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Read Ireland Book Reviews, January 2001
Sonia O’Sullivan:
Running to Stand Still by Patrick Bolger and Tom Humphries
The people of Ireland and the its diaspora will forever remember the moment
Sonia O’Sullivan won her long coveted Olympic Medal in Sydney. This book
tells the story of the trials and triumphs of Ireland’s most-loved sporting
heroine. Contains numerous photographs.
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Where He Sported
and Played: Jack Lynch by Liam O Tuama
Jack Lynch has been regarded as one of Ireland’s most outstanding sportsmen
and has earned the respect of players and spectators, both on and off
the field. He played his first competitive match at the age of 12 and
had a very successful sporting career in both hurling and football. He
has earned the unique achievement of winning six All Ireland medals in
a row.
To Hell and
Back: The Inside Story of the Clare Hurling Revival by Mike McNamara with
Cian Murphy
Former Clare coach Mike McNamara talks candidly about his hurling creed,
and tells the inside story of the seminal campaign that led to two All-Irelands,
three Munster championships and Clare’s renaissance as a hurling power.
Together with Ger Loughnane, McNamara’s ground-breaking training techniques
created the legendary Clare team of the 1990s.
The Final Whistle
by Brendan Fullam
This book relives the glories of past and present of the Irish national
games of hurling and Gaelic football. It recalls the great players of
the past, and gives new generations the chance to debate and speculate
on the many sporting events that have passed beyond living memory.
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Greatest Sporting
Memories edited by Sean Og Ceallachain
This book captures, for the first time in book form, the greatest Irish
sporting moments written by 50 leading sports writers, commentators and
experts in their chosen fields.
I Remember It
Well by Jimmy Magee and Sean McGoldrick
Jimmy Magee has been broadcasting for over 40 years. This book records
the personal and sporting memories of this most colourful and respected
sports journalist.
Hurling Heroes:
Fourteen Hurling Greats Profiled by Eddie Keher
This book offers biographies of 14 of the greatest hurling players. The
players featured offer a good cross-section of the many hurling heroes
that have thrilled sporting enthusiasts over the years.
Flashbacks:
A Half Century of Cork Hurling by Pat Nolan
Primarily a record of Cork’s championship hurling over fifty years, this
book describes the highs and lows and passions. It introduces teams and
players from other counties, the heroes and stars of many a day. It also
recalls the popular music, social history and current affairs of the times.
The book had its origins in the author’s love of hurling and memories
of stirring matches as boy and man. His vivid recall of match days includes
travelling, pre- and post-match atmosphere, the joys, the heartbreak,
the tension and the fun. The book provides a lively mix of sport, politics,
history and music.
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The Legend of
Istabraq by Michael Clower
Istabraq is one of the greatest hurdlers of all time, only the fifth horse
in racing history to win three consecutive Champion Hurdles, and with
the legendary Arkle and Golden Miller, one of only three horses to win
at four Cheltenham festivals in a row. This book, however, is much more
that this story of a famous racehorse. Parallel to the big race glory
is the tragedy of the man who first recognised the horse’s phenomenal
potential, John Durkan, who was tragically struck down with leukaemia
and was forced to follow the horse’s early jumping career from a hospital
bed. This compelling account reveals the torment suffered by Durkan’s
family, and also provides fascinating insights into the lives of those
closest to the horse, including the brilliant trainer Aidan O’Brien and
Charlie Swan, the most successful Irish jockey of all time.
Entertaining
Ambrose by Deirdre Purcell
This novel is the story of the loveable May who bears life’s burdens so
lightly, tending to others’ needs before her own. But when her criminal
husband absconds, leaving orders he should not be contacted, for once
she decides to fight. Step by step, through the small comedies and grisly
tragedies that follow, she is accompanied by Ambrose, a quixotic but protective
angel who has an agenda of his own, yet whose subtle intervention proves
pivotal. Witty and finely observed, this is a spell-binding tale of a
very unusual friendship and of a courageous and unique woman.
Three Wise
Men by Martina Devlin
Gloria, Eimear and Kate have been friends since they were a trio of six-year
olds cast as the Three Wise Men in the nativity play. Twenty-five years
later, they’ve left Omagh for Dublin and grown up to be Three Wise Women,
all too prone to misuse the gifts they’ve been given. Eimear’s beauty
captivates men but robs her of her independence. Kate’s dazzling wit blinds
her to the consequences of betraying a friend. And Gloria’s urge to nurture,
thwarted by infertility, threatens to destroy everything she holds dear.
Aided and abetted in their misdeeds by the irresistible Jack, philandering
poet and seducer extraordinaire, the troika find themselves putting their
friendship to a test from which it may never recover.
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Nightmusic
by Declan Varley
The craic is mighty in Galway. It’s summertime, the place is rocking,
the drum beats are echoing across the bay and about a mile out, a man’s
hand is pushing a young woman’s head under the water. He holds it there,
until the bubbles and the kicking stop. Then he pulls off the tapes and
lets the body float away into the dark waters, before he heads home for
the cocoa and biscuits with his mother in Shantalla. This novel is a shocking
and gruesome story of how evil can prosper unnoticed, when everyone’s
having fun in Ireland’s party city.
Promised Land
by Marita Conlon-McKenna
Inheritance changes everything, as Ella Kennedy soon discovers when her
father dies and the hundred-acre farm she has grown up on and run for
years in the Wexford countryside is no longer hers. Hurt and angry following
a fight with her brother, Ella leaves her home and the people she cares
for to join her wild cousin Kitty in Dublin. Exiled in the city, Ella
if forced to make a new life for herself like other country girls. She
tries to forget the farm, pushing all thoughts of Sean Flanagan, the neighbour
she had loved, from her mind. In time she hopes to return to the home
she left and find true happiness with a man who wants her for herself,
and not what she will bring him.
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An Act of Worship
by Kate Thompson
Sarah is taking a break from her eco-warrior activities, looking after
her sister’s wholefood shop in a small west of Ireland town. When a dying
calf is found on the local dump, she begins to make some enquiries. Before
long, the dark shadow cast by modern beef production begins to emerge
in another, more sinister form, and Sarah finds that her path keeps crossing
that of the town butcher, Malachy Glynn. Their outlooks on life are clearly
polarised, yet they find themselves uneasy allies. Because something even
more compelling than the grisly events of the parish is drawing them together.
Sarah and Malachy have a lot more in common than they know. This novel
vividly explores how the dead and the unborn inform the living, and how
life and love can evolve out of the most inauspicious circumstances.
Something Borrowed,
Something Blue by Joan O’Neill
Twenty-seven years old, still single and worse, still living at home with
her parents in Dublin: Jenny Joyce wants something new to come into her
life. But at her cousin Cathy’s wedding in Connemara, she discovers that
something old can be even more fun. Hugo Hunter, her first boyfriend,
has grown up, unbelievably, to be the sexiest man in Ireland.
A Taste for
it by Monica McInerney
A trip to Ireland to promote Australian good and wine - Maura Carmody
can’t wait to get going. A week promoting wine, then three weeks as guest
chef in a top cooking school - she is confident she can put Lorikeet hill,
her South Australian restaurant-winery, on the map. The wine’s shipped,
the menus tested - everything has been planned to the last detail. But
Maura has not planned for the whirlwind of mishaps, misunderstandings,
rivals and revelations that awaits her in Ireland.
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Phoenix Short
Stories: 2000 edited by David Marcus
This fifth annual anthology of Irish short stories continues to reflect
the wide landscape of contemporary Irish fiction, showcasing the best
new stories coming out of Ireland. Contributors: Fred Annesley, Harry
Clifton, Macdara Doyle, Brendan Glacken, Patricia Hickey, Fred Johnstone,
Paul Lenehan, Martin Malone, Aidan Matthews, Fiona O’Connor, Tommy Frank
O’Connor, Mary O’Donnell, Coilin O hAodha, Bridget O’Toole, Deirdre Shanahan,
Joe Sheerin, and Howard Wright.
Entertaining
Ambrose by Deirdre Purcell
This novel is the story of the loveable May who bears life’s burdens so
lightly, tending to others’ needs before her own. But when her criminal
husband absconds, leaving orders he should not be contacted, for once
she decides to fight. Step by step, through the small comedies and grisly
tragedies that follow, she is accompanied by Ambrose, a quixotic but protective
angel who has an agenda of his own, yet whose subtle intervention proves
pivotal. Witty and finely observed, this is a spell-binding tale of a
very unusual friendship and of a courageous and unique woman.
Lord Kildare’s
Grand Tour 1766-1769 by Elizabeth FitzGerald
These intimate and tantalising letters, with an elegant commentary, provide
fascinating reading today. Written by the young Lord Kildare to his mother
Emily, Duchess of Leinster, they describe his experiences while on the
Grand Tour, 1766-1769. Not burdened with detailed descriptions of famous
sites, galleries or churches, the letters indicate a sharp eye for social
detail and a sense of humour. Kildare set sail from Dover on a fine summer’s
day, 4 July 1766. When he returned in 1769 his mother had received a letter
from Count Charles Bentinck in The Hague, describing Kildare as: ‘I can
truly venture to say that I never saw a man of his age, nor several years
older, that had travelled with as much judgement and attention, nor that
seemed so much improved by seeing the world; which to me is a proof of
his good nature as well as good sense.’
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The Scattering:
Images of Emigrants from an Irish Country edited by Anne Jones
Down through the years thousands of people from County Clare have left
home to live and work in other lands. To explore the lives of Clare emigrants,
six photographers criss-crossed the world over a twelve month period visiting
Clare people at their work and in their homes. The final selection of
photographs was made from over 20,000 exposures. They were taken in Los
Angeles and London, Sydney and Seoul, in South and Central America, Poland,
Pakistan, South Africa and Israel and many other countries. As well as
allowing the photographers into their lives, each emigrant was asked to
tell his or her story. The words and pictures combine to make an intensely
moving book showing the daily lives of sixty-eight emigrants, now scattered
all over the world. The book provides a fascinating insight into the Irish
abroad.
Cruising Ireland:
A Guide to Marinas and Mooring Buoys by Brian Keane
With this book you can explore Ireland’s wonderful coastline, on a voyage
of discovery. Over seventy locations are visited, their origins and history
related, compelling places to visit described. Restaurants and pubs are
listed, essentials to every enjoyable cruise. And of course all the other
things a visiting sailor needs: water, fuel, showers, banks, shops and
repairs are also included.
North Down
Memories: Photographs 1860s to 1960s by Keith Haines
The history of the northern part of Country Down, from the monks and Vikings
of medieval times to the malls and marinas of today, has been rich indeed,
giving the area its distinctive character and atmosphere. In this striking
book of 170 photographs, the author takes the reader on a nostalgic tour
of coastal towns like Bangor and Donaghadee, down the Ards peninsula to
Greyabbey and across to Comber and Scrabo. Complemented by informative
captions, and covering a hundred years, the photographs vividly evoke
the individuals, families, businessmen and events that have left their
mark on north Down.
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Kerry Anthology
edited by Gabriel Fitzmaurice
The County of Kerry, known in Ireland as ‘the Kingdom’, has many unique
characteristics: unrivalled natural beauty of mountain and coastline;
the lilt of the Irish language that is still the vernacular in Corca Dhuibhne,
part of the Dingle peninsula in west Kerry; a wealth of literature in
all its genres and in both Irish and English; the musical tradition of
the Sliabh Luachra area; and most important of all for many Kerry people,
a Gaelic football team that has won more championship finals than any
other county. All these characteristics are represented in this major
and comprehensive anthology.
Kerry in Pictures
by Michael Diggin
This book celebrates the singular beauty of Kerry and reflects the photographer’s
ongoing love affair with his native county. With more than 100 stunning
full colour photographs, the photographer has created a timeless tribute
to the beauty and character of the Kingdom of Kerry.
The Complete
Guide to the Quite Man by Des MacHale
This book is a celebration of every aspect of the world famous film, based
on a short story by Maurice Walsh, and set and filmed in the west of Ireland.
It discusses the background to the film, the stars, the shooting, the
screenplay, the influences, and the many legends and stories that have
grown up around it. It also lists the shooting locations with dozens of
detailed maps; a very comprehensive cast and crew list; hundreds of previously
unseen photographs take by both amateur and professionals; a detailed
analysis of every word of the dialogue; video timings of all the scenes;
and above all the inside story and a thorough discussion of the whole
‘Quiet Man’ phenomenon, which have all led to one of the greatest cult
movies of all time. This book is certainly ‘Everything You Always Wanted
to Know About the Quiet Man.’
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Cooking at
Ballymaloe House by Myrtle Allen
The name of Ballymaloe has now passed into lore and legend of good food
and good cooking throughout the world. When this book was originally published
in 1990, it became an instant classic. Those who have been to Ballymaloe
and those who knew it by reputation welcomed this ground-breaking cookbook
devoted to simple yet elegant versions of traditional Irish dishes. Now
in a completely re-designed edition, which includes additional photography,
Myrtle Allen presents 100 favoured recipes from her repertoire accompanied
by 50 stunning colour photographs which capture the unique atmosphere
of Ballymaloe House itself, its interior, its gardens and, of course,
its food.
UVF by Jim
Cusack and Henry McDonald
This revised and updated edition tells the full story of the oldest and
one of the most ruthless terrorist organisations on the island of Ireland.
It includes new evidence on the controversial death of former UVF terrorist
Billy ‘King Rat’ Wright inside the Maze prison. It also throws new light
on the origins of the recent UVF-UDA feud, which proves that the prime
cause of the bloodletting was political, that anti-cease-fire loyalists
tried to provoke the UDA into war with the UVF. This book is essential
reading.
Conamara Blues
by John O’Donohue
Conamara in the West of Ireland has a strange beauty. In this collection
of poetry, John O’Donohue (of Anam Cara fame) evokes the vital energy
and rhythm of Conamara, engaging with earth, sky and sea, and the majestic
mountains that preside over this terse landscape. As he explores the silent
memory of this place, he focuses on the power of language and the vagaries
of human need and passion, tenderly revealing the fragile vulnerability
of love and friendship. Written with penetrating insight, this book offers
a unique, imaginative vision of a landscape of hope and possibility that
is at once both familiar and unknown.
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Slow Time:
100 Poems to Take You There edited by Niall MacMonagle
This collection brings together relaxing, inspiring and meditative verse
from leading Irish and international modern poets. The poems provide a
commentary on the personal and yet universally felt experiences that shape
our lives: love, death, laughter and sorrow, childhood and old age, the
natural world and the urban environment, the past and the future. This
book contains poetry that speaks to the soul; these are poems that will
stay with you.
Sunday Miscellany
edited by Marie Heaney
Listening to Sunday Miscellany on RTE Radio 1 is a familiar Sunday morning
ritual for thousands of Irish people who tune in regularly to hear contributions
which range from personal reminiscences to the praise of heroes, from
sporting highlights to historical events, from humorous interludes to
poignant memories. This selection brings together known and lesser known
writers in a celebration of the rich fabric of life and culture, the inventiveness
of the human voice and the scope of the human mind, including the most
memorable pieces from the last five years. Giving the reader a sense of
place and past, of humour and of sadness, these vignettes are the essence
of Sunday Miscellany, and of the Sunday mornings it has made its own.
Being Irish
edited by Paddy Logue
This book gathers together a diverse group of 100 people - each trying
to identify and give expression to that special something that is (more
or less) instantly recognisable as Irish; to detect and describe changes
in it; and the record for the present and future generations the rich
tapestry that is Irish identity today. The contributors come from the
famous and not so famous, people at the centre of things and people on
the margins, men and women, nationalists and unionists, those who live
in Ireland and those who live abroad. The book aims to create a debate
about the Irish identity, to acknowledge difference and encourage tolerance.
Above all, it illuminates and entertains.
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Irish Classics
by Declan Kiberd
In this ambitious survey of the enduring Irish classics - works that stay
fresh and challenge every generation - the author offers his readers something
original: a brilliant and accessible discussion of the greatest works
since 1600 in the two languages that have shaped one of the world’s most
vibrant literary cultures. Each chapter is devoted to the art of a single
writer, and usually focuses on an outstanding representative text. The
book opens with a meditation on the fall of the bardic order as part of
the catastrophe that engulfed traditional Irish society after the Elizabethan
and Cromwellian wars. Irish poets encountered modernity as a cataclysm,
and were forced to respond to it by using traditional forms in novel and
radical ways, at once conservative and revolutionary. The author argues
that his formal tension has remained one of the most distinctive characteristics
of literature produced in Ireland. He is equally at home discussing the
mordant poetry in the Irish language, and his account of the great elegy,
‘The Lament for Art O’Leary’ is a tour de force. And his chapters on lesser
known writers will be a revelation to many readers. The book closes with
a moving and daring coda on the Anglo-Irish Agreement, and the claim that
the seeds of the Agreement ‘were sown in the works of Irish literature’;
for as the author argues, ‘an unprecedented knowledge is possible in zones
where cultures collide.’
Ireland’s Superbrands:
An Insight into Ireland’s Strongest Brands edited by Noel Derby
The accomplishments of certain brands are awesome. But who have they achieved
such phenomenal success? This book explores the history, development and
achievements of many of the strongest brands in the world, revealing extraordinary
findings. The book opens with the expert comment of members of the Superbrands
Council - numbering some of the most respected figures in the communications
industry - on why consumers demonstrate such loyalty to Superbrands.
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Irish Countrywomen’s
Association: A History 1910 - 2000 by Aileen Heverin
With a ninety-year history and over 1000 guilds throughout Ireland, the
Irish Countrywomen’s Association is undoubtedly the oldest and largest
women’s organisation in the country. Founded in 1910 as the Society of
United Irish women, it has been at the forefront of women’s affairs through
every decade of the twentieth century. This book draws from the organisation’s
own records to tell the story of the advance of women in Ireland during
the course of the last nine decades - the successes and the struggles
intertwined with the people, politics and places.
The Weird and
Wonderful World of Wills by Eamonn G. Mongey
This fascinating book approaches the topic of wills in unusual ways. It
contains interesting ideas on how and why people should make wills, and
why wills are condemned. It tells the stories of the will that was written
on an eggshell; the woman who wanted to be buried in Ferrair; the bachelor
who gave the residue of his estate to the woman who had the most children
within ten years of his death. It also contains the actual wills of Daniel
O’Connell, George Bernard Shaw, Alfred Chester Beatty and Marilyn Monroe.
The book is written with gusto and verve, as well as with skill and impeccable
legal knowledge.
Eternal Echoes:
Exploring Our Hunger to Belong by John O’Donohue
In this exquisitely crafted, inspirational book, Irish poet and scholar
John O’Donohue explores that most basic of human desires - the desire
to belong. A best-seller in hardback, and a sequel of sorts to ‘Anam Cara’.
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Working and
Living in Ireland 2001 edition by Eugenie Houston
A new updated edition of the most comprehensive guide for returning ex-pats
and non-national immigrants which concentrates on the reality of life
in Ireland. It features articles on: employment outlook; who’s recruiting
who; salary and benefits; employee rights; living costs; work permits;
finance and taxation; social welfare; and family needs.
Family Finance
2001 by Colm Rapple
The previous editions of this book have been best-sellers for over twenty
years providing an annual update on changes in the financial environment
of Ireland. The book covers the financial problems the average family
will encounter. Designed to keep the reader up-to-date, it has been completely
revised to include developments during the past year and the provisions
of the 2001 budget.
TAB 2001 Guide
on Money, Pensions and Tax in Ireland by Jill Kerby et. al.
A new edition of this indispensable guide, which includes the following
special new features on how the new tax credits systems works; how to
benefit from the latest budget changes; how to defer tax liability on
stock options; and what effect the change in the tax year will have.
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