Nano Nagle: The life and the Legacy by Deirdre Raftery, Catriona Delaney, and Catherine Nowlan-Roebuck (Irish Academic Press, €24.95) In 2013 Pope Francis declared Nano Nagle (1718–84), the founder of the Presentation Order, to be venerable. For the nuns of that order, their friends and associates and the countless admirers of Nano Nagle’s work this was…
Sharing the Wisdom of Time, Pope Francis and friends (Messenger Publications, €24.95 / £27.50) This is a book inspired directly by Pope Francis. Youth, as we are all aware, knows it all, middle age has had ‘experience’, but maturity (surely to God a better term than ‘old age’), maturity has wisdom. Though it contains reflections…
Lonely Mystic: A new portrait of Henri J.M. Nouwen by Michael Ford (Paulist Press, $16.95 / £12.99) Anthony Redmond What is the reason for the enduring appeal of Henri Nouwen? This Dutch Catholic priest and celebrated spiritual writer died in 1996 at the age of 64. His appeal, for me, is his vulnerability, openness, sensitivity and…
The World of Books by the books editor During the Presidential election a native minority found themselves the focus of unwelcome attention. I was surprised at quite how confused many people, city dwellers for the most part, were about the social group now usually called ‘Travellers’. I find this a difficult word. The corollary…
Pat O’Kelly Following the première of Don Carlos at the Paris Opéra in March 1867, Verdi returned to his farm at Sant’ Agata in the Po valley. He found peace on the land he loved and where he planted trees, cultivated vines and bred his horses. Maybe he would now retire! He had often…
I doubt if it happens very often that guests appearing on an RTÉ programme say the Rosary on the way to the studio, but that’s exactly what happened last weekend. It was the Marian Finucane Show last Saturday morning (RTÉ Radio 1) when the special guests were Olive Foley, wife of deceased rugby player Anthony Foley,…
The Wrong Country: Essays on Modern Irish Writing by Gerald Dawe (Irish Academic Press, €22.95) Derek Hand Gerald Dawe’s collection of essays offers a very engaging assessment of Irish writing in the last 100 years. His survey of the scene, filtered through the lens of his being a lecturer and poet, brings enthusiasm to the task,…
Michael O’Leary: Turbulent times for the man who made Ryanair by Matt Cooper (Penguin Ireland, €14.95 / £14.99) Frank Litton Michael O’Leary stands out among Ireland’s entrepreneurs. Is this because of his great success? His personality? The fact that so many of us have flown with his airline? Matt Cooper’s account of this “prince among men” will…
Beautiful Thoughts for Beautiful Minds by John Scally (Currach Press, €14.99) For a long time I have valued collections of poems, short stories and essays as the best kind of bedside books. They provide just enough to allow the old brain to run down and come to rest, and to allow me to drift away into…
It’s seems almost obligatory these days for TV cops to be dysfunctional in their personal lives, even deranged at times. Defenders may say it’s gritty realism, accusers may call it destructive nihilism. I’ve been following Informer on BBC1, Tuesday nights, and the main policeman, Gabe, played with nuance by the versatile Paddy Considine, is certainly…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan