Moments

by John Quinn, Stanislaus Kennedy (Foreword), Loreto Reilly (Illustrator)

in innocent incidents and everday occurrences; in the words we use; in letters, text messages; in natural phenomena; in lines of poetry, anecdotes; in chance meetings; in the comings and goings of everyday life … Writer and broadcaster John Quinn’s new anthology, Moments, is a personal collection of words, events and observations that console, cheer, nourish, heal. Moments that are brief and often fleeting but, once caught and held, offer meaning to our lives and bear significance in their very simplicity, opening the door into what Yeats called ‘the rag and bone shop of the heart …’ The ‘moments’ contained within are drawn from John’s personal and professional life and, as a collection, they offer the reader opportunities to pause and reflect – little oases in our busy modern lives.

180 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2012

About the author

John Quinn is a much-loved broadcaster and radio producer who was the recipient of numerous prestigious radio awards during his twenty-five years with RTÉ. He is also an accomplished author and writer of fiction and non-fiction, including 'Letters to Olive', an intimate and inspiring book, written as a tribute to his late wife. A skilful and engaging storyteller, his children’s novel, The Summer of Lily and Esme, was described as an instant classic and won the 1992 Bisto Children Book of the Year. John Quinn lives in Clarinbridge, Co. Galway.

Reviews

[Deirdre · Rating 5 out of 5]

My biggest problem with this was it wasn't long enough. I kept wanting to turn to someone and share this with them, particularly my father, if he hasn't already read this, I think he would love these short snippets of excellence. It's a short book with short, almost letter's page of a newspaper length thoughts (in fact a few of them are letters to the Irish Times), most no longer than a page a few spilling onto the next page, they're about everything, from his wife's tragic death to the Queen's visit (a poem that glistened with tears from me and had a catch in my throat), to childhood memories and thoughts of sacred space. The pieces are deceptive, like his friend John O'Donohue, he lulls you into a sense that he's not complex and then makes a momet alive with a few choice words.

My favourites were "Excuse me, Ma'am" about the Queen's first visit to Ireland, and "Elsewhere" about that moment where you need to find a special place and just be, or that's what I read into it anyway.

He writes prose poetry, you could get a mile of meaning from each word. I am only sorry for three things in this, that some of the formatting makes reading them a little difficult; that this man is no longer on this earth and that it took me till now to read some of his work.