READERS of Stevens's deft analysis of these two writers "who wrote as one" will be rewarded with the giddily wide-ranging field of references offered throughout. Somerville & Ross wrote not just about the 'tallyho to hounds' would-be squireens, the Big House Anglo-Irish notables, grasping landlords, the two-faced peasant . . . 'morrow yer worship, ' then ('yeh oul' bollix yeh' - sotto voce). Stevens allows us a fresh view of the pair. How they were rapt listeners of the native people, how they studied Irish dialects, Gaelic, how they tore away at the mythological gloss that was the Celtic Twilight; on one occasion Somerville actually criticised Synge for inaccurate use of dialect. Also, that romance has little place in the harsh realities of cottage life in the west of Ireland. And finally, the Anglo-Irish themselves and their suppressed anxieties. Excellent study.

Foster's Irish Oddities A Miscellany of Strange Facts By Allen Foster New Island Books /12.95 161pp

ODDITIES? The reader is certainly introduced here to some odd and strange facts and cock-ups. A massive flock of birds was reported over the Irish Sea by a ship's captain. It was like a scene from "Albert Hitchcock's eerie film The Birds." Albert? Next, a female pussy cat, who was given away to a new owner, walked 50 miles back to her old home "in Party, Co Mayo." Shouldn't that be Partry? There is also some fun. Darby Mullins, bolshie to the last, ignored his wife's warnings that he would die with his boots on. Just before he was due to be hanged in London, he tore his boots off just to prove she was wrong.

All To Play For By William Rocke Rocphil 10 382pp

THE setting for Rocke's golfing novel is Killarney. Before a ball is smacked, we are introduced to Katie Gartland whose husband has been turfed into jail for refusing, in court, to withdraw a threat on behalf of other local farmers. Farmers hereabouts are angry that a Japanese consortium is about to build a golf course on good farm land. Local farmers are about to outrage the world by disrupting the Ryder Cup in order to highlight their cause. Katie doesn't care about the Ryder Cup. Cares even less about her husband, who, for a Kerry farmer, was oddly christened Travis. Jeremy, her artist lover is about to take her away to "Morocco in North Africa." In North Africa? This must be to distinguish it from the Morocco in the Outer Hebrides.

Give this a miss.

Stateless By Mark Collins Pillar Press 13 314pp

UNIQUE idea for a novel. Set over a period of six months in the mid-fifties in Ireland, around 500 refugees arrived in Ireland. This was a period in our history when tens of thousands of Irish were trying to raise the fare to escape the poverty of the place. The refugees were Hungarian. The Hungarian Communist Party had sought a form of independence from Moscow. Street fighting erupted in Budapest. Khruschev sent in the tanks.

Tens of thousands crossed into Austria, and on to western Europe. The 500 who arrived here, to wallow in the affluent consumer culture of western Europe, were quickly disillusioned. Some even opting to return to Budapest. Marvellous story. And Collins tells it well. The account of the refugees' day-to-day existence is satisfyingly detailed. The focus centres on Sandor Lovas and his sister Eva. Both are about to experience crippling uncertainty and learn that only love endures in the time of uncertainty.

The Selfish Pig's Guide to Caring By Hugh Marriott Time Warner Books £8.00 382pp

THE world was made round to save us from seeing what's down the long road ahead. For example, you may be facing an early death. Worse, a lovedone may need you to care for them. Sometimes, when that happens, you may think you'd be better off dead. Should that be the case, Marriott's oddly titled book was written especially with you in mind. He aims to offer the kind of advice that no-one offered him when he first began caring for his wife. It is also unexpectedly funny in parts. One woman in need of care, takes a nap in the afternoon and wakes up thinking it's the following morning. If the carer goes along with this it means producing a second breakfast. Very disconcerting. So to avoid this he writes on a large sheet of paper:

"Today is STILL Wednesday."