Peter CostelloA new title from the popular writer Mitch Albom. The tale is one of residents in a Michigan township beginning to receive phone call from Heaven – echoes of Victorian spiritualism perhaps in another guise? – but Mitch Albom is a soul heartening tale in the style of his earlier title The Five People You…
Category: Books
A man and his trials
Terence O’Neill, by Marc Mulholland (Historical Association of Ireland Life and Times Series UCD Press)
Secrets of the interior castle
Teresa of Avila: Doctor of the Soul, by Peter Tyler (Bloomsbury / Continuum, £18.99 / €22.99)
Unfolding history observed
Joe Carroll As the editor warns the reader, this book is not “a shadow history of Ireland since 1922 covering all major events and phenomena through the lens of contemporary journalism” but it is probably unbeatable for showing how Ireland has changed in that time. In ‘The Taking of Cork’ in August 1922 written by…
The hurlers on the ditch
The GAA and Radio Éireann 1926-2010: The story of the commentators who broadcast Gaelic Games, by Patrick P. Guthrie (Gemini International).
Small classic in Latin
Recently an odd little book, originally published in the US, came my way. Entitled Ave Ogden! Nash in Latin, it is the work of James C. Gleason and Brian N. Meyer and is a translation of the humorous poems of Ogden Nash into classical Latin. It was issued to the world round April 1, 1974…
The cosmic vision of Teilhard de Chardin
A Mystic in Search of a Unifying Truth: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, by Dr Ellen Galvin RSC (Kindle Edition, €1.52/£1.28; complete paperback edition from Amazon.com, €50.65; ISBN 978-1489530431)
Coming to terms with Spain’s past
Peter Hegarty The 40-year ordeal of civil war and dictatorship left a deep imprint on Spanish culture and the Spanish collective memory. What Spain remembers – and forgets – are the subjects of a profound and elegant book informed by its author’s deep familiarity with the country’s language, art and culture, which he zealously wishes…
A man who embraced the world
Pope John Paul II by Hugh Costello (History Press, €8.50/£6.99)
In praise of brevity
The occasion to have to break bad news to someone comes to everyone. It is, as Alan Palmer points out, simply a fact of life, yet how often it is badly, even damagingly handled. He focuses on resolving the conflict between the instinct of the person breaking the bad news to do so ‘gently’ can…