Imogen Stuart RHA has long been a fixture of the Irish art scene, and her works can be found in so many church and religious foundations, that many people will be familiar with her skills as a wood carver without knowing they are. Last week RTÉ One broadcast a film about her created by her…
The papers and the bookshop windows are full of Christmastime promotions. Everyone is spoilt for choice. So I thought I should act like an editor and provide details of what seems to be an essential selection which all will enjoy. Dear Gay: Letters to the Gay Byrne Show, a hand written history of modern…
This time of the year is for booksellers at least the busiest time for children’s books. Books always make an acceptable present. But for those buying them, mostly parents and grandparents, some care has to be taken. Don’t get carried away by the title hypes in the press or prominently displayed in bookshop windows (that…
All My Wild Mothers: A Memoir of Motherhood, Loss and an Apothecary Garden, by Victoria Bennett (Two Roads / Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99 / €19.99) Mens sana in corpo sans (a healthy mind in a healthy body) is an old saying, but its truth is borne out by this very evocative book. Most books…
My Campaign in Ireland Part II: My Connection with the Catholic University, by John Henry Newman, with an introduction and notes by Paul Shrimpton [Newman Millennium Edition, volume XVII] (Gracewing, £35.00 / €40.00) For Catholics it may be enough that John Henry Newman is now canonised. But this in a way is a limitation on…
An exhibition at both the RDS and the RIA Though many people may be unfamiliar with the libraries of the Royal Dublin Society or of the Royal Irish Academy, both founded in the mid-18th Century, these hallowed institutions are currently mounting in succession a small but very interesting exhibition relating to the Dublin Great Industrial…
A Love Surpassing Knowledge: The Spirituality of Edward King, by Michael Marshall, with a foreword by Archbishop Stephen Cottrell (Gracewing, £14.99) Gracewing for over 30 years has been providing books that explore aspects of Catholicism. But now they are broad minded enough editorially to find Catholicism outside the Catholic Church. Victorian Britain was the era…
Forgive: Why Should I and How Can I?, by Timothy Keller (Hodder & Stoughton, £10.00/€12.99) On May 19 this year, Pastor Timothy Keller died at his Manhattan home of pancreatic cancer. He was the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, and a widely read best-selling Christian writer. He did not care to…
Quiet Times with God Devotional, by Joyce Meyer (Hodder & Stoughton, £10.00/€12.99) The daily round that we all plan is all too often disrupted by the simple fact that people can so easily communicate and that hour you set aside to make a cake or finally do something about that drain before winter is too…
This year we were told that Halloween was less commercial than past years. This was not my impression, at least in our South Dublin neighbourhood. Having taken my afternoon walks around some of the nearby streets, I was surprised at how early and how generously some of the houses had been decorated. All the usual things…