How our book reviewers saw it.
He is increasingly his own man, working to his own formula
Bernard O'Donoghue on Dennis O'Driscoll's New and Selected Poems (Anvil Press Poetry), Jan 8th
If only because its themes are not so politically and historically resonant, Doctor Salt is unlikely to prove, just yet, a categorical consolidation of Gerard Donovan's new career in prose
John Kenny on Doctor Salt (Scribner), a novel by Gerard Donovan (above), Jan 15th
As Hugh Miles shows in this lively account, it was often the presence and courage of Al-Jazeera on the ground that corrected distortions of the news coming from embedded coalition journalists in Iraq
Bill McSweeney on Al Jazeera: How Arab TV News Challenged the World (Abacus), Jan 22nd
This book too is a treasure. But for readers who have not read Munro before, I sense it is not the best place to start
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne on Runaway by Alice Munro (above) (Chatto), Jan 29th
Nearly seven years after the Belfast Agreement many people - this writer included - would greatly welcome a clearly argued, scholarly analysis of what has gone wrong. Unfortunately , this book (written before the Northern Bank robbery) does not provide it
Andy Pollak on The Failure of the Northern Ireland Peace Process by GK Peatling (Irish Academic Press), Feb 5th
I had never heard of Robert Dessaix until I opened Twilight of Love; now that I have, I intend to read more of him
Carlo Gébler on Twilight of Love: Travels with Turgenev (above) (Scribner), Feb 12th
'Somehow, people have forgotten a very simple truth; no one wants to be a refugee,' Moorehead writes. 'Exile is a terrifying, lonely, confusing experience.' Her book sheds valuable light on this modern exodus
Paul Cullen on Human Cargo: A Journey Among Refugees by Caroline Moorehead (Chatto), Feb 19th
In The Prodigal he has created a work which soars higher still and dives deeper and he has - let me chance it - written one of the finest long poems to have appeared in English in many decades
John F Deane on The Prodigal by Derek Walcott (above) (Faber), Feb 26th
The book doesn't consider the cultural variability of sanity - the possibility that what constitutes soundness of mind in Dublin 4 might look like utter lunacy to the Nuer or Dinka. For all its well groomed sensitivity, it is an oddly parochial investigation
Terry Eagleton on Going Sane (Hamish Hamilton) by Adam Phillips (above), March 5th
The begrudgers will knock this book, the L&H, and the self- importance of it all. But the fate of begrudgers is on the lips of people. UCD is the alma mater of the rising generation
Michael McDowell on The Literary and Historical Society 1955-2005 edited by Frank Callanan (A&A Farmar), March 12th
A Jealous Ghost will pass an hour or two entertainingly enough, which is perhaps as much as AN Wilson intended
John Banville on the contemporary version of The Turn of the Screw by AN Wilson (above) (Hutchinson), March 26th
Spurling's even-toned biography strikes a good balance between the narrative of the life and an understanding of the work
Vera Ryan on Hilary Spurling's Matisse the Master - a Life of Henri Matisse. Vol Two: The Conquest of Colour, 1909-1954 (Hamish Hamilton), April 2nd
With this manifesto, Neuberger's voice will be heard at the centre of every argument. It should echo far beyond the UK
Aisling Foster on The Moral State We're In: A Manifesto for a 21st Century Society by Julia Neuberger (above) (HarperCollins), April 9th
The letters prompted me to buy Britten's recording of Albert Herring. I'd never heard it before. It's marvellous
Gerald Barry on Letters from a Life: Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, Vol Three 1946-1951, edited by Donald Mitchell, Philip Reed and Mervyn Cooke (Faber), April 16th
His aid-focused message has a curiously old-fashioned feel to it
Patrick Honohan on The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs (Penguin/Allen Lane). April 23
The two foremost contemporary masters of the form, Alistair MacLeod and John McGahern, know that tradition can live even in the lament for its passing; and on the evidence here, Claire Keegan is their true successor
Declan Kiberd on The Faber Book of Best New Irish Short Stories, edited by David Marcus (Faber), April 30th