Thought this might be of interest to someone. Book reviews per May/June 2002 issue "Ireland of the Welcomes." 1. "When I Was Young," by Seamus O'Grianna "Maire", trans. by A. J. Hughes , A. & A. Farmar. Seamus O'Grianna (1889-1969) published over 30 books and this is the first translation of his autobiography, a much admired account of growing up in rural Donegal in the 1890s and 1900s, in a remote pre-industrial world where people delighted in folklore and storytelling. A very special book, completed by the inclusion of a chapter on the author's life and times and a seminal contemporary government report on the Donegal of the author's day. 2. "Once In A Green Summer," by Thomas F. Walsh. Mr. Walsh was a primary school headmaster and is now a writer and broadcaster, editor of the much loved "Favourite Poems" series. He was one of a large family growing up on a small farm in the west far away from the temptations and opportunities of the big city. They had water from the well, food from the fields and a priest in the family. Life was certain, safe and sheltered. A gentle account of a vanished world. 3. "It's A Long Way from Penny Apples," by Bill Cullen. Mercier Press. Bill Cullen is one of Ireland's wealthiest citizens. Born one of 14 children of a labourer father and a street trading mother. Bill started off in the maternal business selling fruit, fish, paper roses and Christmas decoration. His autobiography is full of huge good humour, good luck, hard work - and a fierce talent for getting up early in the mornings before the rest of the world has got the sleep out of its eyes! The author's royalties are all going to the Irish Youth Foundation. "A glorious warm-hearted read!" 4. "The Spirit of Rural Ireland" by Christopher Somerville with photography by Chris Coe, New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd, Garfield House, 86-88 Edgeware Rd, London W2 2EA, England. "He observes only as a walker can, noticing those tiny, fragile, momentary beauties inevitably missed by motorists - or even cyclists. Splendid photography. 5. "Rory Gallagher - A Biography" -- Jean-Noel Coghe, trans. by Lorna Carson and Brian Steer, Mercier press. He died in 1995, at 47, an innovative and gifted blues guitarist who laid the foundation for the extraordinary development of "Irish" rock and blues. He was admired around the world, but most particularly in France and is hardly a surprise that is biography should have appeared initially in French. He was born in Donegal, but they buried him in the place where he grew up, Cork city. 6. "A Living Word," compiled by Jacqui Corcoran, Town House & Country House: Every morning, for a precious few minutes RTE broadcasts what can only be described as an informal meditation on something or someone or some event or experience. This little book enables us to recapture thought-provoking moments that might otherwise vanish. 7. "Irish Volunteers in the Second World War," Richard Doherty, Four Courts Press. During WWII all kinds of things were done in all sorts of places by Irish men and women - operating clandestine wirless services in occupied France, serving in the Allied armies, navies and air forces, serving in the merchant marine, trying to stay alive in POW camps, serving on the British home front during the Blitz. Richard Doherty even devotes a short chapter to "Lord Haw Haw" and John Francis O'Reilly and others who chose to side with the Nazis. This second book is a fitting companion to the earlier volume, "Irish Men and Women in the Second World War." -- "When you go home, Tell them of us and say For your tomorrow We gave our today." 8. "Praying With The Celtic Saints" -- by Mary C. Earle and Sylvia Maddox, Columba. Fifteen unique perosnalities from the particular Christian tradition of these islands are drawn together by the American authors, who comes themselves from the Episcopalian tradition. "Every day and every night that I say the genealogy of Bride, I shall not be killed, I shall not be harried, I shall not be put in a cell, I shall not be wounded, Neither shall Christ leave me in forgetfulness." 9. "The Wearing Of the Green, A History of St. Patrick's Day," by Mike Cronin and Daryl Adair, Routledge. "When the law can stop the blades of grass from growing as they grow, And when the leaves in Summer-time, their verdure dare not show, Then I will change the colour that I wear in my caubeen, But 'til that day, please God, I'll stick to wearing of the Green." One particular personality stands out in the tradition of Irish spiritual legends and that is Patricius the one-time slave who returned to Ireland, the place of his enslavement, to preach the Gospel, Glorious Saint Patrick! As an Irish clergyman remarked in the course of a Patrician celebration in Argentina in 1963: "Saint Patrick's Day is, perhaps, the most widely celebrated of feasts. It is the day when the Irish in NY and Dublin, in Melbourne and Buenos Aires foregather to honour the Saint who brought them the faith. His memory lives on in lands watered by the Mississippi and the River Plate, the Rhine and! the Danube." 10. "Making My Mark, An Artist's Early Life," by James MacIntyre, The Blackstaff Press. His talent could not be denied - even in the tough conditions of Belfast's Shankill road in the 1930s. James MacIntyre is a fine artist and a very good writer. His book is a joy and the reproductions of his paintings and sketches are superb. (The cover of the book is really stunning!). 11. "Imogen Stuart, Sculptor," by Brian Fallon, Four Courts Press. A major book on the German-born lady who has done us the honour of residing with us (Ireland) for over half a century. "With her flair and enthusiasm, and the courage of her convictions, she has changed Irish ecclesiastical statuary out of all recognition in less that half a century." (Very lovely modern lines). 12. Three beautifully-illustrated books for children: "The Fairy Glen," and "The Lost Seagull," by Declan Carville and Belinda Larmour. "Under The Eye of the Moon, Poems for Children," Mercier Press, by Carmen Cullen, illustrated by Oona McFarland.