- Table View
- List View
Lives of the Artists, Lives of the Architects: Conversations With Nineteen Of The World's Greatest Artists, Architects And Sculptors
by Hans Ulrich ObristA unique opportunity to learn about the lives and creativity of the world's leading artistsHans Ulrich Obrist has been conducting ongoing conversations with the world's greatest living artists since he began in Switzerland, aged 19, with Fischli and Weiss. Here he chooses nineteen of the greatest figures and presents their conversations, offering the reader intimacy with the artists and insight into their creative processes. Inspired by the great Vasari, Lives of the Artists explores the meaning of art and artists today, their varying approaches to creating, and a sense of how their thinking evolves over time. Including David Hockney, Gilbert and George, Gerhard Richter, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Marina Abramovic, Louise Bourgeois, Rem Koolhaas, Jeff Koons and Oscar Niemayer, this is a wonderful and unique book for those interested in modern art.Hans Ulrich Obrist is a curator and writer. Since 2006 he has been co-director of the Serpentine Gallery, London. He is the author, with Ai Wei Wei, of Ai Wei Wei Speaks.
140 Artists' Ideas for Planet Earth
by Hans Ulrich Obrist Kostas StasinopoulosThrough 140 drawings, thought experiments, recipes, activist instructions, gardening ideas, insurgences and personal revolutions, artists who spend their lives thinking outside the box guide you to a new worldview; where you and the planet are one.Everything here is new. We invite you to rip out pages, to hang them up at home, to draw and scribble, to cook, to meditate, to take the book to your nearest green space.Featuring Olafur Eliasson, Etel Adnan, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Jane Fonda & Swoon, Judy Chicago, Black Quantum Futurism Collective, Vivienne Westwood, Cauleen Smith, Marina Abramovic, Karrabing Film Collective, and many more.
Nothing On Earth
by Conor O'CallaghanThe critically acclaimed psychological chiller from a powerful new voice in Irish literary fiction.SHORTLISTED FOR THE KERRY GROUP IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2017 'As fine as it is frightening' JOHN BANVILLE 'This one will stay with you like your shadow' Guardian 'Extraordinary . . . pitch-perfect' Irish Times'Strange, beautiful and quietly terrifying' DONAL RYAN, author of The Spinning Heart'Like many great works, it could so easily have all gone wrong if it hadn’t been done exactly right' Sunday Independent It is the hottest August in living memory. A frightened girl bangs on a door. A man answers. From the moment he invites her in, his world will never be the same again. She will tell him about her family, and their strange life in the show home of an abandoned housing estate. The long, blistering days spent sunbathing; the airless nights filled with inexplicable noises; the words that appear on the windows, written in dust.Why are members of her family disappearing, one by one? Is she telling the truth? Is he? In a world where reality is beginning to blur, how can we know what to believe?
Joking Apart: My Autobiography
by Donncha O'CallaghanDonncha O'Callaghan is one of Ireland's leading international rugby players, and a stalwart of the Munster side. He was a key figure in the Irish team which won the IRB 6 Nations Grand Slam in 2009, and has won two Heineken Cup medals and two Magners League titles with Munster. But that success did not come easy. For such a well known player with a larger-than-life reputation, his long battle to make a breakthrough at the highest level is largely unknown. In this honest and revealing autobiography, Donncha talks in detail about the personal setbacks and disappointments at Munster and the unconventional ways he dealt with the frustration of not making the team for four of five years in his early 20s.He had a parallel experience with Ireland where it took him nearly six years to get from fringe squad member to established first choice player. Here he talks candidly about how he brought discipline to his game, and about his relationships with the coaches who had overlooked him and the second row rivals who had kept him on the bench.Donncha talks also with great warmth about a hectic childhood that was shaped by the death of his father when he was only six years old. One of the heroes of his story is his mother Marie who showed incredible strength and resourcefulness to rear a family of five on her own.Often deservedly regarded as 'the joker in the pack', what is often less well known is the serious attitude and intensely professional approach Donncha brings to his rugby. Joking Apart gives the full picture, showing sides of the man that will be unfamiliar to followers of Irish rugby and will surprise the reader.
James Connolly: My Search for the Man, the Myth and his Legacy
by Sean O'CallaghanFROM THE FORMER IRA MEMBER AND AUTHOR OF THE INFORMER, SEAN O'CALLAGHAN'Very interesting on how fanaticism can develop within a community, and especially relevant today.' Bob GeldofThe story of revolutionary James Connolly, his role in the 1916 Easter Rising, and his subsequent influence both on O'Callaghan himself, and on 20th century Irish politics.Easter Monday, 24th April, 1916: James Connolly, a 48-year-old Edinburgh-born Marxist and former British soldier, stands at the top of the steps of Liberty Hall, Dublin. 'We are going out to be slaughtered,' Connolly told his comrades, and with this he set in train the Easter Rising of 1916.Two weeks later, in a scene that has haunted Nationalist Ireland ever since, he was carried to his place of execution having been badly wounded. Placed on a chair, he was shot dead by soldiers of the army he had once served in.This is not a traditional biography; it is a book about Sean O'Callaghan's relationship with a man who was to deeply influence his formative years; it is about the politics of violent extremism that O'Callaghan subsequently became caught up in; and it's about the kind of individuals who are willing to sacrifice everything, including their lives, for a holy cause.Never has a book been more timely.
Call Me Mrs. Brown: The hilarious autobiography from the star of Mrs. Brown’s Boys
by Brendan O'CarrollThe hilarious and remarkably honest autobiography from the star of Mrs Brown's Boys, Brendan O'Carroll___________Before he became the nation's favourite Mammy, Brendan O'Carroll was known simply as Brendan.The youngest of ten children from a poor family in Dublin, his father died when he was just nine years old. Leaving school at the mere 12 years of age, Brendan began what would become a long and varied working life; he would go on to be a waiter, a publican, a window cleaner and a publisher amongst other jobs.Throughout the tough moments, Brendan always had humour and a good story to tell alongside the ever-guiding inspiration of his own Mammy, a formidable figure who became Ireland's first female Labour MP.In his own unique voice, Brendan O'Carroll strings together the threads of his life, a helter-skelter story tracing the helter-skelter journey of a scrawny kid from Finglas, Dublin to TV screens around the world.Told with warmth, humour, a touch of mischievousness - and more than a few coincidences - this is the fascinating story of the one and only, Brendan O'Carroll.__________
Mrs Brown's Family Handbook
by Brendan O'CarrollUncover hilarious and unique insights into the Brown family, in Brendan O'Carroll's first official book on his NTA winning comic creation Mrs Brown's Boys.Millions od us have wondered: how does Agnes Brown do it? Keeping her end up while seven grown-up children tear about the fecking place like the eejits don't have a home to go to.Packed with Mammy's tips for keeping a perfect family - or at least, just a family - as well as contributions from her children, neighbours and other hangers on, Mrs Brown's Family Handbook dispenses endless advice in her fecking fantastic style.You'll learn: Why every mammy's secret weapon is the tea towel The dos and don'ts of cleaning up Granddad What Dermot doesn't know about farting (not much) What Winnie knows about seks (not enough) All about the Five-Sausages-A-Day Diet (hint: contains sausages) From Maria, all about pain relief in child birth (if it's free, fecking take it)The must-have gift for any Mrs Brown fan, Mrs Brown's Family Handbook is perfect for equally large and chaotic families, or those in small families curious about what they're missing...Brendan O'Carroll is an Irish writer, producer, comedian, actor, director and author. He is best known for playing Agnes Brown in Mrs Brown's Boys, which won the best sitcom BAFTA in 2012 and best comedy at the National Television Awards 2020. He has written four films and nine comedy shows, including The Course (1995) and The Last Wedding (1999). He has also published seven novels, including The Mammy, The Scrapper and The Young Wan - a number of which have been translated into 12 languages.
Sixty Miles Upriver: Gentrification and Race in a Small American City
by Richard E. OcejoAn unvarnished portrait of gentrification in an underprivileged, majority-minority small cityNewburgh is a small postindustrial city of some twenty-eight thousand people located sixty miles north of New York City in the Hudson River Valley. Like many other similarly sized cities across America, it has been beset with poverty and crime after decades of decline, with few opportunities for its predominantly minority residents. Sixty Miles Upriver tells the story of how Newburgh started gentrifying, describing what happens when White creative professionals seek out racially diverse and working-class communities and revealing how gentrification is increasingly happening outside large city centers in places where it unfolds in new ways.As New York City&’s housing market becomes too expensive for even the middle class, many urbanites are bypassing the suburbs and moving to smaller cities like Newburgh, where housing is affordable and historic. Richard Ocejo takes readers into the lives of these newcomers, examining the different ways they navigate racial difference and inequality among Newburgh&’s much less privileged local residents, and showing how stakeholders in the city&’s revitalization reframe themselves and gentrification to cast the displacement they cause to minority groups in a positive light.An intimate exploration of the moral dilemma at the heart of gentrification, Sixty Miles Upriver explains how progressive White gentrifiers justify controversial urban changes as morally good, and how their actions carry profound and lasting consequences for vulnerable residents of color.
The Shoemaker and his Daughter
by Conor O'CleryWINNER OF THE 2020 MICHEL DÉON PRIZE'O'Clery takes us into the hidden heart of Soviet Russia... An arresting and evocative story' Keggie Carew, author of Dadland'A tour de force ... Love, politics, murder, wars, and the fracturing of ties, personal and ethnic. O'Clery is a gifted writer' Luke Harding, bestselling author of CollusionThe Soviet Union, 1962. Gifted shoemaker Stanislav Suvorov is imprisoned for five years. His crime? Selling his car for a profit. On his release, social shame drives him and his family into voluntary exile in Siberia, 5,000 kilometres from home. In a climate that's unfriendly both geographically and politically, it's their chance to start again. The Shoemaker and His Daughter is an epic story spanning the Second World War to the fall of the Soviet Union, taking in eighty years of Soviet and Russian history, from Stalin to Putin. Following the footsteps of a remarkable family Conor O'Clery knows well - he is married to the shoemaker's daughter - it's both a compelling insight into life in a secretive world at a siesmic moment in time and a powerful tale of ordinary lives shaped by extraordinary times.
The Battle
by Paul O'ConnellWINNER OF THE CROSS SPORTS BOOK AWARDS RUGBY BOOK OF THE YEARThe revelatory autobiography of a rugby colossus: Paul O'Connell. There has never been a rugby player quite like Paul O'Connell. He is synonymous with passion, heart and determination; but he is also the thinking man's rugby player, a legendary student of the game. As the heartbeat of Munster, British and Irish Lions captain in 2009, and captain of the first Ireland team to defend a Six Nations championship, O'Connell has emerged as perhaps the most beloved of the golden generation of Irish rugby players. In an autobiography as intense as its author, he tells the story of his remarkable career.'O'Connell's book tells you how it all happened' David Walsh, Sunday Times'O'Connell has emptied the tank here' Hilary A. White, Irish Independent'The intense physicality of his rugby upbringing is an abiding theme . . . along with humour, the craic and an extensive knowledge of how teams work' Paul Hayward, Daily Telegraph'I found The Battle entrancing' Stephen Jones, Sunday Times'Revelatory . . . Unflinchingly charts his personal evolution' Keith Duggan, Irish Times
Sugar: The Grass that Changed the World
by Sanjida O'ConnellOur lust for sugar has changed the shape of the world economically culturally and scoially. Sanjida O' Connell reveals, in accessible and scintillating prose, the extraordinary and illuminating story of sugar's journey from a grass to world domination.
Colonised Minds: Narratives that Shape Psychology
by Akira O′Connor Erin RobbinsPsychology, as it is taught in the Global North, strives to be an objective science beyond reproach – but what happens when we examine the discipline critically, through an anti-colonial lens? This text pulls back the curtain on the existing canon to reveal the historical power structures that shaped the discipline, and examines the extent to which psychology today continues to uphold oppression. Colonised Minds situates current teaching and research of major topics in the field of psychology within the context of colonialism to better understand how some ideas were allowed to flourish while others were suppressed, censored, or left behind. This book will also direct you to critical, antiracist, and feminist approaches for the field and the modern university more generally – looking to voices and perspectives that have been marginalised for ways to rethink the way we see, and teach, psychology. Akira O’Connor is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology and the Institutional Race Equality Charter Chair at the University of St Andrews. Erin Robbins is a Lecturer in Psychology and the Director of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion for the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews.
Colonised Minds: Narratives that Shape Psychology
by Akira O′Connor Erin RobbinsPsychology, as it is taught in the Global North, strives to be an objective science beyond reproach – but what happens when we examine the discipline critically, through an anti-colonial lens? This text pulls back the curtain on the existing canon to reveal the historical power structures that shaped the discipline, and examines the extent to which psychology today continues to uphold oppression. Colonised Minds situates current teaching and research of major topics in the field of psychology within the context of colonialism to better understand how some ideas were allowed to flourish while others were suppressed, censored, or left behind. This book will also direct you to critical, antiracist, and feminist approaches for the field and the modern university more generally – looking to voices and perspectives that have been marginalised for ways to rethink the way we see, and teach, psychology. Akira O’Connor is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology and the Institutional Race Equality Charter Chair at the University of St Andrews. Erin Robbins is a Lecturer in Psychology and the Director of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion for the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews.
Sailing and Social Class (Routledge Critical Leisure Studies)
by Alan O'ConnorThis book explores the sociology of sailing and yachting. Drawing on original research, and employing a theoretical framework based on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the book argues that sailing is, still, an upper-middle-class activity that has much to tell us about the wider sociology of leisure and sport. The book examines the historical foundations of blue-water sailing as established by naval and colonial shipping, to trace the roots of contemporary sailing and yachting culture. It also examines archives of sailing narratives and cruising guides, as well as the children’s books of Arthur Ransome, arguing that this archival material offers a social rather than a psychological interpretation of the ‘bodily investment’ in sailing. The book uses Bourdieu’s concepts of ‘illusio’ – an investment of time, emotion and body into a worthwhile activity – and ‘habitus’, or lifeworld, alongside contemporary data sets, to examine the yacht club as a social institution, including why many boats never go out on the water, the relationship between yacht clubs and the state, and social issues as manifested in yacht clubs, such as sexism, racism and homophobia. Offering a vigorous sociological critique of yachting and sailing, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the sociology of leisure and sport, subcultures, social theory, or social issues in wider society.
Murder in an Irish Village: A Charming Irish Cozy Mystery (An Irish Village Mystery #1)
by Carlene O'Connor&“If Janet Evanovich and Maeve Binchy wrote a book together, [this] would be the result . . . Siobhán O&’Sullivan is a character to savor.&”—Laurien Berenson, author of Game of Dog Bones In the small village of Kilbane, County Cork, Ireland, Naomi&’s Bistro has always been a warm and welcoming spot to visit with neighbors, enjoy some brown bread and tea, and get the local gossip. Nowadays twenty-two-year-old Siobhán O&’Sullivan runs the family bistro named for her mother, along with her five siblings, after the death of their parents in a car crash almost a year ago. It&’s been a rough year for the O&’Sullivans, but it&’s about to get rougher. One morning, as they&’re opening the bistro, they discover a man seated at a table, dressed in a suit as if for his own funeral, a pair of hot pink barber scissors protruding from his chest. With the local garda suspecting the O&’Sullivans and their business in danger of being shunned—murder tends to spoil the appetite—it&’s up to feisty redheaded Siobhán to solve the crime and save her beloved brood. &“Kicks off a new series in splendid fashion! If you love cozy mysteries and traveling, then give Murder in an Irish Village a try. You&’ll feel like you&’ve stepped into Ireland as you turn the pages.&”—Fresh Fiction &“A smart whodunnit in an idyllic locale. I dare you not to be charmed by sleuth Siobhán and her siblings, the O&’Sullivan Six.&”—Barbara Ross, author of A Maine Clambake Mystery Series &“A delightful, funny, fast-paced romp of a book.&”—Isis Crawford, author of A Mystery with Recipes Series
Christmas Scarf Murder
by Carlene O'Connor Maddie Day Peggy EhrhartStocking stuffers like handknit scarves make the coziest of Christmas gifts—unless they&’re used as accessories for murder!CHRISTMAS SCARF MURDER by CARLENE O&’CONNOR When grinchy thefts steal the good cheer at a local nursing home, Siobhan O&’Sullivan manages to identify one missing item before Kilbane, Ireland&’s Christmas tractor parade—a hideous shamrock scarf wrapped around a very dead body. Now, with her holiday farmhouse bash approaching, Siobhan must dash to stop a deadly Secret Santa from gifting another unwanted surprise.SCARFED DOWN by MADDIE DAY It&’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas at Pans &‘N Pancakes, as twelve days of menu specials dazzle hungry locals. But the festivities go cold the instant a diner dies while knitting a brilliant green scarf. With Aunt Adele tied into a murder investigation, it&’s all on Robbie Jordan to find out who&’s really been naughty or nice in South Lick, Indiana. DEATH BY CHRISTMAS SCARF by PEGGY EHRHART Suspects pile up faster than New Jersey snow when frosty-tempered Carys Walnutt is found strangled by a handmade scarf auctioned at Arborville&’s tree-lighting ceremony. Between a winning bidder hiding behind the alias &“S. Claws&” and a victim who deserved coal in her stocking, can Pamela Paterson and the crafty Knit and Nibble ladies freeze a killer&’s merry murder plot?
The Club
by Christy O'ConnorIn 1999, the hurlers of St Joseph's Doora-Barefield won the All-Ireland club championship. That winter, they became only the second club in history to win successive Munster club titles, and the following March they became the only Munster club to reach successive All-Ireland club finals. Ten years on, St Joseph's is in a totally different place, well down the pecking order not just nationally, but in County Clare. the senior team is still spearheaded by many members of the 1999 All-Ireland winning team, who are raging at the dying of the light. At the beginning of the 2009 season, the team, club and parish were deeply wounded by two family tragedies. One of those tragedies - the sudden death of one member of the 1999 team - cut deep into the soul of the senior team. And that was not the last tragedy to strike the club ... As part of the healing process, the senior team made a pact to honour the memory of those lost by defying the odds and becoming county champions once again. A campaign fuelled by emotion and pain began promisingly, but slowly began to unravel into one of the stormiest and controversial in the club's history. The story of St Joseph's Doora-Barefield is unique; but it is also a story that anyone connected with one of the 1,700 other GAA clubs will relate to. From player infighting to player-management stand-offs, team-bonding and on-pitch battles, The Club is a chronicle of the 2009 season told with unflinching honesty by Christy O'Connor, who covers GAA for the Sunday Times and who has been the St Joseph's senior team goalkeeper for 20 years. This is a story like no other, a fly-on-the-wall tale of the effort, agony and struggles that define the journey undertaken every season by every club side. This is grass-roots GAA at its purest and rawest, a great story brilliantly told.
Ian McKellen: A Biography
by Garry O'ConnorThe definitive biography of Sir Ian McKellen from an acclaimed biographer In 2001, Ian McKellen put on the robe and pointed hat of a wizard named Gandalf and won a place in the hearts of Tolkien fans worldwide. Though his role in the film adaptation of Lord of the Rings introduced him to a new audience, McKellen had a thriving career a lifetime before his visit to Middle Earth. He made his West End acting debut in 1964 in James Saunders’s A Scent of Flowers, but it was in 1980 that he took Broadway by storm when he played Antonio Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s Tony-Award-winning play Amadeus.He has starred in over four hundred plays and films and he is that rare character: a celebrity whose distinguished political and social service has transcended his international fame to reach beyond the stage and screen. The breadth of his career—professional, personal and political—has been truly staggering: Macbeth (opposite Judi Dench), Iago, King Lear, Chekhov’s Sorin in The Seagull and Becket’s tramp Estragon (opposite Patrick Stewart) in Waiting for Godot. Add to all this his tireless political activism in the cause of gay equality and you have a veritable phenomenon. Garry O’Connor’s Ian McKellen: A Biography probes the heart of the actor, recreating his greatest stage roles and exploring his personal life. Ian McKellen will show readers what makes a great actor tick. His life story has been a constantly developing drama and this biography is the next chapter.
The Astors
by Harvey O'ConnorThe Astors is a comprehensive biography of one of the most prominent and influential families in American history. The Astors were a wealthy and powerful family who made their fortune in the fur trade and real estate, and went on to become one of the most influential families in New York City and beyond. This book traces the history of the Astor family from its humble beginnings in Germany to its rise to prominence in America and explores the lives of some of its most famous members, including John Jacob Astor, William Waldorf Astor, and Brooke Astor. It delves into their personal lives, business ventures, and philanthropic endeavors, and sheds light on the family's role in shaping the cultural and economic landscape of America. Harvey O’Connor’s meticulously researched and engagingly written book, which includes numerous family photos and a thorough genealogy, offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of one of America's most iconic families. It is a must-read for anyone interested in American history, business, and culture.Also available in audiobook format.
Keys to the Kingdom
by Jack O'ConnorWhen Jack O'Connor took over as Kerry football manager in 2004, he was a relative unknown. Three All-Ireland finals, and two titles, later, he stepped down, having established himself as one of the greats. Keys to the Kingdom is his vivid account of those three seasons in the most high-pressure job in Irish sport.
Needlemouse: The uplifting bestseller featuring the most unlikely heroine of 2019
by Jane O'ConnorTime to come out of hibernation...Sylvia Penton has been hibernating for years, it's no wonder she's a little prickly...Sylvia lives alone, dedicating herself to her job at the local university. On weekends, she helps out at a local hedgehog sanctuary because it gives her something to talk about on Mondays - and it makes people think she's nicer than she is.Only Sylvia has a secret: she's been in love with her boss, Professor Lomax, for over a decade now, and she's sure he's just waiting for the right time to leave his wife. Meanwhile she stores every crumb of his affection and covertly makes trouble for anyone she feels gets in his way.But when a bright new PhD candidate catches the Professor’s eye, Sylvia’s dreams of the fairy tale ending she has craved for so long, are soon in tatters, driving her to increasingly desperate measures and an uncertain future. Sylvia might have been sleep walking through her life but things are about to change now she’s woken up…A quirky, charming uplifting novel perfect for fans of Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Sarah Haywood's The Cactus. The feelgood bestseller about unrequited love, loneliness and the redemptive qualities of hedgehogs featuring the most unlikely heroine of 2019.________________________________WHAT READERS ARE SAYING'An eccentrically heartwarming tale of steeping out of your comfort zone. I was rooting for Sylvia' - Lottie, Netgalley'I was charmed by this tale. A feel-good book' - Heather, Netgalley'A lovely story with delightful characters. Would highly recommend, especially if you are a fan of Ruth Hogan and Gail Honeyman' - Mary, Netgalley'An absolutely superb novel about someone who is dissatisfied with her life but feels it's difficult to change. I would highly recommend to anyone who likes a quirky novel to entertain them' - Sue, Netgalley'Oh how I adored this book which is reminiscent of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine' - Justine, Netgalley'I like a book that makes me feel uplifted, that soothes the soul, and this book certainly did that. Sylvia is definitely one of my favourite fictional characters' - Joanne, Netgalley
Inishowen
by Joseph O'ConnorFrom the bestselling author of Star of the Sea and Shadowplay, 'a powerful, moving adventure of raw fate and betrayed love' (Independent on Sunday).Inspector Martin Aitken's life is a mess. He's divorced, his career's in chaos, and the last thing he needs this Christmas Eve is a strange woman collapsed on a Dublin street. Ellen Donnelly is a woman on a mission, coming to Ireland to find her mother and escape her marriage. Dr Milton Amery, a New York plastic surgeon, is her unfaithful husband. The three are beginning new journeys, each of which lead to Inishowen.'A page-turner, full of compassion, laughter and zest for the human condition' Irish Times'Tremendous... A love story, a realistic thriller and an account of grief and loss' Spectator
Irish Male At Home And Abroad
by Joseph O'ConnorThe Irish Male at Home and Abroad is the hilarious sequel to Joe O'Connor's bestseller The Secret World of the Irish Male. From flirting lessons in downtown Manhattan to being offered a good ride in Disneyland by the now legendary Wanda, it was a long, strange and hilarious trip. Now, in The Irish Male at Home and Abroad, O'Connor returns faster, funnier and filthier than ever before.Impersonating Santa Claus in a busy Dublin store on Christmas Eve, spending a penny in Lord Jeffrey Archer's penthouse loo, traipsing the local-radio publicity circuit in 100-degree Australian heat, on the run in revolutionary Nicaragua, contemplating the Shroud of Turin, or making a deposit in a grotty sperm bank - here are tall tales and short stories: absurd, anarchic and unforgettably side-splitting adventures from home and abroad.Laugh-out-loud funny, yet always affectionate and sometimes poignant, O'Connor roams through an Ireland of wife-swapping sodomites and late-night sodalities, when not getting lost in the restless new Europe of beach holidays, terrible beauties and Baywatch lookalikes. It's going to be another weird and uproarious trip. But like Wanda once said: Hitch a ride, sweetheart, and hang on real tight!
Isles of Scilly Folk Tales
by Mike O'ConnorScilly has been its own unique land for centuries, separate from England and cut off from Cornwall by twenty-five miles of rough sea – yet until now its folk tales have been poorly documented. Let Anthony the droll-teller and his companions guide you on this voyage around the wonderful Isles of Scilly: a place of smugglers and shipwrecks, pirates and privateers, legends and long lost tales.
When It Is Darkest: Why People Die by Suicide and What We Can Do to Prevent It
by Rory O’ConnorAS FEATURED ON BBC RADIO 4Winner of the 2021 BPS Popular Science Book Award'Read this incredible book. I wept and I learnt' - Prof Tanya Byron'This book comes from the heart' - Roman Kemp'Compassionate, personal and thought-provoking' - Prof Steve PetersWhen you are faced with the unthinkable, this is the book you can turn to.Suicide is baffling and devastating in equal measures, and it can affect any one of us: one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds. Yet despite the scale of the devastation, for family members and friends, suicide is still poorly understood.Drawing on decades of work in the field of suicide prevention and research, and having been bereaved by suicide twice, Professor O'Connor is here to help. This book will untangle the complex reasons behind suicide and dispel any unhelpful myths. For those trying to help someone vulnerable, it will provide indispensable advice on communication, stressing the importance of listening to fears and anxieties without judgment. And for those who are struggling to get through the tragedy of suicide, it will help you find strength in the darkest of places.