Read Ireland Book News - Issue 42
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Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh (paperback; 8.10 IRP/ 12.20 USD) [Add To Basket]
Set in the mountains of Connemara, County Galway, this play tells the darkly comic tale of Maureen Folan, a plain and lonely woman in her early forties, and Mag, her maniulative ageing mother, whose interference in Maureen's first and possibly final chance of a loving relationship set in motion a train of events that leads inexorably towards the play's terrifying denouement.
The Beauty Queen of Leenane was first presented as a Druid Theatre Company and Royal Court Theatre co-production in January 1996 and is the author's first play. It is the winner of the 1996 Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer, 1996 Writers' Guild Award for Best Fringe Theatre Play and the 1996 George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright.
Our Double Time by Micheal O'Siadhail (paperback; 9.30 IRP / 13.95 USD) [Add To Basket]
This collection of poems by one of Ireland's most popular poets ranges through tradition and renewal, lovemaking and gratitude, sufferings and secrets, birth and death, music and abundance. Like his earlier work, these poems resonate with a jazz-like vitality, both light and dark. Each poem is a motif expanding into movements that culminate in this glorious sumphony in double time.
In this collection O'Siadhail measures how a life can be lived in the intensity of 'our double time', alert to its threats, ambiguities and frailties, seizing pivotal moments and tracing the intricacies of families and friends.
The Corner Boys by Geoffrey Beattie (hardback; 20.00 IRP / 30.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
Incisive, moving and beautifully written, this is one of the most illuminating works of fiction to come out of Belfast. It is set in a loyalist working class neighbourhood in industrial decline. James is seventeen; he walked out of school with few qualifications, and few prospects. He's on the corner with his mates, watching the Godfathers of the loyalist paramilitaries acting big, being somebody. He's just trying to get by.
James's best friend gets sucked into one of the loyalist organisations, 'for God and Ulster', they tell him, and he is soon out on the streets, collecting protection money, growing up. James meets a girl from the other side, and they have a romance of sorts.
But this is no Romeo and Juliet. This is just a tragedy of friends deceiving friends, a story about how people use the Troubles, and how the Troubles in the end use them.
Learn Irish by Eurotalk (CD-ROM; 30.00 IRP / 37.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
This CD-ROM is designed for people who want to learn Irish quickly and easily. It is ideal of beginners. It is comprehensive: topics include: first words, phrases, food, shopping, numbers and time. It is interactive with an immediate response to every choice made. You can compare yourself with native speakers using the record facility. You can test your knowledge with easy and hard questions, plus a challenging memory game! You can monitor your progress and keep a check on your total score, and even print your own awards! It is Windows and Apple Macintosh compatable.
Dictionary of Celtic Mythology by James MacKillop (hardback; 34.00 IRP / 50.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
This accessible new work explores the whole of Celtic mythology, legend, saga, and folklore. Subjects covered in the 4000 alphabetically arranged entries include: characters in Celtic myth; places, real and imaginary; creatures from folklore; gods and goddesses; tales cycles and narratives; real and legendary figures; animals and plants; Arthurian parallels; artefacts; regions and countires; archaeological sites; and vital concepts and ideas.
These are not stories for the faint-hearted: bloody vengeance is wreaked upon treachery and real or imagined insults. Warriors jockey for posiitons of prestige and fall to blows over who deserves the champion'' portion. Mysterious monsters prey upon the unwary at crossroads and on lonely hills. Adultery is common, and portrayed with an earthy sensuality, but cuckolded husbands find violent ways to avenge their injured pride. Yet love is sometimes fulfilled, in a world of unimaginable beauty and vivid detail. Boats of white bronze sail on glassy seas, and strange, seductive women entertain heroes for 300 years in what seems an instant. The fullness of the Celtic legacy, traced here from the evidence of ancient shrines to tales recorded in the late 20th century, is the fullness of life
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