Any good books out there for the discerning Leinster fan this Christmas?
Last year we had Leo's book and the official Leinster book too. This year it's nada so far unless I've missed something?
Book thread
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Re: Book thread
I hear Denis Hickie has written a really insightful book on the Northern Ireland peace process.
I think it's called "The Pipes of Peace"...
I think it's called "The Pipes of Peace"...
Re: Book thread
He's here all week people....... (God Help us)......
Re: Book thread
Some choices in the IT today:
Brent Pope: If You Really Knew Me (Irish Sports Publishing) Many people would claim to know Brent Pope basing their opinion on the RTÉ personality; a big, avuncular Kiwi, a former rugby player and coach with a twinkle in his eye and a long-suffering and at times exasperated sidekick to George Hook. They might be aware that he is a published author of children’s books – he did the illustrations too – which feature the character Woody the Whale, the proceeds of which were dispersed to a variety of children’s charities.
What many will not know until they read his autobiography is that in 2009 he was diagnosed as having a dysthymic personality, a state of chronic discontentment. It was then he began to understand the mood swings, self-doubt, insecurities, low self-esteem that permeated relationships and ordered his view on how he approached life.
The teak-tough veneer that Pope presented to the world was at odds with the chronic anxiety that lurked within. His courageous honesty makes the book atypical of its genre. There are plenty of laddish antics recounted from his playing and coaching days coupled with a certain poetic licence for some revisionism in describing matches and events.
What it ultimately reveals though is his personality, faults included – the kind of bloke who is excellent company with a sharp sense of fun – and it’s all the better for that.
John Hayes: The Bull, My Story (Simon Schuster) If there was a straw poll conducted to determine who amongst Ireland’s rugby players of the last 20 years would be least likely to write an autobiography, John Hayes would have been a runaway winner. It is precisely for this reason that the book he has penned in conjunction with Tommy Conlon has piqued the interest.
The Bull was a reluctant interviewee during his time with Munster and Ireland simply because he abhorred the spotlight, uncomfortable in its glare. It was partially attributable to shyness but also a belief that he was a small cog in a big wheel. He was mistaken in that respect as his celebrated career with Bruff, Shannon, Marist, Munster, Ireland and the Lions so vividly illustrated. His reaction to a song that Luke Bloom wrote about him and sang for the Ireland squad sums up his discomfort with being centre of attention.
Team-mates, friends and family got to see another side to his personality, one that included a sharp sense of humour and a dry wit. He was well able to trade in the dressing-room banter. Conlon captures Hayes’s self-deprecating tone faithfully as he unfurls a sporting story that gathers momentum when circumstance and opportunity collided to steer him as an 18-year-old to a rugby pitch in Bruff.
The book is an unembroidered, nicely captured insight into one of Irish rugby’s iconic players. Now he really will hate that label.
Behind the Lions. Playing Rugby for the British & Irish Lions (Birlinn Limited, Polaris Publishing) Many books have been written about the British Irish Lions either as a compendium of all tours or else alighting on a particular one but this offering from journalists Tom English, Nick Cain, David Barnes and Stephen Jones – an Irishman, an Englishman, a Scot and a Welshman – is comfortably the most interesting and entertaining.
They may have borrowed a line here and there from other source material, the odd autobiography or 10 and the excellent History of the Lions by Clem Thomas and his son, Greg, the current communications manager who will travel on next year’s tour to Australia, but the majority of the tome is derived from interviews, letters home from tour participants and newspaper clippings.
One classic example centres on the musings of Ireland’s Alex Foster who toured South Africa in 1910 and his appraisal of the unfamiliar hard grounds. “First many South African grounds were so hard that our list of casualties was always heavy. Elbows and knees were skinned in spite of elbow guards and reinforced kneecaps; you were lucky if the wounds did not fester. Eric Milroy, who joined us late, contracted dangerous poisoning from gravel rash. I would strongly urge all touring teams to travel accompanied by a medical man.”
For those with a love of rugby or sport in general, an interest in travel, or a curiosity for history, this book will satisfy all those needs with lavishly descriptive and often humorous anecdotes.
Dave Gallaher. The Original All Black Captain (HarperCollins Publishers) Born in the village of Ramelton, five miles outside Letterkenny in Donegal, where the rugby and GAA shared grounds now bear his name, Dave Gallaher left Ireland in the company of his family as a five-year-old child in 1878 to escape economic misery and the promise of a better life in New Zealand.
Gallaher went on to captain the first New Zealand rugby team to be referred to as the All Blacks, leading the Originals on their 1905-1906 tour to Europe and North America, their first rugby tour to the Northern Hemisphere.
The Originals played 35 matches, winning 34 – they lost to Wales – and Gallaher stood out as both leader and player.
But this isn’t just a rugby story. Gallaher enlisted in the New Zealand army during the first World War – he had earlier fought in the Boer War – at the age of 42 and was killed in action in Flanders doing as he had done on the sporting field by leading from the front.
New Zealand sports writer Matt Elliott traces Gallaher’s life, drawing on a variety of sources to provide a definitive and lavishly fulfilling account of an Irishman whose spirit and inspiration have finally received the wider recognition they deserved.
Brent Pope: If You Really Knew Me (Irish Sports Publishing) Many people would claim to know Brent Pope basing their opinion on the RTÉ personality; a big, avuncular Kiwi, a former rugby player and coach with a twinkle in his eye and a long-suffering and at times exasperated sidekick to George Hook. They might be aware that he is a published author of children’s books – he did the illustrations too – which feature the character Woody the Whale, the proceeds of which were dispersed to a variety of children’s charities.
What many will not know until they read his autobiography is that in 2009 he was diagnosed as having a dysthymic personality, a state of chronic discontentment. It was then he began to understand the mood swings, self-doubt, insecurities, low self-esteem that permeated relationships and ordered his view on how he approached life.
The teak-tough veneer that Pope presented to the world was at odds with the chronic anxiety that lurked within. His courageous honesty makes the book atypical of its genre. There are plenty of laddish antics recounted from his playing and coaching days coupled with a certain poetic licence for some revisionism in describing matches and events.
What it ultimately reveals though is his personality, faults included – the kind of bloke who is excellent company with a sharp sense of fun – and it’s all the better for that.
John Hayes: The Bull, My Story (Simon Schuster) If there was a straw poll conducted to determine who amongst Ireland’s rugby players of the last 20 years would be least likely to write an autobiography, John Hayes would have been a runaway winner. It is precisely for this reason that the book he has penned in conjunction with Tommy Conlon has piqued the interest.
The Bull was a reluctant interviewee during his time with Munster and Ireland simply because he abhorred the spotlight, uncomfortable in its glare. It was partially attributable to shyness but also a belief that he was a small cog in a big wheel. He was mistaken in that respect as his celebrated career with Bruff, Shannon, Marist, Munster, Ireland and the Lions so vividly illustrated. His reaction to a song that Luke Bloom wrote about him and sang for the Ireland squad sums up his discomfort with being centre of attention.
Team-mates, friends and family got to see another side to his personality, one that included a sharp sense of humour and a dry wit. He was well able to trade in the dressing-room banter. Conlon captures Hayes’s self-deprecating tone faithfully as he unfurls a sporting story that gathers momentum when circumstance and opportunity collided to steer him as an 18-year-old to a rugby pitch in Bruff.
The book is an unembroidered, nicely captured insight into one of Irish rugby’s iconic players. Now he really will hate that label.
Behind the Lions. Playing Rugby for the British & Irish Lions (Birlinn Limited, Polaris Publishing) Many books have been written about the British Irish Lions either as a compendium of all tours or else alighting on a particular one but this offering from journalists Tom English, Nick Cain, David Barnes and Stephen Jones – an Irishman, an Englishman, a Scot and a Welshman – is comfortably the most interesting and entertaining.
They may have borrowed a line here and there from other source material, the odd autobiography or 10 and the excellent History of the Lions by Clem Thomas and his son, Greg, the current communications manager who will travel on next year’s tour to Australia, but the majority of the tome is derived from interviews, letters home from tour participants and newspaper clippings.
One classic example centres on the musings of Ireland’s Alex Foster who toured South Africa in 1910 and his appraisal of the unfamiliar hard grounds. “First many South African grounds were so hard that our list of casualties was always heavy. Elbows and knees were skinned in spite of elbow guards and reinforced kneecaps; you were lucky if the wounds did not fester. Eric Milroy, who joined us late, contracted dangerous poisoning from gravel rash. I would strongly urge all touring teams to travel accompanied by a medical man.”
For those with a love of rugby or sport in general, an interest in travel, or a curiosity for history, this book will satisfy all those needs with lavishly descriptive and often humorous anecdotes.
Dave Gallaher. The Original All Black Captain (HarperCollins Publishers) Born in the village of Ramelton, five miles outside Letterkenny in Donegal, where the rugby and GAA shared grounds now bear his name, Dave Gallaher left Ireland in the company of his family as a five-year-old child in 1878 to escape economic misery and the promise of a better life in New Zealand.
Gallaher went on to captain the first New Zealand rugby team to be referred to as the All Blacks, leading the Originals on their 1905-1906 tour to Europe and North America, their first rugby tour to the Northern Hemisphere.
The Originals played 35 matches, winning 34 – they lost to Wales – and Gallaher stood out as both leader and player.
But this isn’t just a rugby story. Gallaher enlisted in the New Zealand army during the first World War – he had earlier fought in the Boer War – at the age of 42 and was killed in action in Flanders doing as he had done on the sporting field by leading from the front.
New Zealand sports writer Matt Elliott traces Gallaher’s life, drawing on a variety of sources to provide a definitive and lavishly fulfilling account of an Irishman whose spirit and inspiration have finally received the wider recognition they deserved.
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Peg Leg
- Rob Kearney
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Re: Book thread
Pity The Nation: Lebanon at War by Robert Fisk a must read for anyone interested in Lebanon.
The book covers the foundation of the state up to 2001, with the greater emphasis on the period 1975 - 2001 (whilst the author was living in West Beruit)
Before anyone jumps down my throat RE: Fisks bias, b*%&!x!
Read this account by a man who lived and breathed this country's struggle in spite of the danger to himself.
This is a true account of both sides of every battle/war, with the quoted figures involved telling the story and Fisk setting the scene.
The book covers the foundation of the state up to 2001, with the greater emphasis on the period 1975 - 2001 (whilst the author was living in West Beruit)
Before anyone jumps down my throat RE: Fisks bias, b*%&!x!
Read this account by a man who lived and breathed this country's struggle in spite of the danger to himself.
This is a true account of both sides of every battle/war, with the quoted figures involved telling the story and Fisk setting the scene.
"It was Mrs O'Leary's cow"
Daniel Sullivan
Daniel Sullivan
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TerenureJim
- Shane Jennings
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Re: Book thread
Currently making my way through Geordan Murphy's Outsider, decent read so far, bit if a chip on his shoulder re IRFU which is understandable and his man love for Leicester can't be underestimated but decent read. Gotta feel sorry for the bloke re 2003 leg break and he was a class player but still think Girv was the better 15 by far.
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Peg Leg
- Rob Kearney
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Re: Book thread
Lost at Sea, the Jon Ronson mysteries by Jon Ronson:
Jon Ronson is a journalist with a taste for an oddity, this book is another of his published articles taken from various newspapers and magazines (although most are expanded editions of their respective article). This is a funny book, whilst the subject matter may be very serious the authors sense of self-everything is a hilarious.
In the book he covers some very diverse topics:
He establishes multi identities with the same address, forms identity specific online habits and see which one gets the loan/credit card offers. then follows the chain to sender!
Investigates a mass murder plot in a town that celebrates christmas every day.
Spends time mixing with America's real life super hero's.
Delves into the bizarre world of AI.
Spends time on Stanley Kubrik's estate with permission to plough through the archives- Kubrick has kept pretty much everything he has ever written on paper in storage.
Investigation into the abnormally high passenger disappearance rate on cruise liners.
Great book to leave and come back to as every chapter is a story/article. Mixes the harrowing with the hilarious, though at all time sensitive to the subject matter. Apologies if this reads like a sales pitch, no other way to describe the book!!
Jon Ronson is a journalist with a taste for an oddity, this book is another of his published articles taken from various newspapers and magazines (although most are expanded editions of their respective article). This is a funny book, whilst the subject matter may be very serious the authors sense of self-everything is a hilarious.
In the book he covers some very diverse topics:
He establishes multi identities with the same address, forms identity specific online habits and see which one gets the loan/credit card offers. then follows the chain to sender!
Investigates a mass murder plot in a town that celebrates christmas every day.
Spends time mixing with America's real life super hero's.
Delves into the bizarre world of AI.
Spends time on Stanley Kubrik's estate with permission to plough through the archives- Kubrick has kept pretty much everything he has ever written on paper in storage.
Investigation into the abnormally high passenger disappearance rate on cruise liners.
Great book to leave and come back to as every chapter is a story/article. Mixes the harrowing with the hilarious, though at all time sensitive to the subject matter. Apologies if this reads like a sales pitch, no other way to describe the book!!
"It was Mrs O'Leary's cow"
Daniel Sullivan
Daniel Sullivan
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fourthirtythree
- Leo Cullen
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Re: Book thread
The wife's fond of Ronson but that sounds like a good book (cruise liners and murder is something I've heard rumours about before). He also wrote the screenplay I think (it's definitely based on his story anyway) for the new film from Lenny Abrahamson (Adam and Paul, Garage, What Richard Did) about Frank Sidebottom. Which is just a bizarre concept.
Fassbender as Frank Sidebottom. I don't know if he takes the head off at all during the film. It just finished filming in January.
Fassbender as Frank Sidebottom. I don't know if he takes the head off at all during the film. It just finished filming in January.
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Peg Leg
- Rob Kearney
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Re: Book thread
Also wrote - The Men Who Stare at Goatsfourthirtythree wrote:The wife's fond of Ronson but that sounds like a good book (cruise liners and murder is something I've heard rumours about before). He also wrote the screenplay I think (it's definitely based on his story anyway) for the new film from Lenny Abrahamson (Adam and Paul, Garage, What Richard Did) about Frank Sidebottom. Which is just a bizarre concept.
Fassbender as Frank Sidebottom. I don't know if he takes the head off at all during the film. It just finished filming in January.
"It was Mrs O'Leary's cow"
Daniel Sullivan
Daniel Sullivan
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TerenureJim
- Shane Jennings
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Re: Book thread
Fir the Game of Throne (or Song of Fire & Ice as this is the book thread) fans, Winter is Coming....
http://www.georgerrmartin.com/excerpt-f ... of-winter/
http://www.georgerrmartin.com/excerpt-f ... of-winter/
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TerenureJim
- Shane Jennings
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Re: Book thread
Anyone out there read Ritchie McCaw's book? Anyway decent?
Re: Book thread
"the score takes care of itself", by Bill Walsh (the guy who took the 49ers from the worst team to the best ever. it's outstanding, guy seems very similar to Schmidt.
Re: Book thread
Just read World War Z an oral account of the zombie wars. Really enjoyed it. Can't believe it wasn't a comic. Haven't seen the movie, but can't imagine its anywhere near as good as the book.
It's a kind of documentary of short stories taken over a 10 year period. Given the film stars mr jolie I'd say its completely different. Well worth a read!
It's a kind of documentary of short stories taken over a 10 year period. Given the film stars mr jolie I'd say its completely different. Well worth a read!
Ruddock's tackle stats consistently too low for me to be taken seriously as a Six Nations blindside..... Ruddock's defensive stats don't stack up. - All Blacks Nil, Jan 15th, 2014
England A 8 - 14 Ireland A, 25th Jan 2014
Ruddock(c) 19/2 Tackles
England A 8 - 14 Ireland A, 25th Jan 2014
Ruddock(c) 19/2 Tackles
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TerenureJim
- Shane Jennings
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Re: Book thread
Has anyone out there read any David Gemmell specifically the Legend series is it worth picking up? Looking for something similar in quality to Game of Thrones / Tolkien etc. to bridge the gap to Winds of Winter
Re: Book thread
I am reading the Dammed Series. There are 2 books and I am on the second. I am not a huge fan - I can put the books down easily which is a bad sign. Books are ok but I got them in a charity shop - would be gutted to have paid full whack.TerenureJim wrote:Has anyone out there read any David Gemmell specifically the Legend series is it worth picking up? Looking for something similar in quality to Game of Thrones / Tolkien etc. to bridge the gap to Winds of Winter
As a reference my fantasy tastes would be between David and Leigh Eddings and Tolkien.
Treat life like a dog: If you can't eat it, play with it, or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Re: Book thread
I am reading the Dammed Series. There are 2 books and I am on the second. I am not a huge fan - I can put the books down easily which is a bad sign. Books are ok but I got them in a charity shop - would be gutted to have paid full whack.TerenureJim wrote:Has anyone out there read any David Gemmell specifically the Legend series is it worth picking up? Looking for something similar in quality to Game of Thrones / Tolkien etc. to bridge the gap to Winds of Winter
As a reference my fantasy tastes would be between David and Leigh Eddings and Tolkien.
Treat life like a dog: If you can't eat it, play with it, or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
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Dave Cahill
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Re: Book thread
yiTerenureJim wrote:Has anyone out there read any David Gemmell specifically the Legend series is it worth picking up? Looking for something similar in quality to Game of Thrones / Tolkien etc. to bridge the gap to Winds of Winter
Read them a very long time ago, but I remember enjoying them.
I have Bumbleflex
Re: Book thread
Big fan of Gemmell, but he writes totally different stories to Whatshisface-Game-of-Thrones-guy-whos-name-totally-escapes-me.TerenureJim wrote:Has anyone out there read any David Gemmell specifically the Legend series is it worth picking up? Looking for something similar in quality to Game of Thrones / Tolkien etc. to bridge the gap to Winds of Winter
Legend (a different book to tales of Druss the Legend, or Legend of whatever) is the original Drenai story. Its Gemmells classic about an old guy with a big axe in an impossible situation. It doesn't really go too far beyond that, but its brilliant fun. I havent read it in a long time, but its still probably one of my favourite fantasy books. As your a fan of Eddings, then you will enjoy it.
If you do, have a look at Waylander, and the Jon Shannow books. They are good fun too. After that he kind started recycling old ideas. Nothing wrong with that as he does it well, but they become more 3 star efforts and you'd really need to be a fan to keep going.
He's been recommended a few times on here already but Raymond E Feists Magician is a great book for any fantasy fan. It (and the following books) are as good as any other fantasy stuff that's been written in the last 25 year or so.
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Peg Leg
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Re: Book thread
Possibly the wrong thread, but I've started to re-read "The Complete Calvin & Hobbes", the good stuff is timeless!!
"It was Mrs O'Leary's cow"
Daniel Sullivan
Daniel Sullivan
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Avenger
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Re: Book thread
Love it. Have that complete collection and its awesome. I also get a daily Calvin and Hobbes emailed to mePeg Leg wrote:Possibly the wrong thread, but I've started to re-read "The Complete Calvin & Hobbes", the good stuff is timeless!!
“The only yardstick for success our society has is being a champion. No one remembers anything else.” - JOHN MADDEN