aran", moved from Aran to
Connemara nearly twenty years ago. This book is the result of
his extraordinary engagement with the mountains, bogs and
shorelines of the region, and with its folklore and its often
terrible history: a work as beautiful and surprising as the
place it attempts to describe. (A few hardback editions remain
available, very few, priced at 30 Euro).
----------------------------------------
3. Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy
(Paperback; 9 Euro / 14 USD / 7 UK; 450 pages)
The town of Rossmore is a special place, full of character and
charm. Nestled beside the Whitethorn Woods, the town has grown
since the days when it was small and friendly and everyone knew
everyone else; now it has chain stories and traffic problems and
housing estates. But it still has the woods, with the well
dedicated to St Ann, where generations have come to pray or make
wishes or just to look back at the pretty little town. Which is
why there is going to be such a fuss about the plans for the new
road, cutting through Whitethorn Woods. The people of Rossmore
are divided. No one is more concerned than the curate, Father
Brian Flynn, who has no idea which faction to support. Surely
Neddy Nolan's family should take the compensation being offered
for their land? But wasn't Neddy's mother given a cure at the
well many years ago? And what about the childless London woman
who came to Whitethorn Woods begging the saint for help, with
unexpected consequences? Full of Maeve Binchy's warmth, humour
and compassion, WHITETHORN WOODS tells of the people of
Rossmore, each with their own story, as they wait for the great
road of progress...
-------------------------------------
4. Luke Kelly by Des Geraghty
(Paperback; 12 Euro / 16 USD / 8 UK; 156 pages)
Luke Kelly (1940-1984) was an Irish singer and folk musician
from Dublin most famous as a member of the band The Dubliners.
Kelly was one of the best-known figures of the Irish folk music
movement of the 1960s and 1970s. A Dubliner from the north inner
city. He emigrated to Britain in 1958. There he first became
involved in the growing international folk music scene in which
Ewan MacColl was a central figure. In 1962 Luke Kelly returned
to Dublin and quickly became a central figure in the city's
burgeoning folk music community. He formed a folk group with
Drew, McKenna, Ciaran Bourke and John Sheahan, which he named
The Dubliners. In 1965, Kelly married the actress Deirdre
O'Connell, one of the founders of the Focus Theatre. In the
mid-1960s, Luke moved to England and on returning, he rejoined
the Dubliners. Luke remained a politically engaged musician, and
many of the songs he recorded dealt with social issues, the arms
race and war, workers' rights and Irish nationalism. Luke Kelly
was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 1980, and died in 1984. He
remains a Dublin icon and his music is widely regarded as one of
the city's cultural treasures. The Ballybough Bridge in the north
inner city of Dublin has been renamed the The Luke Kelly Bridge.
----------------------------------
5. Matters of Life and Death by Bernard MacLaverty
(Paperback; 11 Euro / 15 USD / 7 UK; 240 pages)
A new book of stories from Bernard MacLaverty is a cause for
celebration, but "Matters of Life and Death" is more than that,
as it is - without question - the finest collection yet from a
contemporary master of the form. Beginning with the sudden,
nauseating terror of a family caught up in an explosion of
shocking sectarian violence and ending with the white-out of an
Iowa blizzard and a different kind of fear, "Matters of Life and
Death" is a book about bonds and connections, made and broken,
secret and known. Vivid, beautifully controlled and written with
effortless skill and empathy, these stories are object lessons in
the art of short fiction.
--------------------------------
6. Mothers and Sons by Colm Toibin
(Paperback; 11 Euro ; 15 USD / 7 UK; 310 pages)
Colm Toibin's new and challenging collection of stories paint
rich and textured portraits of individuals at different pivotal
moments in their lives. In each case, Toibin shows how their
relationship with either a mother or a son, or their
relationship to their own role as mother or son, reveals
something unique and important about them. The stories feature
Ireland or Irish narrators, but they are also truly universal.
In "Famous Blue Raincoat", unwelcome memories are stirred when a
mother, once a singer in an Irish folk-rock band of some popular
renown in the 60s, finds that her son has been listening to
their old records - songs she hoped never to hear again. In
"Water", a son buries his mother and goes out to a drug-fuelled
rave on a remote beach outside Dublin. In the course of this one
night, his grief and desire for raw feeling combine with
exquisite and devastating intensity. At once beautifully
playful, psychologically intricate, emotionally incisive,
finely-wrought and fearless these stories tease out the delicate
and difficult strands which are woven between mothers and sons.
Sometimes shocking and always powerful, this masterful new
collection confirms Toibin as great prose stylist of our time.
Praise for "The Master" includes: 'An audacious, profound, and
wonderfully intelligent book' - Hermione Lee, "Guardian". 'The
Master is not short of a masterpiece.' - "Independent on
Sunday".
-----------------------------
7. This is Charlie Bird by Charlie Bird
(Paperback; 13 Euro / 18 USD / 9 UK; 295 pages)
Charlie Bird has been at the heart of every big news event over
the last twenty-five years, breaking exclusive stories and
interviewing presidents and prime ministers. In his
autobiography, he tells his own story and reveals how he has
become one of Ireland's best-known journalists. Charlie Bird has
made his name as a front-of-camera reporter covering the news as
it happens, from wherever it happens. During his career as a
news journalist, he reported on the upheavals of the
Haughey/FitzGerald years through to the governments of Albert
Reynolds, John Bruton and Bertie Ahern. Charlie Bird was RTE's
contact with the IRA and now for the first time, he reveals the
background to his meetings with leading republicans in the
lead-up to the 1994 and 1997 ceasefire declarations. He also
recalls the investigation which exposed wrong-doing at National
Irish Bank and the resulting stress of being involved in
Ireland's longest libel case. He gives an insight into his
foreign travels including the trial of Father Niall O'Brien in
the Philippines, the release of Brian Keenan, meeting Nelson
Mandela when he voted in the first post-apartheid elections in
South Africa, and the Asian tsunami in 2004. Today Charlie is
one of the best-known faces on Irish TV. In telling his story,
he goes beyond the news agenda to tell his own personal story,
his family background and Dublin childhood as well as the
difficulties that have arisen when he became part of the media
story himself. "It's well worth a read." - "Irish Times". "Real
contemporary history, told from the man who articulated and
therefore shaped the history as it happened" - "Irish Examiner"
- "RTE Guide".
-----------------------------------
8. Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks
(Paperback; 12 Euro / 16 USD / 8 UK; 264 pages)
'I hereby bet Tony Hawks the sum of One Hundred Pounds that he
cannot hitchhike round the circumference of Ireland, with a
fridge, within one calendar month.' A foolhardy attempt to win a
drunken bet led to Tony Hawks having one of the most
unforgettable experiences of his life. Joined by his trusty
travelling-companion-cum-domestic-appliance, he found himself in
the midst of a remarkable, inspirational and, at times, downright
silly adventure. In their month of madness, Tony and his fridge
surfed together; entered a bachelor festival; and one of them
had sex without the other knowing. The fridge got christened and
they even met the poorest king on Earth. An absurd story of an
extraordinary adventure, "Round Ireland with a Fridge" follows
the fearless pair as they battle towards Dublin and a
breathtaking finale that is moving, uplifting, and a fitting
conclusion to the whole ridiculous affair.
------------------------------------
9. The Vanishing Acts of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
(Paperback; 11 Euro / 15 USD / 8 UK; 277 pages)
A significant departure for Maggie O'Farrell in terms of
maturity and style, the paperback publication of THE VANISHING
ACT OF ESME LENNOX will be an unmissable event. Set between the
1930s,and the present, Maggie O'Farrell's new novel is the story
of Esme, a woman edited out of her family's history, and of the
secrets that come to light when, sixty years later, she is
released from care, and a young woman, Iris, discovers the great
aunt she never knew she had. The mystery that unfolds is the
heartbreaking tale of two sisters in colonial India and 1930s
Edinburgh - of the loneliness that binds them together and the
rivalries that drive them apart, and lead one of them to a
shocking betrayal - but above all it is the story of Esme, a
fiercely intelligent, unconventional young woman, and of the
terrible price she is made to pay for her family's unhappiness.
This is vintage Maggie O'Farrell: an impassioned, intense,
haunting family drama - a stunning imagining of a life stolen,
and reclaimed.
--------------------------------------
10. The Singer and the Song: Sixty Irish Songwriters and their
Favourite Songs by Audrey Healy
(Paperback; 10 Euro / 14 USD / 7 UK; 282 pages)
Have you ever wondered what motivates an artist to write a song?
What exactly was the inspiration behind classics such as "Rare
Auld Times" or Christy Moore's "The Two Conneelys". Or why
certain songs like "The Hucklebuck" captured the hearts and
minds of Ireland at a certain period in time? Here, in this
unusual and thought-provoking collection, fifty of Ireland's
celebrated musicians take the lyrics of their favourite song,
explains what that song means to them and invites readers to
listen to the song in a whole new light. From folk to rock,
traditional songs to showband classics, it includes
contributions from artists such Luka Bloom, Mary Black, Leslie
Dowall, Johnny Logan, Maria Butterly, Charlie McGettigan, The
Stunning, Roesy, Mundy, Liam Lawton, Don Baker, John Spillane
and many many more. This unique compilation brings together the
very old and the very new of Irish talent, and is a must for
music lovers.
----------------------------------
11. Against the Tide by Noel Browne
(Paperback; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; 282 pages)
The widely acclaimed autobiography of an iconic figure of
twentieth century politics, who was synonymous with controversty
and reform but is remembered with affection and honour.
--------------------------------
Previous Issue:
--------------
Read Ireland Book Reviews – Issue 385 – Irish History
-------------------------
Contents:
1. Fighting for Dublin: The British Battle for Dublin, 1919-1921
by William Sheehan
2. The Second World War and Irish Women: An Oral History by Mary
Muldowney
3. Framing the West: Images of Rural Ireland 1891-1920 edited by
Ciara Breathnach with a foreword by Cormac O Grada
4. Donegal: The Making of a Northern County edited by Jim Mac
Laughlin
5. James Joyce’s Dublin Houses and Nora Barnacle’s Galway by
Vivien Igoe
6. An Archaeology of Southwest Ireland 1570-1670 by Colin Breen
7. Nation States: The Cultures of Irish Nationalism by Michael
Mays
8. Great Irish Writers by Martin Wallace
--------------------------------------
1. Fighting for Dublin: The British Battle for Dublin, 1919-1921
by William Sheehan
(Paperback; 15 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; 166 pages)
The British Army faced shoot-outs in cities, ambushes on rural
roads. It was a typical twentieth-century conflict, as shown by
the British account of the campaign in Dublin. To this is added
an extract from the intelligence history of the campaign, brief
biographies of key British commanders and officers killed on
Bloody Sunday. Familiar names and events described include the
arrest of Kevin Barry, the wounding of Dan Breen, the burning of
the Custom House and arresting de Valera and Erskine Childers.
------------------------------------
2. The Second World War and Irish Women: An Oral History by Mary
Muldowney
(Trade Paperback; 28 Euro / 36 USD / 18 UK; 230 pages)
Based on interviews with over thirty Irish women, this book
covers their experiences during the Second World War years and
how the war impacted on them in terms of their public and
private roles. Themes such as class and income, employment,
health and housing are covered, arising from the women's
recollections and international research into women and war. The
women, from a variety of family and social backgrounds, mainly
lived and worked in Belfast and Dublin between 1939 and 1945,
but some of them went to Britain to take up war work. The
women's own stories are compared with contemporary observations
from a number of sources, including the Mass-Observation diary
of Belfast woman, Moya Woodside. Other comparisons are made with
newspaper commentaries and the files of government and other
public bodies responsible for shaping social policy. The book
shows that despite the many restrictions that the interviewees
faced, in terms of access to education, employment opportunities
and to equal treatment in a number of spheres, most of them
overcame the obstacles in their way, some of which were
considerable. Although the research demonstrated that in
economic, political and social terms the war did not make any
significant impact on Irish women, the evidence of the
individuals who contributed their memories showed that it
offered them opportunities to 'spread their wings', as one of
the women described her activities. The book also compares the
position of Irish women with their contemporaries in other
western countries. While there has been a lot of research on the
topic of women and war in other countries, no comparable work has
yet been carried out here.
-----------------------------------
3. Framing the West: Images of Rural Ireland 1891-1920 edited by
Ciara Breathnach with a foreword by Cormac O Grada
(Oblong Paperback; 28 Euro / 42 USD / 21 UK; 266 pages, with
black-and-white photographs throughout)
This thematic book, based on Irish photographs 1891-1920,
focuses on the importance of visual resources to scholars of
Ireland. Some of the images belong to the Tuke collection held
at the National Photographic Archive, Dublin but the majority of
the images used in this volume stem from the extensive
collections of Belfast-based photographer, Robert J. Welch. His
professional career spanned almost sixty years and being a
careful observer of all aspects of life inevitably his work
carries a wealth of previously underused historical data.
Prolific as he was, his images have been dispersed worldwide so
this work endeavours to reunite the various strands of Welch s
interests. To this end three of the contributors Dr Vivienne
Pollock, Ulster Museum, Marie Boran, Special Collections
Librarian, NUI Galway (NUIG) and Maggie Burns, Librarian,
Birmingham Central Library will account the provenance and
nature of the Welch material held at their respective
repositories. Sara Smyth, National Photographic Archive, Dublin,
focuses on the Tuke collection held in Dublin, while Dr Gail
Baylis, University of Ulster, Coleraine, critically assesses the
relationship between the photographer, lens and subject. Dr
Justin Carville, Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dun
Laoghaire, will describe the significance of Welch s
contribution to colonial photography.
------------------------------------
4. Donegal: The Making of a Northern County edited by Jim Mac
Laughlin
(Hardback; 45 Euro / 60 USD / 30 UK; 385 pages)
This anthology uses extracts from a wide variety of sources, to
examine social and geographical change in Donegal over the past
five centuries. Combining the approaches of the literary
anthologist with that of the historian and social geographer,
Jim MacLaughlin focuses on changes in community life and
material culture in Donegal from the pre-colonial period to the
late 20th century. The book presents extracts from historical
records, travel literature, literary sources, biographies and
autobiographies, official documents, political pamphlets and
reports of government officials. It places the interpretations
of academics alongside the observations of local historians,
antiquarians, travellers, government officials, poets and
writers.
-----------------------------------
5. James Joyce’s Dublin Houses and Nora Barnacle’s Galway by
Vivien Igoe
(Trade Paperback; 14 Euro / 20 USD / 10 UK; 186 pages)
James Joyce's Dublin Houses describes in detail the many houses
in Dublin where the Joyce family lived. It reflects on the
positive effect that the constant moving had on the young James
Joyce, in providing him with an intimate knowledge of the city
that was to become such an important backdrop to his work. It
also provides detailed information for the reader on how to get
to the various places. It concentrates on the houses where the
Joyce family lived, also pinpointing the haunts of his
characters, Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus. Vivien Igoe, an
expert on Joyce, explains the background and origins of both
Joyce and Nora Barnacle, who inspired the principal female
character in Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. There is also
information on where Joyce stayed on his return visits to Dublin
in later life. While the book will be of interest to Joycean
pilgrims and students of Anglo-Irish literature alike, it is
also aimed at the general reader to provide a useful
interpretative aid to Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man.
----------------------------------------
6. An Archaeology of Southwest Ireland 1570-1670 by Colin Breen
(Hardback; 45 Euro / 60 USD / 30 UK; 240 pages)
The 17th century was a period of significant political and
religious upheavals and was also a formative period in terms of
landscape and settlement development throughout Ireland. This
book examines Munster from an historical archaeology
perspective. In particular the study sets the archaeological
context of these developments against the historical background
of plantation, Cromwellian intervention and economic expansion.
Important developments in rural settlement occurred with a
network of agricultural and trade settlement clusters being
established or re-developed. The landscape was also physically
changed through new patterns of ownership, enclosure and
intensification of rural practice. Much of this was related to a
large expansion in agricultural and fishing activity resulting in
significant investment in port and marine communication
facilities. Industry was an important component of these
developments and the Munster landscape retains many traces of
these industries including iron and charcoal works. Finally the
role of the churches is examined in the context of these
changing times.
--------------------------------------
7. Nation States: The Cultures of Irish Nationalism by Michael
Mays
(Trade Paperback; 30 Euro / 40 USD / 20 UK; 222 pages)
This book examines the cultural formations of Irish nationalism,
and the corollary processes of decolonization, postcolonialism,
modernity, and globalization, that have been instrumental in the
creation of the modern Irish state. In mapping the contested
cultural terrain of Irish nationalism from the Act of the Union
of 1800 to the present, Mays argues that Irish nationalism as a
coherent ideological form took shape isomorphically out of the
historical conditions and exchanges of Anglo-Irish colonial
negotiation.
-------------------------------
8. Great Irish Writers by Martin Wallace
(Small Paperback; 7 Euro / 10 USD / 5 UK; 127 pages, with colour
and black-and-white photos throughout)
"Great Irish Writers" provides a parade of the biographies of
some of Ireland's greatest literary figures. Some figures are
little known outside of Ireland such as Forest Reid, Gerald
Griffin, or Joyce Cary but others such as Seamus Heaney, James
Joyce or W.B. Yeats are famous worldwide. Martin Wallace
celebrates the best of Ireland's poets, playwrights and
novelists. His cast includes such favourites as Dean Swift;
George Farquhar, Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan and many more.
--------------------------------------
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