Browser: Arthur Griffith, the ‘father of us all’

The Enigma of Arthur Griffith
By Colum Kenny
Merrion Press, €19.95
Subtitled "father of us all", the book refers to Griffith as "fatherly, at times paternalistic" and asserts that "his friends and critics alike frequently used epithets to describe him that were characteristic of positive and negative aspects of the father archetype". Colum Kenny believes his character and outlook cannot be understood without appreciating the following factors: his poverty and that of his city; the lasting trauma of the Parnell split; the role of the Catholic Church; catastrophic and continuing emigration; and British economic and political repression. The chapter on Griffith being possibly "un-Irish" is very interesting and there is great insight into the pivotal moment in 1917 when he yielded the Sinn Féin leadership to de Valera. "If you seek his monument," look at the modern, independent State into which Ireland has grown. – Brian Maye

A Run in the Park
By David Park
Bloomsbury
Maurice was not born to run. In fact, the majority of Pauline's local "Couch to 5K" group was not born for flight of foot. Yet twice a week, these five strangers come together for A Run in the Park. They have been pulled by various forces; escaping darkened pasts, racing towards goals, training for the moment a loved-one calls them to come running. Over the course of the programme, we learn that more important than physical prowess is human connection; human connection runs deep. A Run in the Park is a series of short stories commissioned by BBC Radio 4, where it was read over a period over 10 weeks. Laced with metaphor, David Park's collection is short, gentle and deeply touching. – Brigid O'Dea

I'm Afraid That's All We've Got Time For
By Jen Calleja
Prototype Publishing, £12
Writer, poet and translator Jen Calleja's debut short story collection, I'm Afraid That's All We've Got Time For, is full of disorientation in the face of power, exploring differing forms of "institution", whether this be marriage and relationships, or literal spaces such as galleries and cultural centres. This disorientation is often surreal: in Divination, a teenage girl realises the inappropriateness of her teacher's advances with the help of a flock of dead animals killed in a storm, while a pregnant woman becomes fixated on the accumulation of wealth in Gross Cravings. Calleja also satirises contemporary literary culture in her story Literary Quartet, in which four authors nominated for the Prize of Prize's Prize passive-aggressively examine each other's works. Calleja's snaking and startling stories contain artful sentences, in which the comic and the unsettling sit side-by-side. – Katie Lewin

The 4 Day Week
By Andrew Barnes with Stephanie Jones
Piatkus, €19.60
Who wouldn't want to work a four-day week and be paid for five? Well, every silver lining has a cloud, and nothing evolves without some upheaval. In this engaging account of how he successfully offered 240 employees an extra day off per week and still kept his company operating profitably, Andrew Barnes is very open about what is needed in order to implement such radical work practices. The book is also a bit of a how-to manual, packed with supporting data as well as an honest account of the planning, culture, trust and tenacity that are needed to change any business practice. Barnes' gamble yielded positive results, with staff being more focused and productive in their work; he just might have started a global revolution. – Claire Looby