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Breakdown by Cathy Sweeney #readingirelandmonth24
Cathy Sweeney’s debut novel, which follows on from her well-received short story collection Modern Times, tells the story of a breakdown as an unnamed middle-aged narrator leaves her husband and two...
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Reading Ireland Month: We’re halfway through!
It’s hard to believe that we are already halfway through Reading Ireland Month 2024! A horrendous cough and chest infection have meant that I am falling behind slightly on posts, but I’m hoping to...
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This House is Haunted by John Boyne #readingirelandmonth24
John Boyne’s This House is Haunted is one of those books that does exactly what it says on the tin and is quite enjoyable in a vaguely forgettable way. Owing quite a debt to The Turn of the Screw –...
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Christine Falls by Benjamin Black #johnbanville24 #readingirelandmonth24
When John Banville first took to crime-writing via his alter-ego Benjamin Black, it was considered a surprise. He had recently won the Booker Prize for The Sea, annoying much of the literary world by...
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Time After Time by Molly Keane #readingirelandmonth24
Time After Time is the portrait of a family already ruined, living in an Irish ‘big house’ whose chaos and decay affects not only the building, but its inhabitants. Each of the aging Swift siblings...
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Two Irish Authors lead the shortlist for the Dublin Literary Award!
Novels by two Irish authors have been shortlisted for the 2024 Dublin Literary Award. Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry and Haven by Emma Donoghue were among the final six announced. The other...
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Goodbye to Reading Ireland Month ’24
Well, it’s fair to say that Reading Ireland Month 2024 is going out with a whimper rather than a bang. I have been quite sick since around the first week of March and am still on the wrong side of...
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Three Recent Irish Novels!
April has been a month of ongoing sickness (nothing serious) and blogging has taken a bit of a back seat for me. I’m trying to get back into the swing of things with some mini reviews of three...
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Quickly, While They Still Have Horses by Jan Carson
Following on from the publication of her recent novel The Raptures, she returns with a new collection of short stories called Quickly, While They Still Have Horses. The collection is an exploration of...
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Ghosts by John Banville #johnbanville24
Before I started this Year of John Banville, I was a little nervous that I would find his writing too dense for me. So far that hasn’t been the case, but Ghosts comes close to what I imagined the...
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Two Summers by Glenn Patterson
With summer on my mind thanks to the upcoming 20 Books of Summer, I very much enjoyed these two linked novellas from Belfast’s finest Glenn Patterson. Two Summers is a pair of novellas, titled ‘Summer...
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Athena by John Banville #johnbanville24
Athena is the third book in John Banville’s loose ‘Frames’ trilogy, which begins with The Book of Evidence and is followed by Ghosts, which I reviewed last month. The focus, once again, is Freddie...
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A trip to Listowel Writer’s Week Festival!
Last week I had the pleasure of heading to Ireland’s oldest literary festival – Listowel Writer’s Week – down in County Kerry for a few days. Founded in 1970, with the first festival taking place in...
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The Untouchable by John Banville: Book 6 of #20booksofsummer24
Part literary thriller, part existential roman-à-clef, The Untouchable presents a fictionalised version of the well-known story of Anthony Blunt: art historian to royalty, writer and intellectual and...
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June Miscellany!
June has, predictably, been taken up with trying to get a good head start on the 20 Books of Summer Challenge and so far I am pretty much on schedule, with 8 books read and 6 books reviewed. As I...
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Academy Street by Mary Costello: Book 11 of #20booksofsummer24
Academy Street is an affecting and evocative story of one woman’s life spanning six decades, from rural Ireland of the 1940’s to New York in a new millennium. The seed for Academy Street, Mary...
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A Death in Summer by Benjamin Black: Book 15 of #20booksofsummer24...
A Death in Summer is my second encounter with John Banville’s alter ego Benjamin Black and his wonderfully laconic leading man, the pathologist Dr Quirke. This novel, the fourth instalment of the...
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An Post Book Awards announces the 20 Best New Irish Fiction Writers!
Hot on the heels of last week’s Guardian article detailing the booming literary scene in Ireland, An Post Book Awards have announced their 20 Best New Irish Fiction Writers for 2024. The nominated...
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Shortlists Announced for the An Post Irish Book Awards 2024!
The Shortlist for the Irish Book Awards was announced yesterday evening and there are some great books and authors on this year’s lists. The An Post Irish Book Awards are a set of industry-recognition...
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