Recently-published books of Irish and Irish-American interest. ℘℘℘ FICTION A Keeper By: Graham Norton As a friend commented recently, is there anything Graham Norton can’t do? He’s already got the perfect chat show, the reasonably decent wine varieties, and even added best-selling novelist to his array of talents two years ago with Holding. And now, the so-called difficult … [Read more...] about Review of Books
Reviews
Cyprus Avenue’s Stroll Off-Broadway
By Mary Gallagher, Assistant Editor
David Ireland’s Cyprus Avenue opened for its debut in North America at the Public Theater in New York City on June 25th. Starring Stephen Rea, the play is a discomfiting cross between cathartic and alienating, summoning painful notes of recognition along with a worrisome awareness that everything in this world is just slightly, tragically, off-kilter. Directed by Vicky … [Read more...] about Cyprus Avenue’s Stroll Off-Broadway
Review of Books
Recently-published books of Irish and Irish American interest. ℘℘℘ MEMOIR Box of Butterflies: Discovering the Unexpected Blessings All Around Us By Roma Downey A 10-year-old Roma Downey, mourning the sudden, unexpected death of her vibrant mother, goes to Maureen O’Reilly Downey’s grave to plant her favorite flower – pansies. “She used to say she thought they looked like … [Read more...] about Review of Books
Review: "Oscar" Runs Wilde at Opera Philadelphia
A new opera dealing with the trials and imprisonment of the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde made its East Coast debut this past February. It was put on at the charmingly lavish Opera Philadelphia by composer and co-librettist Theodore Morrison and English opera director John Cox, a year following its debut in Sante Fe, New Mexico in 2013. Wilde’s plays bursted with wit, … [Read more...] about Review: "Oscar" Runs Wilde at Opera Philadelphia
Review of Books
The Dream of the Celt By Mario Vargas Llosa, translated from the Spanish by Edith Grossman Mario Vargas Llosa was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010 “for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat.” Each of his books is a portrait of one or more individuals who set their course against the … [Read more...] about Review of Books