Pope Francis: Thoughts and Words for the Soul by Jorge Mario Bergoglio ed. by Giuseppe Costa (White Star Publishers, €12.28/£11.50)

John F Deane This book by the Berryman scholar, Philip Coleman, is beautifully timed, both as a celebration of Berryman’s birth 100 years ago, and in its work to challenge assumptions about the poetry that have tended to diminish Berryman’s worth. Assessment of a poet may change from generation to generation. So-called ‘confessional’ poets have…

His encounters with Christianity is one of the mysteries of Marco Polo

The Last Cavalier: Richard Talbot (1631-91)

Frank Aiken’s War. The Irish Revolution 1916-23

Bram Stoker: Centenary Essays

The distinguished French novelist was a surprising choice for Nobel prize

The great artists and writers of today may well be, in part, names that are now totally unfamiliar or unknown to us

Here, in some 90,000 words, is the life story of popular broadcaster Donncha Ó Dúlaing from his first steps in life though some 50 years of entertaining people largely with tales and characters from the parishes of Ireland. But Donncha’s words are only part of it, for his book includes hundreds of photographs running over…

Steven Pinker, a professor in the psychology department of Harvard University, is known as the author of How the Brain Works, but much of his work is, in reality, devoted to language and expression, what he calls elsewhere “the stuff of thought”. The style of this book might suggest it was yet another mandarin book,…