The Story of Cork
Seán Beecher’s The Story of Cork appeared in 1971, as one of the first general histories of the city to be published in modern times. Seán was researching and writing its history at a time when few others, (Sean Pettit being a notable exception), were doing so.
This is not a definitive history of Cork; it is rather a personal view of a place and its people. Despite the passage of some years The Story of Cork is a valuable historical introduction to Ireland’s second city.
Of particular pleasure is a chapter on the characters of old Cork. Beecher recalls ‘Klondyke’,’The Rancher’, `Slobby Malone` and other eccentrics who enlivened the social life of Cork in the 1940s and 1950s.
A new edition published by Cork City Libraries is enhanced by William Harrington’s splendid illustrations and captures a spirit of a Cork which is passing away.
Kieran Burke
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Not Quite World’s End: A Traveller’s Tales
Early on in this volume John Simpson tells us he has no intention of retiring. This is just as well as this reporter for the BBC of some four decades brings a freshness and honesty to eye witness events. Simpson knows what it is to see war, disease, terrorism, natural disasters and crime at first hand. He holds the view that although these forces seem about to overwhelm us, the reality is that great events do not prevent the world from turning. Things change, but others stay more or less the same.
The author looks at current global quandaries; the Middle East, global warming, population explosion - and takes the view that these are nowhere near their end. Simpson’s tales are peppered with stories of the many strange people and peculiar places he has come across - from Robert Mugabe to the Bushmen of the Kalahari, from Chelsea to China, from Saddam Hussein to Hollywood. His vivid and lively prose, humanity and clear-sightedness make for an easy and entertaining read and one that comes highly recommended.
David O’Brien
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Other Colours: Essays and a Story
As its subtitle implies, this is a collection of essays and one fiction piece by acclaimed Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006 while still in his early fifties. Facing imprisonment for criticism of Turkey’s policies towards its Kurdish minority, this author of ten novels, including Snow, My Name is Red, and the memoir Istanbul, was later acquitted of charges of sedition. Pamuk has often told that his writing is done in a room from which he can watch the traffic on the bridge across the Bosphorus, a bridge which joins Europe to Asia, a symbol of the tension which underlies much public debate in modern Turkey. These essays reflect this tension, and the tension too between the Christian West and Islam.
Earthquake Angst in Istanbul, details how an ordinary man might conduct himself in the aftermath of an earthquake which killed thousands on the outskirts of the Asian part of Istanbul in 1999. Pamuk also writes of the growing disenchantment in Turkey with an idea of Europe, as the EU sets ever more elaborate entry tests and presents this nation with a ‘damned if I do, damned if I don’t’ situation.
Echoes of Irish “modernizing” are here. As a postcolonial nation we are on the lookout for how others perceive us, how we measure up in the greater scheme. Turkey holds similar preoccupations - as Pamuk recalls, his mother's refrain of 'This is how they do it in Europe’ in a middle-class household in Istanbul was ever present.
This book is full with wry wit, playful scholarship and an ironic note of self-deprecation which cannot but charm the most suspicious of readers.
Tim O’Mahony
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Q & A
“They came for me late last night, when even the stray dogs had gone to sleep. There are those who say I brought this on myself. After all, what business does a penniless waiter have to be participating in a brain quiz?”
The waiter, Ram Mohammed Thomas, correctly answers 12 questions to win the ultimate quiz show, ‘Who Wants to be a Billionaire’, and is jailed for fraud. In a desperate attempt to clear himself, he tells a pro bono lawyer how he came to know the answers, and in so doing tells the convoluted story of his life.
Basing the structure of the novel on the format of an internationally popular television programme was an inspired idea, enabling Swarup to tie together stories both humorous and tragic. Overall, Q & A is an entertaining read, rich in characters and plot, with an unsuspected twist at the end.
Catherine Creedon
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Gillian McKeith’s Wedding Countdown Diet: How to Look and Feel Amazing On Your Big Day
Gillian McKeith, as famed for her book and television series, You Are What You Eat, as for the questionable origin of her PhD, returns with the Wedding Countdown Diet – a nutrition and exercise guide for brides to be.
Regardless of academic qualification however, McKeith is an advocate of common sense and a proponent of a macrobiotic programme. This author recommends a primarily vegetarian diet - of high fibre whole carbohydrates, fresh organic vegetables, healthy oils, pulses and nuts. Delectable recipes and sumptuous images only strengthen McKeith’s nutritional argument.
Whilst her specific purpose is to assist lovely ladies in a pre-wedding routine, McKeith’s dietary suggestions can assist male and female alike.
Jamie O'Connell
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The Emergency Years in Cork 1939-1945: a memoir by Paddy McCarthy
American exodus, housing, Father Dalton, poverty, health, ships and tragedies (Ardmore, St Patrick and Irish Pine), a celebrated trial (John Daly, Nurse Anthony, and the first trial for criminal abortion), leisure and entertainment, cultural society, rationing, price control and even expansion, feature in Paddy McCarthy’s The Emergency Years in Cork 1939-1945. This fascinating book accounts for life in Cork during the years of WWII, a neglected topic despite a huge growth in the publication of local historical material in recent years.
McCarthy presents each themed chapter in an accessible style. Harrowing descriptions of poverty and ill-health in Cork before, during and after the war years feature; tributes to individuals such as Fr Dick Dalton detail attempts to alleviate suffering. The tragedies and loss of the Ardmore, St Patrick and the Irish Pine at sea are recalled. McCarthy illustrates clearly that rationing of food and curtailment of transport are only some of the hardships endured by the population.
The morale of the people of Cork is sustained by cinema, theatre, cultural and musical societies and sport – (of course the hurlers won the famous four-in-a row senior hurling All Irelands during this period). The Emergency Years in Cork 1939-1945 is a valuable and very readable contribution to the social history of Ireland’s Second City.
Kieran Burke
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