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Book review: Optimism ultimately crushed by the weight of trying to get things done
Book review: Optimism ultimately crushed by the weight of trying to get things done
There are light-hearted moments in 'Running From Office' but the overwhelming emotion deriving from this book is one of dejection

Fri, 15 Nov, 2024

"Amazing Grace" Press Conference - 69th Berlinale International Film Festival
Book review: Finding the right tune to chronicle music history in modern society
Weighing in at over 800 pages and forensically researched, 'And the Roots of Rhythm Remain' is an imposing history of music in modern global society

Sat, 09 Nov, 2024

Book review: Exuding a warmth for natural world
Book review: Exuding a warmth for natural world
This book manages to balance an individual’s relentless curiosity while highlighting our increasingly destructive and suicidal relationship with nature

Sat, 09 Nov, 2024

Book review: The grass really is greener — one man’s tribute to a native Irish rainforest
Book review: The grass really is greener — one man’s tribute to a native Irish rainforest
An easy read, divided into six sections: water, light, space, time, connection, and rebirth

Sun, 03 Nov, 2024

Pitchfork Music Festival - Day 2
Book review: Exploring the mythology of MF Doom
With Doom, the mythology seems as important as the music

Sun, 03 Nov, 2024

Poetry review: Paul Durcan at his poetic crescendo
Poetry review: Paul Durcan at his poetic crescendo
Durcan has helped to change our perception of what a poem ought to be. He’s a poet who makes it his business to chip away at the edifice of his own craft

Sat, 26 Oct, 2024

Rachel Maddow Visits "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon"
Book review: Maddow reminds US that those who don’t learn from the past, repeat it
The American public were largely kept in the dark about the domestic threat to democracy during the 1930s and ’40s

Sat, 26 Oct, 2024

Book review: Despair and confusion in confinement
Book review: Despair and confusion in confinement
'You Will Die In Prison' is Bernard Phelan’s gripping, unvarnished account of his 222 days as a state hostage in Iran

Sat, 26 Oct, 2024

Book review: Ireland’s many changes to the modern age
Book review: Ireland’s many changes to the modern age
Diarmaid Ferriter's latest book spans a 25-year period when Ireland was transformed, not just economically, but socially and politically as well

Sat, 12 Oct, 2024

Poetry review: Worthy journey despite crashes
Poetry review: Worthy journey despite crashes
Right across this collection McLoghlin reveals himself to be a master conductor of our emotions, keeping us by turns heartbroken, enraged, entranced

Sat, 12 Oct, 2024

Book review: True tales of the great escapes
Book review: True tales of the great escapes
'Jailbreak' is a book of great stories of defiance of authority and dedication to escaping

Sat, 05 Oct, 2024

Book review: All of the news that’s fit to print and a lot more that definitely isn’t
Book review: All of the news that’s fit to print and a lot more that definitely isn’t
'The Newsmongers' is a thoroughly researched and well-crafted history of tabloid journalism from the 16th century right through to the click-bait journalism of our own era

Fri, 04 Oct, 2024

Ian Bailey death
Book review: When murder doesn’t out
Senan Molony makes a very strong case as to why he believes that Ian Bailey committed the murder in 'Sophie' —  an enjoyable and punchy read.

Sat, 28 Sep, 2024

Leaving the Church
Book review: How socialite Harriman married well: Again, and again, and yet again
Sonia Purnell has given us a page turner that matches her subject in verve and ambition in 'Kingmaker'

Sat, 28 Sep, 2024

Book review: The twisting path to life of a writer
Book review: The twisting path to life of a writer
Cónal Creedon's 'Spaghetti Bowl' gives the reader a view of how Cork culture is changing, and yet remains the same

Sat, 21 Sep, 2024

Anne Applebaum
Book review: Stark, shuddering story of polarised world should be a wake-up call
The sense of deepening threat and myriad charges of complicity and naivety levelled at liberal democracies likes ours are profoundly disturbing

Fri, 13 Sep, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: 'Gaeilge i mo Chroí' YouTuber Molly Nic Céile
Beginner’s pluck: 'Gaeilge i mo Chroí' YouTuber Molly Nic Céile
This instructive, easy to follow, and fun book helps people to connect with Irish, and find a new pride in the language.

Sat, 07 Sep, 2024

Book review: Unlocking the door to repressed sexuality to find a true happy ending
Book review: Unlocking the door to repressed sexuality to find a true happy ending
In 'Love Me!' Marianne Power is more interesting when she is searching rather than after finding her happy ending

Sat, 07 Sep, 2024

Book review: Resisting nazi occupation: How over 50 Irish fought back Paris oppression
Book review: Resisting nazi occupation: How over 50 Irish fought back Paris oppression
'The Irish in the Resistance' is an important book that reclaims the vital yet forgotten history of the Irish who defied the Nazi occupation of Europe

Sat, 31 Aug, 2024

Book review: Engaging tales of Irish in Russia
Book review: Engaging tales of Irish in Russia
'Anarchy and Authority' is a very fine publication, one of those welcome jewels that stirs curiosity and admiration on nearly every page

Sat, 31 Aug, 2024

Book review: Clifford is unflinching in his takedown of Garda procedure
Book review: Clifford is unflinching in his takedown of Garda procedure
This is a marvellous account of narrative political and social history, which tells us much about the murder of Una Lynskey and its investigation, the Ireland in which it took place, and those who policed it

Fri, 30 Aug, 2024

Alexei Navalny
Book review: Warnings on Putin ignored at our peril
This book is also a get-real warning to those who think support for Ukraine is optional and a warning about the dire consequences of a second Trump presidency

Sat, 24 Aug, 2024

Bust Of Mangan
Book review: The life of poet James Clarence Mangan
In 'Finding Mangan' Bridget Hourican has addressed the decline of interest in Mangan and the leading role he played in germinating the seeds of our future nationalism in the darkest days of the 19th century

Sat, 24 Aug, 2024

A U.S. SOLDIER WATCHES A STATUE OF PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN FALL IN CENTRAL BAGHDAD
Book review: Fisk’s sobering view of the Middle East bites with truth
'Night of Power' lays bare, with a cynical tone, the events that have transpired in the Middle East and how the West’s lengthy oppression of the Muslim world influenced the instability and atrocities there

Fri, 23 Aug, 2024

Stardust nightclub fire inquest
Book review: A four-decade fight for justice for 48 victims
The Last Disco cannot be read without feeling tremendous admiration for the families who fought for the reputation of their loved ones

Sat, 17 Aug, 2024

MEXICO-ITALY-LITERATURE-MAGRIS
Book review: Dreams and the stories we tell 
There are plenty who will tell you how to write a book but nobody can dream it on your behalf, writes Karl Whitney

Fri, 16 Aug, 2024

Book review: Raising a glass to a vanishing tradition
Book review: Raising a glass to a vanishing tradition
Maurice Gorham's brief, impressionistic, sketches of London pub life overflow with vivid depictions of a largely vanished city

Sat, 10 Aug, 2024

Irish Exodus
Book review: Fleeing Famine and oppression for the land of opportunity
The discovery of the Emigrant Savings Bank's highly detailed records shines a light on the lives of Irish people in the 19th century

Sat, 10 Aug, 2024

‘The Last Disco’ brings the story of the Stardust fight for justice to a conclusion
‘The Last Disco’ brings the story of the Stardust fight for justice to a conclusion
Their love undimmed and their resolve unbroken, families of the Stardust victims kept going, writes Sean Murray

Fri, 09 Aug, 2024

Conservative leadership bid
Book review: Truss diatribe is underdeveloped, contradictory, and offers little insight
During the recent UK election campaign, Liz Truss was the invisible woman, both weirdly familiar and completely unknowable and getting a sense of who she really is from this book is also difficult

Sat, 27 Jul, 2024

Storytellers: Blondie - 2021 Tribeca Festival
Book review: Rock music industry’s heart of glass
Chris Stein's 'Under a Rock' is far more than the sum of its many parts and consciously or not, this is an unfiltered morality tale about loss: of life, love, friends, money, dignity, and health

Sat, 27 Jul, 2024

Parisian cityscape
Book review: Delving into the glory and shame that is ‘the impossible city’ of Paris
In 'Impossible City' Simon Kuper does a great job in conveying why Paris is a city that is impossible to embrace and impossible to resist

Fri, 26 Jul, 2024

Poetry review: David Nash's changing landscapes
Poetry review: David Nash's changing landscapes
The poems in this striking collection are notable as much for what is not present as for what is

Sat, 20 Jul, 2024

Book review: Kevin O’Higgins was man of contradictions
Book review: Kevin O’Higgins was man of contradictions
Signing the death warrant of best man at his wedding, Rory O’Connor, has historically defined the life and reputation of O’Higgins

Sat, 13 Jul, 2024

Author interview: Jordan’s engaging life story challenges idea of memory
Author interview: Jordan’s engaging life story challenges idea of memory
When Neil Jordan was first approached to write a memoir, he wasn’t sure he could do it but started on the opening chapter about his mother 'and I thought, this is interesting, and I kept going'

Fri, 12 Jul, 2024

Paul Muldoon by Beowulf Sheehan
Book review: Poet Muldoon flexes the muscles of his intellect, technique, not of his heart
This collection is filled with poems that we borrow for a while, to guide us through Muldoon’s phantasmagorical underworld; before he walks away with his book under his arm, leaving us to wonder if we ever really knew him

Sat, 06 Jul, 2024

Book review: How philosopher who inspired Hitler and Mussolini came in from the cold
Book review: How philosopher who inspired Hitler and Mussolini came in from the cold
The story of Colli and Montinari’s efforts to produce a new, critical edition of Nietzsche’s writings, using the material deposited in Weimar, is a thrilling, many-sided piece of political and scholarly history

Sat, 22 Jun, 2024

Book review: Jordan tells of tectonic cultural shift through one simple vignette
Book review: Jordan tells of tectonic cultural shift through one simple vignette
Screenwriter and author steps away from the conventions of memoir writing when he dedicates a few chapters to films he would like to have made but didn’t

Fri, 21 Jun, 2024

Poetry review: Memorable poems about forgetting
Poetry review: Memorable poems about forgetting
Something darker hovers in the margins of every page in Greg Delanty's 'The Professor of Forgetting' 

Sat, 15 Jun, 2024

Book review: An Englishman at home, on a journey of nostalgia around his own country
Book review: An Englishman at home, on a journey of nostalgia around his own country
Stuart Maconie's 'The Full English' recounts a winding, London-free road trip that opens on a coach to Southampton and draws to a close in Norwich

Sat, 15 Jun, 2024

Keir Starmer And Anas Sarwar Launch Labour's Six Steps To Change Scotland
Book review: Story of the UK’s Labour Party has gossip and deep analysis
Author and MP for Dagenham and Rainham takes us under the bonnet of the party’s fortunes in and out of government

Sun, 09 Jun, 2024

Book review: A colourful and detailed history of Spike Island
Book review: A colourful and detailed history of Spike Island
Author Crotty goes into comprehensive detail about how the island was used, and who it hosted, during our War of Independence and our Civil War

Sun, 09 Jun, 2024

Book review: A state born of a bloody ethnic war now on ‘downward spiral’
Book review: A state born of a bloody ethnic war now on ‘downward spiral’
Ethnicity is impossible to avoid when addressing the tumultuous, bloody history of the western Balkans, a point Jasmin Mujanović's book reiterates

Fri, 07 Jun, 2024

Amitav Ghosh
Book review: Raking over the coals of a dark and sinister chapter in British history
The enormous opium supply chains created by Britain were cornerstones of the nascent capitalist system sweeping across the world

Sat, 25 May, 2024

Book review: Memoir offers self-appraisal in peace role
Book review: Memoir offers self-appraisal in peace role
Denis Bradley's 'Peace Comes Dropping Slowly' excels in its vivid personal evocations of the Troubles

Sat, 25 May, 2024

Book review: Tracking down a garda killer
Book review: Tracking down a garda killer
'Murder At Lordship' is  full of the kind of gripping detail and dogged legwork that could grace any fictional case

Sat, 25 May, 2024

Book review: A tour through Ireland’s complex pop culture history
Book review: A tour through Ireland’s complex pop culture history
Damian Corless does important work by just reminding us — sometimes subtly, often at full force — that the cultural history of Ireland is as complicated as the country’s political one

Fri, 24 May, 2024

Book review: A memoir delves into the poignant loss of a mother  
Book review: A memoir delves into the poignant loss of a mother  
Anecdotes from old friends form a strong link to writer Genevieve Kingston's mother, and through their love, the spirit of Kristina is kept present to her daughter, and now, to the wider world

Sat, 18 May, 2024

Book review: A beautiful depiction of a horrible crime
Book review: A beautiful depiction of a horrible crime
This vivid account of his attack and recovery shows what a fine writer Salman Rushdie is

Sat, 18 May, 2024

Book review: A restless creative soul’s legacy
Book review: A restless creative soul’s legacy
'Travels Over Feeling' is a fresh take on a centuries-old trope: the enduring struggle of the wilful artist and would-be genius to be heard

Sat, 04 May, 2024

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