Sudden Times by Dermot Healy, (Harvill, £6.99 in UK)The "sudden" of the title could as well be "strange" so darkly surreal is the world that Healy createsSat Jul 08 2000 - 01:00
Breakfast at Tiffany's, by Truman Capote (Penguin Classics, £6.99 in UK)This is a gorgeous edition of Capote's classic novella, with a still of Audrey Hepburn from the film of Breakfast at Tiffany'…Sat Jun 10 2000 - 01:00
Literati bugsThe white invitation simply announced that "You are invited to The Penguin Roadshow," along with details of time and placeSat Jun 03 2000 - 01:00
An Irishwoman's DiaryEver since Eve gave Adam that memorable apple, women have been tempting men with exciting things to eatFri Jun 02 2000 - 01:00
On the Spine of Italy: A Year in the Abruzzi by Harry Clifton (Pan £6.99 UK)Harry Clifton will be known to many as a poet, and his first book of prose bears the traces of the poet's eye for detailSat May 27 2000 - 01:00
Feeding the multitudesDo you get into a bit of a flap when you have a few folks coming round for dinner? Well, how would you feel about making lunch…Sat May 27 2000 - 01:00
Bruce Chatwin by Nicholas Shakespeare (Vintage £7.99 in UK)In his life, work, and sexuality, writer Bruce Chatwin continually reinvented himselfSat May 13 2000 - 01:00
The problems of growing up and the joys of growing old (Part 2)At the beginning of this novel, Japanese-raised Franklin Hata is lucky to escape death by fire in his own house, much coveted…Sat May 06 2000 - 01:00
The Modern Library: The 200 Best Novels in English since 1950, by Carmen Callil and Colm Toibin (Picador £5.99 in UK)The criteria for this book was fiction - not all novels, despite what the title declares - published in English since 1950, as…Sat Apr 29 2000 - 01:00
Memories of a Catholic Girlhood by Mary McCarthy (Vintage at £6.99 in UK)"The temptation to invent has been very strong, particularly where recollection is hazy and I remember the substance of an event…Sat Apr 22 2000 - 01:00
Back on the rights trackThe consumer programme Streetwise is coming back, a different programme in all but nameSat Apr 15 2000 - 01:00
Early Modern Women's Writing: An Anthology 1560-1700 edited by Paul Salzman (Oxford University Press, £7.99 in UK)The educated women of the late middle ages wrote prodigious numbers of letters, journals and memoirsSat Apr 01 2000 - 01:00
Any old `Iron', `Bins', `Glass', `Tyres', `Sawmills'This is a book of stories which are connected by the theme of work and workmen's tools, hence titles such as `Bins', `Iron', `…Sat Apr 01 2000 - 01:00
Paddy of the `huge presence' commemorated on canal bankThere was more than one famous Paddy having their name celebrated yesterdaySat Mar 18 2000 - 00:00
Kids in the kitchenA couple of Saturdays ago, two adults, one child and a baby went off to take an old car to the National Car Test Scrapyard in…Sat Mar 18 2000 - 00:00
Wexford pike on a bikeIf there are such individuals as Pike Anoraks, Pike People is the programme for themSat Mar 11 2000 - 00:00
In the pictureWhen you think of an art gallery, what do you think of first? Sunday afternoons? Tons of gilt frames? Security guards checking…Sat Mar 11 2000 - 00:00
The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif (Bloomsbury, £6.99 in UK)The 1999 Booker Prize folk declared this novel to be the best "read" on the shortlistSat Mar 11 2000 - 00:00
Dublin novelist shortlisted for literary awardColum McCann, a Dubliner, is one of seven novelists who have been shortlisted for the £100,000 International IMPAC Dublin Literary…Tue Mar 07 2000 - 00:00
Cowboy countryRenting. Just a vowel away from ranting. Landlords, eh? I've known a few. Naw, scrub that, I've known a lotSat Feb 26 2000 - 00:00
Our Fathers by Andrew O'Hagan (Faber & Faber, £6.99 in UK)Andrew O'Hagan's first novel rightly won a place on the 1999 Booker shortlistSat Feb 19 2000 - 00:00
Opening a treasure troveOn Monday, tribunals were forgotten with the opening in Dublin Castle of the Chester Beatty Library and Galleries in the refurbished…Sat Feb 12 2000 - 00:00
Darkness visibleAlthough the title of this book, Don't Read This Book If You're Stupid, might sound like it's a particularly in-your-face American…Sat Jan 29 2000 - 00:00
Full-time teen, part-time authorSo what did you do in your free time when you were 12? Play football? Torture your siblings? Obsess about boy/girl bands? Have…Sat Jan 29 2000 - 00:00
Success loomsIt's A mid-week morning but Avoca Handweavers, at Kilmacanogue in Co Wicklow, is fairly jammed with mammies and toddlers, and…Sat Jan 22 2000 - 00:00
Heeding the call of the islesThree things about Peter Somerville-Large (70) which are useful to knowSat Jan 08 2000 - 00:00
Making children of us allCircus... like Christmas, it's usually at its most thrilling when viewed from the perspective of childhood, but with something…Sat Jan 08 2000 - 00:00
A bit of a two-horse raceThe good ideas are always those which look perfectly obvious - once they have been done, that isSat Dec 18 1999 - 00:00
Leaving the sea for a life of crimeWhat's the first thing you think of when you hear the name "Clare Francis"? If it's the distinguished British crime writer, author…Sat Dec 11 1999 - 00:00
Cameroon With Egbert by Dervla Murphy (Flamingo, £7.99 in UK)Dervla Murphy tends to focus so much on the territory around her when she travels that we learn a lot about it, but not much …Sat Dec 04 1999 - 00:00
TravelThe travel book genre continues to remain on the big stage in bookshops, despite the effort of critics to elbow it into the wings…Sat Dec 04 1999 - 00:00
Making magicThe visitor to Ceol, the traditional music centre in Smithfield, is watching a video of Martin Hayes playing the fiddleSat Dec 04 1999 - 00:00
Letters Home. By Fergal Keane. Penguin. 205pp. £6.99 in UKIf you liked Letter to Daniel, this new book by BBC journalist Fergal Keane, which contains much, much more of the same, is intended…Sat Dec 04 1999 - 00:00
Women Travel: First-hand accounts from more than 60 countries. Edited by Natania Jansz, Miranda Davies, Emma Drew, and Lori McDougall (The Rough Guides, £12.99 in UK)This is the fourth edition of the Rough Guide's Women Travel anthology, and it weighs in now at 700 pages, with stories and reports…Sat Nov 27 1999 - 00:00
Booking the Shelbourne"Ah," said an American relative on a first visit to Ireland recently, as he looked skywards from streets of Dublin, "now I know…Sat Nov 20 1999 - 00:00
Demon Barber: Interviews by Lynn Barber (Penguin, £8.99 in UK)When the British Independent on Sunday was launched a decade ago, Lynn Barber's extended interviews with celebrities, politicians…Sat Nov 20 1999 - 00:00
Best foot forwardYou hear it before you see it: a loud pulsating thrumming that presses up against the door of the rehearsal room and sounds like…Sat Nov 13 1999 - 00:00
Annie's womenAnnie Leibovitz is one of the most famous photographers in the world: the woman who made her reputation by accompanying the Rolling…Sat Oct 30 1999 - 01:00
Olympians with real attitudeIn June this year, 77 Special Olympics athletes, together with their coaches, family members, and supporters, travelled from …Sat Oct 23 1999 - 01:00
Theatre Festival ups and downsTime to get up from the sitting position that theatre aficionados will have spent a lot of time in for the last few weeks, with…Thu Oct 21 1999 - 01:00
The Happy Pigs. By Lucy Harkness. The Blackstaff Press. 244pp. £7.99 in UKThe cheerful pigs of the title of Lucy Harkness's first novel refer to the infamous public nickname given to the policeSat Oct 09 1999 - 01:00
`I always wanted to do nursing . . .'Mary Walshe is 36, and a clinical placement co-ordinator at a large Dublin hospital. Her salary is £25,500 a year.Sat Oct 09 1999 - 01:00
Hillen's Hinde-sightThe artist Sean Hillen doesn't walk across the room, he scampersSat Oct 09 1999 - 01:00
Ten Things I Hate About . . . Flying1. Aeroflot. Nothing you hear has been exaggeratedThu Oct 07 1999 - 01:00
`I write first and add the research later'I've lived in Seattle for about six years, and find that my writing day used to be a lot more rigid than it is nowSat Oct 02 1999 - 01:00
Three Dollars by Elliot Perlman (Faber, £6.99 in UK)Australian Elliot Perlman's novel is all the more outstanding for being his first, and has already picked up major prizesSat Sept 25 1999 - 01:00
Out of the shadowsShadowing Hannah is Dubliner Sara Berkeley's fifth book, but her first novelSat Sept 25 1999 - 01:00
Terms of endearmentWhen documentary-maker Hilary Dully was asked to run a course for women in Connemara which focused on media and gender, she ended…Sat Sept 25 1999 - 01:00
