In the very useful Penguin Book of Irish Fiction 2000 editor Colm T ib n ultimately selected but one short story from the prolific Benedict Kiely an unenviable task to say the least T ib n chose Homes on the Mountain a modest-seeming tale about a 12-year-old boy and his extended family tw

The mouse doesn’t really bother anyone.

The paintings on the walls of the Brancacci Chapel in Florence show Masaccio (1401-28) at his artistic and spiritual best, least in the way he links Adam and Eve with Christ. Driven from the Garden of Eden, our first parents are in despair.

Whether we love or hate the "Lord of the Rings" films, we have to admire them: they are a monumental cinematic achievement. Shot over 274 days for $281 million and lasting 558 minutes, these films have, at the time of writing and in the United States alone, grossed over $897 million.

Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is a fast-paced, well-plotted murder mystery that takes the reader through the Louvre a long night of murders and a police chase out of Paris to a wet morning in London. There the identity of the evil Teacher who masterminded the killings is revealed.

The most startling fact about Edwin O'Connor's life was its brevity The acclaimed author of such mid-century Irish and Catholic classics as 'The Last Hurrah' and 'The Edge of Sadness' seemed a fit and healthy man. Yet he died when he was just 49 in 1968.