Thomas McGonigle

On Saint Patrick's Day, an Irish American writer visiting Dublin takes a day trip around the city and muses on death, sex, lost love, Irish immigrant history, and his younger days as a student in Europe. Like James Joyce's Ulysses, Thomas McGonigle's award-winning novel St. Patrick's Day takes place on a single day, combining a stream-of-consciousness narrative with masterful old-fashioned storytelling, which samples the literary histories of both Ireland and America and the worlds they influence. St. Patrick's Day relies on an interior monologue to portray the narrator's often dark perceptions and fantasies; his memories of his family in Patchogue, New York, and of the women in his life; and his encounters throughout the day, as well as many years ago, with revelers, poets, African students, and working-class Dubliners. Thomas McGonigle's novel is a brilliant portrait of the uneasy alliance between the Irish and Irish Americans, the result of the centuries-old diaspora and immigration, which left unsettled the mysteries of origins and legacy. St. Patrick's Day is a rollicking pub-crawl through multi-sexual contemporary Dublin, a novel full of passion, humor, and insight, which makes the reader the author's accomplice, a witness to his heartfelt memorial to the fraught love affair between ancestors and generations. McGonigle tells the stories both countries need to hear. This particular St. Patrick's Day is an unforgettable one.

"PARTY OF PICTURES is a reel, both the dance and the loop, and I suppose the stagger, highly diverting."GEORGE O'BRIEN - The Village of Longing, Dancehall Days"Party of Pictures is a splendid invitation to an annual fete, one honoring a madcap saint, a party both ordained and yet unexpected. McGonigle excels at capturing memorable dates and places - and who can resist a St. Patrick's Day bacchanal, especially one hilarious and reflective, that repeats year after year at the same Greenwich Village apartment, an event engendering spiritual and spirited commentary? McGonigle excels as the perfect host: attentive, gregarious and generous. Enjoy "WILLIAM O'ROURKE - Idle Hands, The Harrisburg 7 and the New Catholic Left, The Meekness of Isaac"Narrated by a sort of track-skipping DJ, Party of Pictures is a high-wire-enacted party-of-fools satire that glides us through a Greenwich Village apartment mined with literary trapdoors. Tours de force are what I praise highest and that's what Party of Pictures is."TOM WHALEN - The President in Her Tower, The Straw that BrokeDoes Party of Pictures capture a modern pilgrimage to the ancient bacchanalia? Or a final trip to a Greenwich Village crash pad? No matter: the novel is one great party. Thomas McGonigle, gatekeeper and guide, navigates the ephemeral world of downtown Manhattan as it reveals itself in a West Village apartment for St. Patrick's Day. Snapshots of the living and the dead cover the walls. Not everyone has been invited to the Party of Pictures, but all are caught in the photos.

On Saint Patrick's Day, an Irish American writer visiting Dublin takes a day trip around the city and muses on death, sex, lost love, Irish immigrant history, and his younger days as a student in Europe. Like James Joyce's Ulysses, Thomas McGonigle's award-winning novel St. Patrick's Day takes place on a single day, combining a stream-of-consciousness narrative with masterful old-fashioned storytelling, which samples the literary histories of both Ireland and America and the worlds they influence. St. Patrick's Day relies on an interior monologue to portray the narrator's often dark perceptions and fantasies; his memories of his family in Patchogue, New York, and of the women in his life; and his encounters throughout the day, as well as many years ago, with revelers, poets, African students, and working-class Dubliners. Thomas McGonigle's novel is a brilliant portrait of the uneasy alliance between the Irish and Irish Americans, the result of the centuries-old diaspora and immigration, which left unsettled the mysteries of origins and legacy. St. Patrick's Day is a rollicking pub-crawl through multi-sexual contemporary Dublin, a novel full of passion, humor, and insight, which makes the reader the author's accomplice, a witness to his heartfelt memorial to the fraught love affair between ancestors and generations. McGonigle tells the stories both countries need to hear. This particular St. Patrick's Day is an unforgettable one.

St. Dominic, who died in 1221, took to heart Jesus' charge to make disciples of all nations. He founded a religious community, the Order of Preachers, which differed from most orders of his day. Dominic trained preachers who traveled anywhere and everywhere to spread the Gospel.The Dominicans continue to flourish today. The Dominican Tradition, the first in a spirituality anthology series, provides readers a window into Dominican spirituality. You will learn the core values that shape their way of life. Mostly, you will come to realize that the spiritual legacy established by Dominic is as vibrant today as it was centuries ago.Phyllis Zagano, PhD, is senior research associate-in-residence at Hofstra University, where she teaches in the Department of Religion. She is also the author of Woman to Woman published by Liturgical Press.Thomas McGonigle, OP, teaches in the history department at Providence College in Rhode Island. He specializes in Dominican spirituality and history.