Category: Books

Books

The Squad by

Michael Collins is frequently cited as the originator of modern urban terrorism. The British characterised his Squad as ‘the murder gang’ and had they knowingly captured members of of the Squad they would almost certainly have exectued them.

Irish history is full of revolutionaries and failed rebellions, of informers giving information to the English, and spies infiltrating Irish organisations. Michael Collins recognised the importance of the intelligence network and so in 1919 he formulated a plan to blind the eyes of Dublin Castle by ensuring that the police force were as terrorised and demoralised as possible.

14 August 2006
Books

Smoke and Mirrors by

Short Fictions and Illusions ISBN: 0755322835 Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite authors. Partly because you are never quite sure what you are going to get. He has his wonderful...

7 August 2006
Books

Little, Big by

ISBN: 0413513505 See also: Spike Magazine This book, one of the classics of fantasy literature, did absolutely nothing for me. Okay, that is a slight exageration, because there were some touches...

2 August 2006
Books

Time Added On by

When you are a child, and you’re poor, and you live next to other people who are poor, you never think of yourself as being poor.

Around a month ago I read an entry on Omaniblog about this book, up until then I hadn’t even known that George Hook had a book out. But that post caught my attention. George Hook is probably best known in Ireland for his rugby punditry. Together with Brent Pope and Tom McGurk, he analyses rugby for RTE in an entertaining, honest, blunt manner. He also has a radio show, but I’m not big on the radio so haven’t heard him enough to comment on that. In many ways I suppose he is the Eamonn Dunphy of the rugby world.

But I know him primarily from his rugby comments, and his constant promises that Munster will lose, and that the likes of Stringer shouldn’t be playing. I disagree with him, but am well aware that he is very knowledgeable about the game. And in an entertaining way.

25 July 2006
Books

No present like time by

ISBN: 0575077980 – Infinity Plus review January 2020 On this soft night I followed the Moren River valley, flying back to the Castle, hearing the chimes of clock towers in the...

20 July 2006
Books

Witch Child by

by Celia Rees
Mary doesn’t know her parents, she has lived her life with her grandmother. But in 1659 a witchfinder comes to her village and her grandmother is found guilty of witchcraft, by virtue of the fact that she floats in water, and killed. Mary might be next, but she is rescued by a mysterious, rich, well-dressed woman, and sent across the ocean in the company of some Puritans.

18 July 2006
Books

Shaman’s Crossing by

Book #1 The Soldier Son ISBN: 0007196148 RobinHobb.com I remember well the first time I saw the magic of the plainspeople I’m a big fan of Hobb’s Fittz books, so I...

15 July 2006
Books

April Lady by

ISBN: 043432826X – Georgette Heyer There was a silence in the book-room, not the silence of intimacy but a silence fraught with tension Nell is in a little spot of bother....

14 July 2006
Books / Sport

Sport and the Irish by

Although the word ‘sport’ was used commonly in Ireland long before the period that is covered by any of the essays in this collection, it normally referred to hunting, fishing and other such activities enjoyed by the Irish gentleman. In addition were the games played by ‘ordinary’ people and rumoured to have their origins in Ireland’s historic and mythic past.

Another book that I picked up at work, although this is much more readable than the last. That was on the film industry in Ireland, and I didn’t finish it because of its overly academic wordiness. Despite being a sociological look at sport in Ireland, this book, Sport and the Irish doesn’t suffer from that problem.

13 July 2006
Books

Irish Voices by

An Informal History 1916-1966 ISBN: 0712665323 Early on Easter Sunday 23 April 1916 in Liberty Hall, the painter Christopher Brady carried out his commission of printing the document that would proclaim...

6 July 2006
Books

Anansi Boys by

ISBN: 0755305078 It begins, as most things begin, with a song Fat Charlie is fat, but the nickname has stuck. It is his father’s fault, if Fat Charlie’s dad calls something...

30 June 2006
Books

A Song for Arbonne by

ISBN: 0586216774 Reread with FantasyFavorites On a morning in the springtime of the year, when the snows of the mountains were melting and the rivers swift in their running, Aelis de...

25 June 2006