Some of our regular reviewers present their choice of a ‘Book of the Year for 2022’, a very varied and enticing selection covering a wide range of topics. Christopher Moriarty My choice for a book of the year falls upon Eoghan Daltun’s An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey Into the Magic of Rewilding (Hachette, Books Ireland,…
Pick of the Season Cliff at Christmas BBC Two, Saturday December 17, 9.35pm Cliff Richard is joined by special guests for this festive TV show from Hackney Church in London. The multi-award winning artist performs some of his Christmas classics. A Christmas History of Sacred Music BBC 4, Saturday (night) December 17, 1.50am and Tuesday…
Selected by the book’s editor The Granite Coast: Dún Laoghaire, Sandycove and Dalkey by Peter Pearson (The O’Brien Press, €35.00) Explore Dún Laoghaire and its coastal surroundings as Peter Pearson reveals the story behind its transformation from rocky granite shoreline to grand Victorian ‘watering place’, to the bustling town it is now. With over 250…
North Circular Road has so many connotations for people, maybe we shouldn’t just see it as a road anymore but a connection point between different lifestyles and cultures. As one of the speakers in North Circular (15A, Irish film Institute) says, it may end at Sheriff Street geographically but in spirit it stretches to “the…
Two items last week captured a telling moment, a sign of the times as we head towards Christmas. Both items were on Morning Ireland (RTÉ Radio One, Tuesday). A report from the Mid-West Simon Community food bank service in Limerick, showed a strong demand. One woman had asked for porridge, with tears in her eyes…
World of Books This time of the year is the major occasion for people to buy books of all kinds, but especially for younger readers. There is fierce competition among the publishers, so it is easy to overlook interesting, even important books in the piled high melee. In these pages today we make some suggests for…
by John F. Deane Seamus Heaney famously said: “The biggest change in my lifetime has been the evaporation of the transcendent from all our discourse and our sense of human destiny.” Heaney was speaking out of a time when Christian faith was static, and had been static for centuries. Faith in Christ had only begun…
Voices from a Torrid Time by Séamus Connellan (Carlow Advertiser and Printing, Carlow; no price stated) This is a remarkable pictorial history of the revolutionary period from 1916 to 1923, leading to the emergence of the new Irish state. In more than 130 illustrations the author focuses on the major events in those years with…
Seven Voices of Joy by Lorcan Kenny (Veritas, €9.99) The Mindful Our Father by Thomas G. Casey SJ (Messenger Publications, €14.95) Lorcan Kenny is a priest of the diocese of Killaloe, where he has worked as a school chaplain for the last two decades. In another capacity he is also involved with a primary school…
The World Cup has been dominating the media for the last week or so, and even though a sporting event that might lift all spirits it has been dogged by controversies. Most media coverage I came across was critical of the governing body FIFA for not allowing LGBT supportive armbands being worn by players on…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone