On a clear day you can see Inishturbot from Eyrephort beyond Kingston on the Connemara coast. It's a smallish hummock of an islet -- a mile long by a half-mile wide, lying a stone's throw from the Eyrephort pier and a 15-minute drive further east to Clifden. One of a score of Galway offshores -- neither as famous as the tourist-trod Arans, nor as sacred as neighboring Omey -- … [Read more...] about The Death and Resurrection of Inishturbot
Issues
Paris: The City of Lights Has a Brogue
The master of the steaming griddle performs theatrical flourishes while preparing crêpes or gallettes in the window of a crêperie. Waves of pure chocolate cascade over the multiple tiers of a brass melting device in the window of a chocolaterie; shiny golden alligators that turn out to be beautiful loaves of bread chase their tails in the window of an artisan … [Read more...] about Paris: The City of Lights Has a Brogue
Paris: The City of Lights Has a Brogue
The master of the steaming griddle performs theatrical flourishes while preparing crêpes or galettes in the window of a crêperie. Waves of pure chocolate cascade over the multiple tiers of a brass melting device in the window of a chocolaterie; shiny golden alligators that turn out to be beautiful loaves of bread chase their tails in the window of an artisan … [Read more...] about Paris: The City of Lights Has a Brogue
A Star Called Roddy
"I said that Ulysses could have done with a good edit. I didn't say it could do with a good edit." Roddy Doyle is clarifying the comments that saw him crowned, for a time at least, Joyce-basher-in-chief. "And I do think that's true for parts of it. I think it could have been a much better book. This has been interpreted as me saying it should be simplified. Editing is not … [Read more...] about A Star Called Roddy
A Sampling of the Latest Irish Books
RECOMMENDED Roddy Doyle -- already acclaimed for memorable portraits of Dublin such as The Commitments and Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha -- turned Irish historical fiction on its ear in 1999 with his novel A Star Called Henry. The setting was Ireland at the beginning of the 20(th) Century, a time of upheaval, betrayal and bloodshed. Not surprisingly, most authors have treated this … [Read more...] about A Sampling of the Latest Irish Books