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Read Ireland Book Reviews, May 2003
Almost There: The Onward Journey of
a Dublin Woman - a Memoir by Nuala O’Faolain
In 1996, a small Irish press approached Nuala O’Faolain,
then a writer for the Irish Times newspaper, to publish a collection of
her opinion columns. She offered to write an introduction to give the
opinions a context - to explain the life experience that had shaped this
Irish woman’s views - and, convinced that none but a few diehard fans
of the columns would ever see the book, she took the opportunity to interrogate
herself, as fully and candidly as she could, as to what she had made of
her life. But the introduction, the ‘accidental memoir of a Dublin woman’,
was discovered, and ‘Are You Somebody?’ became an international bestseller.
It launched a new life for its author at a time when she had long let
go of expectations that anything could dislodge patterns of regret and
solitude well fixed and too familiar. Suddenly in mid-life there was the
possibility of radical change. Whereas the memoir ended with its author
reconciled to a peaceful if lonely future, now opportunities opened up,
and there were thrilling choices to make - choices that forced her to
address the question of how to live a better life herself and, therefore,
of what makes any life better. This memoir begins at the moment when O’Faolain’s
life began to change, and its both tells the story of life in the subtle,
radical, and, above all, unforeseen renewal, and meditates on that story.
It is on one level a tale of good fortune chasing out bad - of an accidental
harvest of happiness. But it is also a provocative examination of one
woman’s experience of ‘the crucible of middle age’ - a time of life that
faces in two directions, forging the shape of the years to come, and clarifying
and solidifying one’s relationships to friends and lovers (past and present),
family and self. Fiercely intelligent, hilarious, moving, generous, and
full of surprises, this book is a crystalline reflections of a singular
character, utterly engaged in life.
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A Day Called Hope: A Journey Beyond
Depression by Gareth O’Callaghan
For several years, Gareth O’Callaghan, one of Ireland’s
most popular broadcasters, suffered from severe depression. No one guessed
that the minute he was off the air, he would retreat to his bed, sometimes
with thoughts of suicide, barely able to function as a husband and father
of three small children. In this candid and courageous account, he describes
the nightmare he and his family lived through for so long. He looks back
to the childhood, where he believes his low self-esteem took root, and
traces a pattern common to many depression sufferers. As soon as he was
diagnosed, Gareth began a determined fight back to health. Now fully recovered,
free of anti-depressants, more optimistic and fitter than ever, he has
emerged with a deep understanding of how the condition takes hold - as
well as how to loosed its grasp. It has been an extraordinary journey
- one that has given him immense insight, practical knowledge, a deep
mistrust of conventional wisdom, and a mission to spread hope to all those
affected by it.
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Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation
by Gilles Deleuze
Gilles Deleuze was one of the most influential and revolutionary
philosophers of the 20th century. This is his long-awaited work on the
Ireland-born artist Francis Bacon, widely regarded as one of the most
radical painters of the previous century. The book presents a deep engagement
with Bacon’s work and the nature of art. Deleuze analyzes the distinctive
innovations that came to mark Bacon’s style: the isolation of the figure,
the violent deformations of the flesh, the complex use of colour, the
method of change, and the use of the triptych form. Along the way, Deleuze
introduces a number of his own famous concepts, such as the ‘body without
organs’ and the ‘diagram’, and contrasts his own approach to painting
with that of both the phenomenological and the art historical traditions.
Deleuze links Bacon’s work to Cezanne’s nation on a ‘logic’ of sensation,
which reaches its summit in colour and the ‘colouring sensation’. Investigating
this logic, Deleuze explores Bacon’s crucial relation to past painters
such as Valasquez, Cezanne and Soutine, as well as Bacon’s rejection of
expressionism and abstract painting. Long awaited in translation, this
book is destined to become a classic philosophical reflection on the nature
of painting.
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The Magic and Mystery of Ireland in
Photographs by Bill Doyle
This book is a celebration of Ireland, one of the most
beautiful parts of the world, capturing the spirit of the Irish and the
impressive country. With 150 lavish photographs of the most fascinating
places in Ireland - taken by one of the country’s foremost photographers
- each picture is accompanied by detailed information about the history
and geography that surrounds it. Including wild natural landscapes and
man-made parks and gardens, impressive architecture and ancient monuments,
this is a magnificent photographic guide to the haunting beauty of Ireland.
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Pagan Celtic Britain by Anne Ross
In this book the author employs archaeological and anthropological
evidence, as well as folklore, to provide a broad insight into the early
Celtic world. She begins by examining Celtic places of worship - the shrines
and sanctuaries in which sacred objects were housed and from where they
would be ritually displayed when various rites and sacrifices were conducted
before the people. She describes the divine warriors with their aquatic,
therapeutic and fertility connections. The importance of animals is also
analyzed, especially birds, the gods’ favourite form of creature for metamorphosis.
The reader learns how Celtic places of worship changed with the arrival
of the Romans when Romano-Celtic temples were erected and new deities
and cults evolved. This book is gripping as the author leads the reader
through the evidence from ritual pits and cult sites, votive wells, sacred
precincts and mountains.
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The Poetry and Song of Black and Amber
Glory by James Murphy
This book is the story, in poetry and song, of the G.A.A.
in Kilkenny, collected and compiled by Tullogher native-born Jamesie Murphy.
The joys of victory, the thrills of winning, and even, sometimes, the
hard defeats are captured in vivid detail. From almost the birth of the
Association, the author, who since childhood, was immersed in its affairs,
has gathered together the poetic stories of Irish sporting games. From
the brown and dust covered manuals, to this computer age, he has trawled
through many records, and once again brought back to life the heroes who
made history on many a Gaelic field for their beloved county of Kilkenny.
These were the sporting people who make the country proud of ‘Black and
Amber Glory’.
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Donegal Poitin: A History by Aidan
Manning
In early eighteenth-century Ireland, there were few restrictions
on commercial distilling and this encouraged the growth of a patchwork
of small rural and urban distillers in County Donegal. A 1731 law that
forbade distilling except within the environs of a market town ended this
loose arrangement. Legal distilling in rural areas stopped and, as there
were few market towns in the country, opportunities arose for those individuals
willing to operate outside the law to cater to a thirty population. Illicit
distilling quickly flourished and, in many parts of the country, the price
of barley and tenants’ ability to pay the rent came to rely entirely on
the continuation of the practice. For the next century and a quarter,
large groups of poitin makers used the mountains, the many islands, the
plentiful streams and abundant peat to supply most of the whiskey consumed
in County Donegal and such neighbouring towns as Strabane and Derry. The
revenue department exacerbated the problem by further restrictive legislation
and by requiring that the few remaining legal distillers manufacturer
a hurried, ill-tasting, raw-corn-based spirit that contrasted starkly
with the mellow, barley-malt-based poitin. Over the years, the government
used revenue officers, soldiers, local thugs, militia, yeomanry, coastguard,
and finally the revenue police in futile attempts to put down Donegal
poitin making. Scores of people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes
that few more violent as the decades passed and illicit spirits flowed
as freely as ever. This book details that brutal period in Donegal history.
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Irish Songs selected by Siobhan O’Brien
This book is a collection of over 40 of Ireland’s finest
traditional folk songs, arranged for voice and piano. The songs and ballads
in this book, by turns humorous and touching, tragic and poignant, reflect
the essence of a country famous for its romantics and storytellers.
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Shackleton: The Polar Journeys by
Ernest Shackleton
This book combines Heart of the Antarctic and South,
Ernest Shackleton’s personal accounts of his polar expeditions. Heart
of the Antarctic is the story of his polar expedition of 1907-1909, part
of his never-ending quest to reach the South Pole. On this, his first
expedition in sole charge, he came agonisingly close to achieving his
dream. Appalling weather conditions, however, together with the necessity
of reaching his shop before it had to flee the advancing pack-ice, forced
him to abandon his goal in a breathtaking race against time. With photographs
taken on the expedition by Douglas Mawson, and numerous maps and diagrams,
this is a fascinating record of all time. The is the only complete edition
available. South is Shackleton’s account of a journey that began in August
1914 with high hopes of a first exploration and ended two years later
in a desperate struggle for survival, after the expedition’s ship, the
Endurance, was first trapped in sea-ice, then crushed. Shackleton, with
a handful of his party, braved the fury of the South Atlantic as they
made their desperate 800-mile journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia
aboard the James Caird. This small boat - just over 20 feet long - was
pitted against the fury of the southern ocean. The survival of the entire
expedition was hinged on this last gamble. Sir Ernest Shackleton was one
of the greatest and most colourful explorers of his time. Born in County
Kildare in 1874, he was educated in London and apprenticed in the Merchant
Navy before becoming a junior officer under Captain Robert Scott, on Discovery,
between 1901 and 1904. From this point on, his life was devoted to polar
exploration, and raising funds for his projects. He died in South Georgia
in 1922 while on his fourth Antarctic expedition.
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An Irish Navvy: The Diary of an Exile
by Donall MacAmlaigh
Backbreaking, blister-making work, followed by pints
of the black stuff in the Admiral Rodney, the Shamrock, the Cattle Market
Tavern and many others, well-told stories, fine songs, characters like
Connemara lads, Cockney Woods, Pigfoot Paddy and occasional punch-ups.
These are the people and events that make this book an extraordinarily
vivid picture of an Irish navvy’s life in the England of the 1950s. Workless
and foodless days, the hardships of work camps, lonesome partings after
trips home, periods of intense isolation and occasional bitterness were
also part of the picture. This book is an honest account of how the average
Irish labourer worked, lived in and contributed to the country of the
ancient enemy. Originally published in Irish as ‘Dialann Deorai’ too wide
acclaim, this translation was first published in 1964 and has been unavailable
in English for many years.
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The Hard Road to Klondike by Michael
MacGowan
Michael MacGowan was born in 1865 in the parish of Cloghaneely
in the Donegal gaeltacht. He was the eldest of twelve children in a poverty-stricken
family owning one cow, living in a three-roomed thatched cottage and speaking
no English. He ended his days in a large slate-roofed house in the same
place. First published in Irish as ‘Rotha Mor an tSaoi’, this is his account
of the fate dealt to him by ‘the Wheel of Life’. From the age of nine
he was hired out for six consecutive years from May to September at a
hiring fee of 30 shillings. After emigration to Scotland and the drudgery
of farmwork, he left for America and worked his way across the USA in
steelmills and mines to Montana. He then took part in the Klondike gold-rush
and vividly recounts the adventures of himself and his ‘sourdough’ companions,
their privations and hardships in the primitive harsh icy wastes of the
Yukon. Home on holiday in 1901, he fell in love and stayed, using the
money from the gold to buy some land and the house. Told with the certainty
and authority of someone who has ‘lived’ what he described, this book
reflects the author’s indomitable spirit and loyalty to his native place
and culture. This translation was originally published in 1962 and has
been long out of print.
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My Life on the Road by Nan Joyce
Irish travellers have been on the road for hundreds of
years, earning a living as tinsmiths, musicians, carpenters, and horse
and scrap dealers. In this moving story of her life, Nan Joyce tells of
idyllic days camped in the countryside, of fireside storytelling, happy
days at school in England, horse fairs and marriage customs. But Nan’s
family, like so many other travellers, were often treated as outcasts
without rights. She remembers evictions from traditional campsites in
the middle of winter and having to beg to survive. After her father died
her mother was imprisoned for a year for stealing scrap to provide for
the family. Nan and her brothers and sisters were left to fend for themselves.
This vivid memoir is laced with humour, charity and love of life. In an
afterword, the author tells of her life since this classic autobiography
was first published in 1985.
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The Stolen Child: A Memoir by Joe
Dunne
The happiness of Joe Dunne’s early life was blights when
neighbours complained to the local Sisters of Charity that his young,
widowed mother was misbehaving - allowing herself to be courted, and throwing
parties in their North Strand home. The response of the Church and state
was swift. In 1928, at the age of five, Joe was ordered to be detained
in the care of the state until his sixteenth birthday. Separated from
his mother and sister, he grew up in industrial schools in Kilkenny and
Dublin - a fact that he kept secret from his colleagues in the Post Office
for almost fifty years. In this book, he tells his story with honesty,
humour, and courage, describing how he suffered the trauma of a lonely,
institutionalised upbringing, learning to make the most of the few pleasures
that came his way. This book is a moving, brave account of a childhood
endured with grace and faith.
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Constance Markievicz: The People’s
Countess edited by Joe McGowan
This book traces Constance Markievicz’s journey from
a pampered childhood in a Sligo landlord’s mansion to her participation
in Ireland’s literary and political Renaissance. The little-known story
of her daughter Maeve and her son-in-law Stanislaw, is also recorded.
Paintings by Constance, produced while in solitary confinement in Holloway
Jail, are reproduced in this book for the first time ever. Her meeting
and marriage to the aristocratic Count Dunin Markievicz at art school
in Paris is detailed here. It describes how on their return to Dublin
she threw her lot in with the poor, running soup kitchens during the workers
strikes and Dublin lockout of 1913. Her political awakening led to her
championing women’s rights and her eventual command of a company of the
Irish Citizen Army during the Easter Rebellion. Sentenced to death and
incarcerated in a British prison, she became, not just the first woman
ever elected to the British Parliament, but as Minister for Labour, the
first woman Cabinet Minister in Europe. Her heroic endurance during several
prison terms and her correspondence with her sister Eva, is also documented
in this fascinating book.
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Blake & Bourke and the End of
Empires by Kevin O’Connor
This book is the first full account of the ‘before and
after’ lives of the conspirators to the Great Spy Escape - a psychological
tracing of the politics that formed them, from anti-war protests in England
in the 1960s to KGB conspiracies in Moscow. Add the connections to the
great events in the boyhoods of George Behar, bombed out of Rotterdam
by the Nazis in 1940 and Sean Bourke, banished to Borstal in 1947, from
Limerick. How these apparently separate events were to impinge on government
in London, Dublin and Moscow is told by the author with the flair of a
dramatist and the eye of an historian.
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Irish Peacock & Scarlet Marquess:
The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde by Merlin Holland
One of the most famous love affairs in literary history
is that of Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas. When it became
public, it cost Wilde everything. Merlin Holland has discovered the original
courtroom transcript of this trial that led to his grandfather’s tragedy.
Here for the first time is the true record, without the distortions of
previous accounts. On 18 February 1895, Bosie’s father, the Marquess of
Queensbury, delivered a note to the Albemarle Club addressed to ‘Oscar
Wilde posing as somdomite (sic)’. With Bosie’s encouragement, Wilde decided
to sue the Marguess for libel. As soon as the trial opened, London’s literary
darling was at the centre of the greatest scandal of his time. Wilde’s
fall from grace was swift: his case lost, prosecution by the Crown soon
followed, ending in the imprisonment that destroyed his health - even
as his art, as Wilde put it - improved through ‘suffering’. In this remarkable
book, the reader witnesses Wilde’s confidence ebbing under the relentless
questioning and see him lose track of the witty lines for which he was
famous. Ultimately, it was his wit that betrayed him.
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Ireland: Our Island Home by Kevin
Dwyer
This is a revised edition of the best-selling book of
aerial photos around the Irish coastline. It contains 40 specially commissioned
replacement photographs that enhance and embellish this new edition. In
a spectacular bird’s-eye journey around Ireland’s glorious coastline -
cities and towns, harbours and headlands, beaches and islands - he captures
some singular new detail. Starting at Carlingford Lough in Co. Louth,
the journey is in a clockwise direction around the coast of all 32 counties
of the island. This book encapsulates what is special about, and is an
important record of, Ireland’s coastline at the start of the twenty-first
century.
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Fearing Sellafield by Colum Kenny
This book reveals the facts behind the fears about Sellafield.
It finds that Sellafield is not just a controversial reprocessing plant,
but is also Britain’s most dangerous nuclear dump. It highlights the reality
that large amounts of lethal liquid waste are still being produced and
stored at Sellafield. It accepts that the chances of a major disaster
at Sellafield may be statistically low, but finds that a major disaster
could cause havoc across Britain and Ireland and says that Sellafield
should be shut down as soon as possible. It also finds that Sellafield
can be shut down. It explores the possibility of a terrorist attack on
Sellafield, and questions the level of secrecy that has surrounded security
at Britain’s nuclear plants. It explains why the Irish Sea is one of the
most radioactive stretches of water in the world. And it shows how the
Irish government is using international law to fight Sellafield.
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Magnificent Irish Wolfhound by Mary
McBryde
The Irish Wolfhound, the biggest of all dog breeds, has
an ancient history, dating back some 3,000 years. These giant-sized hounds
were used for hunting wolf, deer and wild boar, and they were even used
in battle to pull men off horseback. However, by the 19th Century numbers
had dwindled, and following the Irish Famine of 1845, the breed almost
died out. Fortunately, a revival took place, and today the Irish Wolfhound
has a strong, enthusiastic following worldwide. This book is the most
comprehensive to date on the Irish Wolfhound. It is one of the most impressive
books ever published on a single breed. The Irish Wolfhound is traced
through its chequered history to its emergence as an impressive show dog
and a lovable, gentle companion. Extensive coverage is given to choosing
and rearing a Wolfhound puppy, with particular emphasis on diet and exercise
during the vital growing period. The Breed Standard is analysed in detail,
and there is expert guidance on training the Irish Wolfhound for the show
ring. Using her extensive experience, the author gives invaluable advice
on breeding Irish Wolfhounds, and there is a complete section on health
care and breed associated conditions. Illustrated with more than 200 top-quality
photographs.
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Pocket History of Irish Saints by
Brian Lacy
In Early Christian times, Ireland was a centre of spirituality
and learning. As well as the famous Brigid, Patrick and Colum Cille, early
Irish records list as many as 1,700 saints. There is a wealth of folklore,
legend, tradition and literature associated with them. These colourful
characters taught, looked after the sick, settled feuds between rival
chieftains and kings, wrote histories and poetry and performed miracles.
Some endured incredible hardship, living in hermitages on barren cliff
tops, such as on Skellig. Many, such as Fursa and Columbanus, travelled
thousands of miles to spread the Christian faith, establishing large,
powerful monasteries across Europe. This book is a concise history of
100 of the best known and most influential Irish saints.
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Modern Ireland: A Very Short Introduction
by Senia Paseta
This book contains a brief overview of the central themes
in Irish history, politics and culture over the last 200 years. This is
a book about the ‘Irish Question’, or more specifically about Irish Questions.
The term has become something of a catchall, a convenient way to encompass
numerous issues and developments that pertain to the political, social,
and economic history of modern Ireland. The Irish Question has of course
changed: one of the main aims of this book is to explore the complicated
and shifting nature of the Irish Question and to assess what it has meant
to various political minds and agendas.
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Irish Family Food by Ruth Isabel
Ross
In this book, the author has gathered together a wonderful
collection of recipes that included all that is best about Irish home
cooking. Family food in Ireland is planned to warm, to satisfy and to
console. The food, with local variations, is wholesome, nourishing and
plain, just tasting of itself. Ingredients are fresh and cooking is slow
and gentle, bringing out every flavour. Potato soups, fish cakes, Irish
stew, bacon and cabbage, and colcannon are just some of the dozens of
delicious recipes that evoke the best of Irish traditional cooking.
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Irish Baking Book by Ruth Isabel
Ross
These wonderful, wholesome and traditional recipes have
been carefully collected and baked by the author over many years. Here
is good, plain, wholesome, traditional baking at its best. Favourites
such as Irish brown bread, soda bread and scones are included, along with
recipes for fruit breads, cakes, biscuits, puddings, pies and savoury
dishes. Many of the recipes in this collection have been made in Irish
homes for hundreds of years, and the author has included recipes that
were made for certain feastdays. The last section is for simple ‘no flour’
bakes and includes savoury and sweet recipes.
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Jenny Bristow Cooks for the Seasons:
Spring and Summer
Whether you like traditional food with a new twist or
something a little more exotic, Jenny Bristow has the dish for you. What
about Irish salmon with a creamy chive sauce, alongside griddled potatoes
with lemon and yoghurt, rounded off with lemon and ginger bread and butter
pudding? Or why not spice it up with chiang mai pork curry and sticky
rice, followed by Thai fruit salad and coconut ice cream? There are great
ideas for a mouthwatering spring lunch that will dazzle the relations,
hints and tips for barbecuing and dining alfresco and wonderful recipes
for soups, snacks, main courses, desserts - and seasonal drinks like mint
julep and iced spiced tea punch to wash it down.
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Dublin’s Victorian Houses by Mary
E. Daly et.al.
The sturdy redbrick houses of Victorian Dublin are one
of its unsung treasures. Although they were designed for the lifestyle
of another era, these solidly built homes have proved marvellously adaptable
and attractive. Victorian houses are now recognised and cherished for
the gems they are and are in more demand than ever. This fascinating book
explores the development of these houses, describes how people lived in
them and advises how to look after them.
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35 Years of Northern Ireland Railways
1967-2002 by Jonathan Allen
Northern Ireland Railways celebrated its 35th anniversary
in 2002 and this full colour book reviews this history of NIR since its
inception in 1967. Much has changed in 35 years. In 1967 NIR still operated
some steam engines and most of its rolling stock was wooden bodied. Semaphore
signals predominated and most stations were heavily staffed. Over 35 years,
NIR faces much adversity and was the target of many terrorist attacks.
This book, by a renowned rail photographer and historian, tells the fascinating
story of NIR and illustrates the variety of trains and services operated.
It also includes a detailed appendix of NIR rolling stock up to the present.
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100 Best Restaurants in Ireland 2003
by John & Sally McKenna
This book is the definitive guide to the finest contemporary
restaurant cooking in Ireland today. Published annually, since 1982, the
guide is award-winning, controversial and independent.
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Fodor’s Pocket Dublin 5th edition
This practical little book contains information on all
the must-see sights and essential shops (with the notable exception of
Read Ireland @ Phibsboro Bookshop): key landmarks from St Stephens Green
and Trinity College to St Patrick’s Cathedral; highlights of Temple Bar
and explorable neighbourhoods from Dublin’s Georgian heart to the Grand
Canal; shopping on Grafton Street and beyond - for Irish knits, linen,
crystal, antiques; dozens of pubs, theaters, concert halls and dance clubs;
the very best in dining and lodging in every price range.
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A Traveller’s Companion to Dublin
introduced and edited by Thomas and Valerie Pakenham
Dublin’s intense literary and theatrical character of
long lineage from Jonathan Swift, through Yeats, Joyce and Behan, its
turbulent history of revolutionary ideals and heroes, and its style of
living at once elegant and violent, come splendidly to life in these letters,
diaries and memoirs by visitors to the city and Dubliners themselves.
The extracts, from medieval times onwards, include Red Hugh O’Donnell’s
escape from Dublin Castle, James Joyce’s plans for a novel while staying
at the Martello Tower, and the seizure of the General Post Office by Irish
Volunteers during the Easter Rising, plus a fascinating miscellany ranging
from the complaints of an Elizabethan soldier about the price of Dublin
ale to the first impressions of Benjamin Franklin, Thackery and Queen
Victoria. This entertaining companion also includes maps, engravings and
notes on history, art and architecture.
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Golfer’s Guide to Ireland by Philip
Reid
Nobody can claim to have discovered golf’s true mystique
until the day they have visited Ireland, which boasts some of the finest
golf courses in the world - from the spectacular, sea-sprayed Old Head
of Kinsale in the south to the majestic Royal County Down in the north.
This book selects the best of these courses, both links and parkland,
and is an invaluable reference for anyone keen to savour the unparalleled
delights of the Irish golfing experience.
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Walking Across Ireland: From Dublin
Bay to Galway Bay by Michael Fewer
Walkers have closer contact with people and places than
other visitors. Michael Fewer proves this in his account of walking 290
k, (180 miles) across mountains and bogland, along canal and riverbanks,
and through towns and villages. His plan was to establish a long-distance
walk across Ireland. Along the way, he uncovers a hidden Ireland at the
beginning of the third millennium when Ireland was experiencing unprecedented
change. Like a modern Praeger, he weaves between the natural world of
plants and wildlife and the human one of grand buildings, little ruins,
farms, pubs and cottages. Musings and information on history, architecture
and folklore are laced with colourful local dialogue, the result of chance
encounters. This is an eloquent elegy for a land undergoing great change.
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