February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
A WILD PEOPLE
Hugh Leonard
The popular Irish playwright, author of “Da” and “A Life,” among others, turns to a novel for the first time as his instrument in this tale of a middle-aged Dublin man trapped in a marriage devoid of passion and who suddenly finds himself in a new job and an affair to boot. Described as a darkly comic tale of fluctuating friendships and rivalries on Dublin’s creative fringe, Leonard’s debut as a novelist is, as you would expected, a well-crafted one. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. 279 pp. $23.95.
MUSIC FOR MY LITTLE FRIENDS
Sir James Galway
This album and two other recent releases show flutist James Galway’s prodigious talents at their height. Moving with ease from traditional to classical music, he renders a poignant “Donny Boy” and an uplifting “Amazing Grace.” In the CD “Music for my Little Friends” he sets forth an array of classical tunes appealing to even the very young. “My Little White Donkey” is amusing, followed by the more serious, but no less appealing, “Pavane” by Ravel. For easy listening or for inspiring younger listeners to stretch their ears and perhaps listen to more traditional and classical. Galway’s easy to understand liner notes compliment the album, and offer gentle hints to inspire the listener or even a budding musician. RCA. $15.
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THE BISHOP IN THE WEST WING
Andrew Greeley
Father Andrew Greeley the best-selling author of some 70 books (the author himself has lost count) takes his reader in this his latest thriller into the White House in a tale that mixes supernatural shenanigans with a contemporary terrorist plot to kill the president. The novel features his popular character Bishop Blackie Ryan. The bishop, who has featured in two earlier thrillers, is dispatched to Washington when it is revealed that the White House has been invaded by a poltergeist. The play full ghost is disrupting the repose of President “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn. But not as much as perpetrators of a plot to blow up the White House, which Bishop Blackie observers as he arrives with his Holy Water to exorcise the ghost. He quickly realizes that it will take more than Holy Water to solve this one. Forge. 288 pp. $24.95.