The Book of Blarney

by Anthony Butler and Anthony Butler

Book Overview

It's not easy to say what Blarney is. It has been described as an ability to deceive without giving offense, a description that must surely have been thought up by someone who couldn't Blarney. Others... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517161907
• ISBN13: 9780517161906
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: Gramercy Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

It takes an Irishman to define Blarney.

This wee book is not in the class of the things we get from Behan,Shaw,Wilde, Doyle,O'Carroll or even the McCourts;but in spite of that,I really enjoyed it.Everyone who knows anything about the Emerald Isle,has a bit of knowledge of Blarney,The Blarney Stone and Blarney Castle;but Butler has taken the art of Blarney to a whole higher level.Make no mistake about it,real Blarney is a true art of the first order. First of all,Blarney only works with things Irish,because only the Irish can master the language the way they do.That is not to say,that one cannot understand and love the gift of Blarney,even if it is not part of your soul.Reading this book kept reminding me of that master of Blarney stories,Hal Roach. A couple of things in the book that really got me were: "In the Blarney Magazine of long ago it was said that any hotel proprietor who failed to welcome a guest properly was a man who was quite likely to sharpen a razor on the tombstone of his father to cut his mother's throat." "If you can deal with Killarney Blarney,you can deal with anything." "It is a Blarney principle that truth is too important to depend on such things as facts." "With what sort of evidence can anyone question our genius?" "This story may not be true,but in Ireland a story that deserves to be true is given full factual status.So it must be taken for real." "Money,it was said bitterly on all sides,is only an obstacle to financial progress." Here's your key to understanding Balarney; Enjoy!

Full of blarney

If one has a hunger for a bit of the wit and light-heartedness of Erin's Isle (Ireland), this book is for you. As it goes on a delightfull ramble trough all sorts subjects you get to see them in the light that only the Irish can. Whether you bleed green or not, this wee book of witt will make you smile.