Books
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Brown’s Inferno panned by critics
Early reviews of Dan Brown’s fast-paced fourth book in The Da Vinci Code series labelled it a “clunky” page-turner that will nevertheless delight his fans. Critics said the dark mysteries, mind-bending codes and history-laced tourism in Inferno will...
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Immanuel Mifsud’s long wait
Reflecting on his latest publication, EU-literature prize laureate Immanuel Mifsud speaks to David Schembri about the state of waiting, the state of poetry and the state of his health. Immanuel Mifsud sits at a café table nursing a smouldering...
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Malta’s Mr Speaker rules, OK?
Raymond Mangion: Speakers’ Rulings in the Parliament of Malta, the Legislative Assembly, 1921-1924, First volume, parts I & II, Parliament of Malta. Malta University Press. 2012, 2,500 pp. Anyone minimally interested in the workings of Parliament,...
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The idiot’s guide to happiness
Take up smoking and shoot things. This seems to be the gist of Chevalier John Giordimaina’s pearls of wisdom, as shared in his latest book Bizzilla. Ramona Depares submits to some rather quaint ideas, after unwisely requesting an interview from the...
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Verses that speak of grief and hope
Joe W. Psaila, Fil-Aħħ u l-Baħ Poeżiji minn ġol-paraxut tat-Tama. Gozo Press. 2013, 150 pp. One of Gozo’s less-known poets who has slowly established himself as one of the island’s leading poets is undoubtedly Joe Psaila, a middle-aged poet from...
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Understanding the Maltese language
A new book about the Maltese language, Maltese Through English, seeks to delve more deeply into our native language. Written by Lorna Vassallo, the book includes a wide overview of the grammar and vocabulary of contemporary Maltese in a...
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Party politics in a fortress colony
A third edition of Party Politics in a Fortress Colony: The Maltese Experience, written by history professor Henry Frendo and first published in 1979, has recently been released by Midsea. The new edition is updated to 2012 and is available from all...
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App showing 3D sex positions
The Kama Sutra has been sexed up for the 21st century with a new app that enables couples to study its erotic poses in 3D. State-of-the-art technology transforms the historic manual’s illustrations into holograms which pop up in front of a...
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The pious noises of the Maltese village banda
Giovanna Iacovazzi: Un Bruit Pieux, Fondation de Malte. 2012, 352 pp. During my television career I had the pleasure to come close to most of the village każini in Malta and Gozo, each with their popular banda. This happened in the course of my two...
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Surviving after the Holocaust
As the stepsister of World War II diarist Anne Frank, Eva Schloss was in great demand when she went public with her story of surviving Auschwitz but now she hopes a new memoir will highlight another issue – surviving life after the...
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Publisher Peter Workman dies of cancer
Publisher Peter Workman has died of cancer at the age of 74, his company has said. He was the founder, president and CEO of one of the largest independent publishers of non-fiction trade books and calendars. Workman Publishing was known for such...
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Our legal system as it simply is
David J. Attard: The Maltese Legal System Vol I. Malta University Press, 2012. pp 445. Would such a thing as a Maltese legal system exist? To the uninitiated in Maltese Law, the immediate response would arguably be similar to my reply if I were...
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Looking for the contemporary
Writing Architecture Project: A Printed Thing. AP+, 2012. pp 160. In an article for the Design Observer in 2011, Mark Lamster wrote that the architectural monograph was in no great need of reinvention. His piece, entitled The Architectural...
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Rare Ġan Anton Vassallo poems collected by Oliver Friggieri
Maltese poems by well-known, 19th-century, Maltese poet Ġan Anton Vassallo has been published by the Malta University Press in a volume titled Il-Poeżiji. The poems were collected for the first time by Prof. Oliver Friggieri, who has been studying...
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Melita Theologica reaches out to broader audience
Melita Theologica, which has been published biannually since 1947, has been recently upgraded to an academic, peer-reviewed journal under thejoint editorship of the Univeristy of Malta’s Faculty of Theo-logy, the Theology Students Association and...
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Author Ian Banks has ‘just months’ to live
Author Iain Banks has revealed he has gall bladder cancer and has just “several months” to live. In a personal statement on his official website, the Wasp Factory writer said he asked his partner Adele to marry him and is now on a short...
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The Good and Bad Science of Autism
The Good and Bad Science of Autism, a pioneering book about autism research and released today, World Autism Awareness Day, is an easy-to-use book designed to introduce the reader to autism research. Written by geneticist Neil Walsh and...
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New book describes how good business decisions sank the Titanic
The Titanic sank because of good corporate decisions poorly applied – and your business may be steaming towards the same fate. That’s the claim of Joseph Mortati, author of the new business ebook, Collision Course: How Good Business Decisions Sank...
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Pope Francis book to get first English translation
A book by newly installed Roman Catholic Pope Francis will be translated into English for the first time, publisher Image Books said. On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family and the Church in the 21st Century, which was first published in...
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Book about the Maltese legal system launched
The Faculty of Laws at the University of Malta recently launched the first volume of The Maltese Legal System, written by David Attard and published by the Malta University Press. The first volume is divided in five chapters on the following...
