You’ve probably all seen The Crown by now. I enjoyed it but like many of the mini-series on Netflix it was anything but ‘mini’. I also thought John Lithgow was far too tall for Winston Churchill though his performance is solid. We’ve been so spoiled by some of the recently brilliant depictions of Churchill on…
I wasn’t really surprised by how smoothly the inauguration of President Joe Biden went on Wednesday of last week – facilitated by massive security of course! My positive and optimistic side was drawn towards inspiration as I watched the RTÉ News Special (RTÉ One). Amanda Gorman, the young poet laureate, delivered an inspiring poem The…
What is your Business? Memories of life, especially from my 23 years missionary work in Sierra Leone, West Africa by Fr Willie Kingston, CSSp (CRM Publications/Spiritan Heritage and Archives, Kimmage Manor, Dublin, €20.00/€30.00 postage paid) Daniel Murphy in his magisterial A History of Irish Emigrant & Missionary Education, published in 2001, describes the significant contribution made…
Peace Smiles: Rediscovering Thomas Merton by Bishop Fintan Monahan (Veritas Publications, €9.99/£9.12) Anthony Redmond It is very clear that Bishop Fintan Monaghan is an ardent admirer and devotee of Thomas Merton and his writings. Dr Monahan, of course, is Bishop of Killaloe, based in Ennis, Co. Clare, and could be said to speak from the heart…
The Powerful and the Damned: Private Diaries in Turbulent Times by Lionel Barber (W. H. Allen, £25.00 / €20.25) Over Christmas, I read the book with the above arresting title. It is by Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times for the past 15 years, who has just retired. It is a gallop through the last…
While I wrote about Beethoven’s String Quartets at various times during his 250th anniversary last year, other topics diverted me along the way only allowing me to reach his 13th – Op 130. Beethoven’s C sharp minor 14th Quartet was written in the first half of 1826. Arguably the greatest of his last five, it…
Last week Covid-19 had to share the media limelight with the report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission – grim stories from past and present. In the blanket coverage first and foremost there were the heart-breaking stories of mothers and their babies, the personal stories of residual hurt and anger made all the more…
No Complaints: A Memoir of Life in Rural Ireland and in the Irish Public Service by Maurice O’Connell; edited by J. Anthony Gaughan (Kingdom Books, €15.00) Ciaran Casey Former ministers for finance have demonstrated a welcome readiness to publish memoirs in recent years. We now have offerings from five of the seven office-holders from the period…
Snow, a Novel by John Banville (Faber &Faber,£14.99/€17.50) Derek Hand Abandoning the nom de plume of Benjamin Black – the name under which appeared a highly successful series of crime novels – John Banville has finally embraced as his own the thriller genre with this murder mystery Snow. The creation of this mask and the sleight of hand it entailed,…
The Gentle Saint: A pilgrimage to Oxford, Dublin and Rome in the Footprints of Saint John Henry Newman by Patricia O’Leary (Gracewing, £12.99) To many readers Patricia O’Leary will be a familiar name, as she contributed a column to this newspaper for some 14 years. By metier a Cork-based journalist, she also studied catechetics and scripture at…
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello