Pandas and philosophy in a rich soup of a bookOne man's personal and philosophical odyssey evolves against the dramatic and vibrantly physical background of Central China'…Sat Mar 10 2001 - 00:00
A Lost Lady, By Willa Cather (Virago, £7.99 in UK)Cather's great theme, the passing of the old order and the loss of the pioneering virtues of the Old West, are brilliantly handled…Sat Mar 10 2001 - 00:00
Toibin makes IMPAC shortlistColm Toibin is the only Irish writer on this year's shortlist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary AwardTue Mar 06 2001 - 00:00
Love in its many guisesMothers and daughters caught between contrasting cultures and weighty, secretive memories have dominated the work of Chinese-…Sat Mar 03 2001 - 00:00
Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture, by Apostolos DoxiadisMore cautionary parable than intellectual jaunt, this Faustian quest novel is ultimately as troubling as it is cleverSat Mar 03 2001 - 00:00
Hooked by a great bookAnnual preparations are well under way for those anxious to take to the rivers and streams, lakes and pools of Ireland in pursuit…Sat Mar 03 2001 - 00:00
Pretty Georgian in need of restorationA brief footnote to the social history of Co Kildare is hinted at by a modest merchant-class Georgian house to be auctioned in…Thu Mar 01 2001 - 00:00
Hard to break the Rabbit habitWhen John Updike killed off Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom in Rabbit at Rest (1990), he was also closing an important chapter in US …Sat Feb 24 2001 - 00:00
£7.99 in UK)It would be too easy to decide the print cartoon is dominated by North AmericansSat Feb 24 2001 - 00:00
Fine blend of the banal and profoundEvery novelist searches for that always elusive, but often compelling strong opening sentence and Manil Suri appears to have …Sat Feb 17 2001 - 00:00
A Heart of Stone, by Renate Dorrestein, translated by Hester Velmans (Black Swan, £6.99 in UK)It seems strange that the third child of four would so resent the arrival of another baby as Ellen, the narrator of this shockingly…Sat Feb 17 2001 - 00:00
Helping to dig up Meath's pastSince its revival in 1954, the Meath Archaeological and Historical Society has been among the most active and productive in the…Sat Feb 17 2001 - 00:00
The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene (Vintage,£6.99 in UK)Even now, almost a decade since his death, Greene remains a writer whose achievement is greater than even admiring critics seem…Sat Feb 10 2001 - 00:00
Four faces of womenIn the aftermath of his wife's death Albert Danon, a tax accountant, is left in an emotional twilight zoneSat Feb 10 2001 - 00:00
Planning seems `out of control'Planning in Kilkenny is currently "out of control", according to archaeologist John BradleySat Feb 10 2001 - 00:00
Preston Falls, by David Gates (Phoenix, £6.99 in UK)Although about as subtle as a fist in the face, this loud, angry domestic saga featuring a spectacular midlife crisis eventually…Sat Feb 10 2001 - 00:00
Here be map thievesIt's one thing having to track down missing items: it's quite another having to locate the people those items have been stolen…Sat Feb 03 2001 - 00:00
Mr Phillips, by John Lanchester (Faber, £6.99 in UK)Podgy, middle-aged, middle-class, daydreaming London accountant Mr Phillips lies in bed deciding when to officially wake upSat Feb 03 2001 - 00:00
The Pretender by Mary Morrissy (Vintage, £6.99 in UK)The brutal murder of the Romanov family, the last royal dynasty of Russia, and the mystery that surrounded the existence of their…Sat Jan 27 2001 - 00:00
Another piece of the Stuart jigsawEven now, approaching the first anniversary of his death, it remains impossible to attempt an intelligent debate about the writer…Sat Jan 20 2001 - 00:00
Finders, KeepersWhen asked about the path that lead him to archaeology, Dr Michael Ryan, director of the Chester Beatty Library and a career …Sat Jan 20 2001 - 00:00
Gem from a gentle craftsmanIf the mark of genius is making the difficult appear easy, the great American writer William Maxwell (1908-2000) had it in generous…Sat Jan 13 2001 - 00:00
Melodies of melancholyOf the many books written about the Jewish people few have approached the clarity and exactness achieved in this short, astonishing…Sat Jan 06 2001 - 00:00
Findings in Newgrange research prompt archaeologists' debateThe winter solstice, the most important day of the year at the Newgrange burial mound, coincided yesterday with a lively debate…Fri Dec 22 2000 - 00:00
A moving experience in MooneIreland's magnificent high crosses are among the most beautiful legacies of its Christian pastSat Dec 16 2000 - 00:00
Pearl mussel in dangerNot many people are aware of them and yet others hunt themSat Dec 09 2000 - 00:00
Conservation is the key to the castleFew castles in Ireland possess as majestic a defensive setting as that of Dunamase, a medieval stone fortress in Co Laois, about…Sat Dec 09 2000 - 00:00
For sale: mountain, bit run down, but great view` In Britain, mountains tend to be seen as part of the public domain, along with folk-music, beaches, weather and Shakespearean…Sat Dec 09 2000 - 00:00
Living in Hope and History, by Nadine Gordimer (Bloomsbury, £7.99 in UK)Always a precise, formidable thinker, Nadine Gordimer personifies the writer as moral and political consciousnessSat Dec 02 2000 - 00:00
A celebration of stone and the mason's artApproached by night, the Rock of Cashel, or St Patrick's Rock, offers a dramatic return to the splendours of medieval Ireland…Sat Dec 02 2000 - 00:00
Philosopher's book written by a showman drawn to the power of storyWhat a performance. Within a year of winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, Gunter Grass, now 73 and contemporary fiction's …Sat Dec 02 2000 - 00:00
My Century by Gunter Grass (Faber,£7.99 in UK)How fitting that one of the greatest writers of the 20th century and author of arguably its finest novel, The Tin Drum (1959), …Sat Nov 25 2000 - 00:00
Philosopher, street fighter, hero, coward, a lively wit and a complete jerkBiographers appear to be an odd breed; they either love their subject beyond all reasonable doubt or hate them to an unnatural…Sat Nov 25 2000 - 00:00
Simple stories, hard workDresden-born Ingo Schulze became famous on the publication of his first book, 33 Moments of Happiness, which so impressed German…Sat Nov 18 2000 - 00:00
Death as a way of lifeBurial practices reveal a great deal about the way a people liveSat Nov 11 2000 - 00:00
Atwood carries off Booker with her 10th novel, `The Blind Assassin'This year's Booker shortlist, with its bizarre omissions, may have been a disappointing surprise but there was always a decided…Wed Nov 08 2000 - 00:00
Gore Vidal, by Fred Kaplan (Bloomsbury, £8.99 in UK)Ah, yes: the man who would be presidentSat Nov 04 2000 - 00:00
Excursion into well-travelled territoryHistorical fiction continues to have an appeal for writers as well as readersSat Nov 04 2000 - 00:00
Looking after our mysterious portal tombs instead of celtic heritage tagAn interest in heritage, nowadays, has a strongly vigilante dimensionSat Oct 28 2000 - 01:00
My Phantom Husband, by Marie Darrieussecq, translated by Janet Stevenson. (Faber, £6.99 in UK)Relationships are trickySat Oct 21 2000 - 01:00
Machine cuisine with Wally and WillaTrue, you don't hear that much about people eating aircraftSat Oct 21 2000 - 01:00
Microcosms, by Claudio Magris (Harvill, £7.99 in UK)Smaller, less encyclopaedic than his masterwork Danube, Claudio Magris adopts in this book an equally learned but far more personal…Sat Oct 14 2000 - 01:00
Unconvincing folksy frolicsOnce a native, now an outsider, William Maginn chances upon a story while drinking in a London pubSat Oct 14 2000 - 01:00
The Story Begins - Essays on Literature, by Amos Oz (Vintage, £6.99 in UK)Far too often politics and smug intellectualism recruit literary criticism for the wrong endsSat Oct 07 2000 - 01:00
Cold, nervy, brittle egoistEven the mildest of individuals could be permitted a mannerly groan on hearing of yet another life of Virginia WoolfSat Oct 07 2000 - 01:00
An Irishwoman's DiaryYou Can't Go Home Again, the title of a book, is far more widely known as one of those wry, quasi-philosophical phrases people…Tue Oct 03 2000 - 01:00
The Wonders of the Invisible World, by David Gates (Gollancz, £9.99 in UK)Many claims have been made for David Gates and few of them are justified in this loud collection in which most of his self-destruct…Sat Sept 30 2000 - 01:00
Making sense of lifeDressed in black and awaiting the publication of her 12th novel, The Gingerbread Woman, Jennifer Johnston sits in a trendy Dublin…Sat Sept 30 2000 - 01:00
