Religion, Landscape & Settlement in Ireland, from Patrick to the Present by Kevin Whelan (Four Courts Press, €45.00) This book is one which will interest a wide range of readers. As it is already into a second printing it can be said to have scored a great success with many of them, and many more…
Last Stories by William Trevor (Viking, £14.99) Derek Hand The title of this posthumously published collection, Last Stories, signals that this is the final work from William Trevor who died in 2016. The title is doubly appropriate because the 10 pieces gathered here are imbued with a melancholy sense of things ending. Trevor as a writer…
Samizdat, before the fall of the Iron Curtain, was the name given to the clandestine copying and distribution of banned literature; in David Foster Wallace’s 1996 novel Infinite Jest, however, it means something very different, a captivating film, also called ‘the Entertainment’, that saps wills and paralyses viewers, leaving them unable to tear their eyes…
The only thing that’s likely to surprise you at this year’s Oscar ceremonies is the fact that for the first time since 1989 it won’t have a host, only presenters. Other than that you don’t need a crystal ball to forecast what’s going to happen. The favourites in all the main categories are so odds-on…
Game Changer by Cora Staunton with Mary White (Transworld Ireland, €28.00) While Cora Staunton is well-known for her skill and prowess on GAA playing-fields, little is known about her life beyond football or her private persona. That deficit is rectified in this frank autobiography. Cora recalls her early years as she was raised in a small…
It was a week of noteworthy interviews in the media. Minister for Culture Josepha Madigan had spoken at a meeting of the liberal group We Are Church and predictably this led to some radio interviews. On Drivetime (RTÉ Radio 1), Tuesday of last week, she stressed she was speaking as an ‘ordinary’ Catholic, but I’d…
The GAA and the War of Independence by Tim Pat Coogan (Head of Zeus/an Apollo Book, £20.00) The Gaelic Athletic Assoc–iation (GAA) promotes, across the whole island of Ireland, Gaelic football, hurling, ladies’ Gaelic football, camogie and handball. However, it does not concern itself solely with organising these sports. With the Irish language, Irish music and…
The Territories of Reason: Science and Theology in an Age of Multiple Rationalities by Alister E. McGrath (Oxford University Press, £25.00) Frank Litton The world is changing; nothing surprising in that. Change is the norm. What is interesting and even disturbing is the growing sense of disorientation. The maps that guide us fail. The political landscape no…
Pat O’Kelly In the presence of its indefatigable nonagenarian artistic director, the 2019 Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition drew an interesting contingent of young singers to the National Concert Hall at the end of January. For the first time in the triennial competition’s history, auditions were held abroad with jury chairman Jane Carty and…
Mainly About Books by the Books Editor Since Donald Trump took office as President of the US, the world has been fascinated, indeed mesmerised, by his daily use of short tweets to express his changing opinion, his unfocussed anger at friends and enemies (often there seems little distinction), and announce, often daily, new and…
Peter Costello
Greg Daly
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan