Cormac's Corner

Rating:
Summary: Cormac MacConnell's Greatest Hits (minus two)
Review: 'Bout time.....as we say in the South for Cormac MacConnell's columns to show up in print. Now I can pitch out all the yellowed newspaper clippings I saved from Irish Voice and the fading printouts from Emigrant Online which constituted my personal "Cormac scrapbook." Cormac's Corner is a beautifully printed collection of the lyrical observations and ascerbic stories of my favorite author, complete with the surreal/folk art illustrations of Caty Batholomew. But maybe I can't recycle my Cormac file yet. The book, though it includes four "books" of collected columns doesn't include my all time favorites. "Why Eileen Brennan Sat Down" is a masterpiece of a little tale wherein the nausea that compels a woman to take her seat again when everybody stands up to sing in church is interpreted in its own way by her infertile husband, the doctor who treated him, the dry goods salesman anticipating the baby products she'll need and the hung over hired man who's the only one who knows the true story. Not to mention "A Stitch in Time" where an Aran island sweater with a magical knitted pattern is designed to take its well deserved revenge on its wearer. Nonetheless its 'bout time we got Cormac inbetween the covers of an elegant book. Now let's get him on tape and hear him read these stories in his melodious baritone which I'm told he uses as an announcer for Clare FM. 'Bout time all of America discovered and fell in love with Cormac MacConnell's writings.

Rating:
Summary: The wit of the Irish
Review: Cormac MacConnell is a news editor who lives in the west of Ireland. He writes for several newspapers and hosts a talk show on a local radio station in County Clare. This book is a compilation of some of the best of his weekly columns in the Irish Voice and other publications. His columns give an insight into life in the Island of Saints and Scholars...he is alternately witty, funny, insightful, and always entertaining. He has a most wonderful descriptive style...even if you've never been to Ireland, you'll feel as though you had!

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: Cormac MacConnell paints pictures with words, taking the reader down uncharted paths....a master storyteller, he draws us into another world.

In the great tradition of Charles Kuralt, Charles Osgood, and Robert Fulghum, MacConnell has compiled his "slice of life" stories into a charming book. As Kuralt spun stories about ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things, MacConnell, too, introduces us to amazing stories, sometimes sad, sometimes charming, sometimes hilarious- and always wonderful.

A great Christmas gift - and a great read!

Rating:
Summary: Getting to know Cormac through his work.
Review: I have read some of Cormac's stories in the Irish Newspapers, and enjoyed them. One particular story stands
out, The Life of a Five Pound Note. only Cormac could come
up with such an interesting story. I hope I will see it in
print again, and enjoy it as much as the first time I read
it,a few years back.

Rating:
Summary: An old fashioned bard if there ever was one!
Review: The Irish have a story telling tradition of which Cormac has been thouroughly steeped in. Whether you read his collection of columns or hear him read them over the air or in person peppered with sly comments (Ask him to sing 'Hokus Pokus, Focus folks' ;),
you will sense Ireland, and indeed, sense an Ireland that is slowly disappearing. From the stories about the 'troubles' to the last leprechaun in Ireland who just so happens to appear to Cormac, his compilation runs the gamut of the country. Pick this book up, there is no equal!

Rating:
Summary: An old fashioned bard if there ever was one!
Review: The Irish have a story telling tradition of which Cormac has been thouroughly steeped in. Whether you read his collection of columns or hear him read them over the air or in person peppered with sly comments (Ask him to sing 'Hokus Pokus, Focus folks' ;),
you will sense Ireland, and indeed, sense an Ireland that is slowly disappearing. From the stories about the 'troubles' to the last leprechaun in Ireland who just so happens to appear to Cormac, his compilation runs the gamut of the country. Pick this book up, there is no equal!

Rating:
Summary: Getting to know Cormac through his work.
Review: You don't have to be Irish to fall in love with this book. Cormac knows the west of Ireland, yes, but more than that he knows people. The stories are funny, sad, provacative, thought provoking and sometimes a bit shocking. The book is not available in Ireland, sad to say, so we are doubly privledged to be able to obtain it here in the USA. After we bought a copy for ouselves and started reading it, we immediately purchases two more copies as gifts; what more can I say.

Rating:
Summary: Cormac's Corner
Review: You don't have to be Irish to fall in love with this book. Cormac knows the west of Ireland, yes, but more than that he knows people. The stories are funny, sad, provacative, thought provoking and sometimes a bit shocking. The book is not available in Ireland, sad to say, so we are doubly privledged to be able to obtain it here in the USA. After we bought a copy for ouselves and started reading it, we immediately purchases two more copies as gifts; what more can I say.