Mainly About Books by the books editor Recently we reviewed Elizabeth Mac Donald’s novel A Matter of Interpretation about Michael Scot and his lifelong interaction with the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1195-1250), the Norman who ruled Sicily and Southern Italy, and was one of the leading figures in the political and…
Personal Struggle: Oppression, healing and liberation by Dr Seán Ruth (Atrium / Cork University Press, €14.95) The title may, for some, carry echoes of the 1970s. But in a sense the problems identified then by theologians and social activists have not gone away. They have got worse in many respects (especially in Latin American). Worse the…
All thoughts of Christmas might seem to have been far away from a late summer day in the warm climate of Provence, but such was not the case this year for me. We were on a trip to stay with friends and relations in Toulouse. During the days we were there we were taken to…
Some of our regular reviewers select the book or books they most enjoy or were impressed by over the course of the last year… Mary Kenny Although it’s a serious and scholarly book, Religion, Landscape & Settlement in Ireland – From Patrick to Present, by Kevin Whelan (Four Courts Press, €45.00), is clear, accessible and…
Our Books Editor Peter Costello makes recommendations for you to place in someone’s Christmas stocking… Hey Grandude by Paul McCartney (Puffin Books, £12.99) This is a fun book which granddads of a certain age will enjoy reading with the grandchildren. It is odd to think of Paul McCartney himself as a grandfather – how times…
Wild Stories from the Irish Uplands by John G. O’Dwyer (Currach Books, €14.99) The author is a veteran hiker with over thirty years experience of leading walking and mountaineering groups through the Irish countryside. In this collection of essays he visits a number of well-known uplands across the country and recalls their association with historical…
Shooting and Cutting: A survivors guide to film-making and other diseases by Stephen Bradley (Mercier Press, €14.99) Film maker Stephen Bradley is the creator of Noble, the 2014 drama about the true life story of Christina Noble, the children’s rights campaigner and charity worker in Vietnam, who founded the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation. Some years ago Bradley was…
Under Construction: Working with the Architect by Neil O’Boyle (SPCK, £8.99) The literary conceit behind this book is an original one. Author O’Boyle takes the idea of revamping your home, from the garden and front hall up to the bedroom, and gives it a spiritual twist. Most of us will have worked with either a…
Rome: A Pilgrim Guide by Michael Rear, illustrated by Hilary Griffiths (Gracewing, £14.99) Quite by chance the day before this book arrived on my desk I had been looking into the generally excellent Michelin Green Guide series Guide to Rome. This covers a great deal of ground, but for what I was looking for it was…
The Globalist: Peter Sutherland – his Life and Legacy by John Walsh (HarperCollins, £20.00) Garrett Sheehan This review comes with a caveat: the writer was a classmate and friend of the late Peter Sutherland. That said this is a carefully researched, well organized and superbly written first biography in which the author John Walsh…
Peter Costello