Category: Reviews

Recent books in brief

The Legacy of  Irish Missionaries Lives On by Matt Moran (OnStream, €15.00) With the apparent decline of priestly vocations, the nature of Irish missionary movement has changed. I say apparent because in reality it may be that the call that was responded to in the past still exists, it is merely that the responses to…

A wandering scholar’s view of the world

About Being Normal: My life in Abnormal Circumstances by Desmond Fennell (Somerville Press, €20.20 / £17.00) This memoir provides an interesting account of the life and writings of Desmond Fennell, who has long been a striking voice in modern Ireland. Fennell was born in Belfast in 1929. After attending the Christian Brothers’ O’Connell School and…

Justin Keating’s mind changing experiences

Joe Carroll Nothing Is Written In Stone: The Notebooks of Justin Keating Edited by Barbara Hussey and Anna Kealy (Lilliput Press, €20.00) Justin Keating intended to write a autobiography, but died in 2009 on the eve of his 80th birthday leaving eight handwritten notebooks. His second wife, Barbara Hussey, and Anna Kealy have done  their…

Inspiring the world with joy

Patrick Claffey The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, edited by Douglas Abrams (Hutchinson, £12.99) A few years ago, taking a taxi into Nassau St to teach a module at Trinity College, the Dublin driver asked me what I taught.  That afternoon, I told him,  I was to give a lecture…

The issue of faith reduced to numbers

The new census figures released last week have caused a stir, and among the aspects heavily reported have been those related to religion. I’ve noticed a concentration (even satisfaction in some quarters?) on the drop (since 2011) in the percentage of the population identifying as Catholic (from 84% to 78%) along with the 10% figure…

Recent books in brief

Time with the Master: Reflections on the Life of Jesus by Seamus Devitt CSsR  (Messenger Publications, €7.95) Though Christmas seems to dominate the annual round, Easter Sunday has always been for Chrstians the central feast day of the year. As we celebrate next Sunday this little book by Fr Devitt will remind many people that…

Aspects of an historic town

Youghal Celebrates 1916 ed. Kieran Groeger (Youghal Celebrates History, €10; address Mary’s College, Emmett Place, Youghal Co. Cork; email: ytta@eircom.net) This booklet marking Youghal’s contribution to the 1916 celebrations includes a number of interesting articles, one of them relating to Sir Roger Casement. Patrick Cockburn writes about a link between his grandfather, Jack Arbuthnot, a…

One of Ireland’s ‘other’ poets

The World of Books On January 20, 1947, The Times of London carried a short report: “NEW YORK. At 10.15 a.m. yesterday Mayor O’Dwyer,  of New York, received a telegram from Mr John McCann, Lord Mayor of Dublin, which read as follows: ‘Poet Eoghan Roe Ward dying. Bananas may save life. Is it possible send…

Three amigos opt to grow old disgracefully

Going In Style (12A) What else can Hollywood do with the elderly? It’s made them into dolts. It’s made them into geniuses. It’s even, for goodness sake, put them into space (in Space Cowboys). Now, in a re-make of a 1979 movie, they’ve turned them into bank robbers. Enter Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan…