A selection of good books now available
A selection of good books now available
The books we read should be chosen with great care, that they may be, as an Egyptian king wrote over his library, "The medicines of the soul." Author: Paxton Hood
Doris Lessing has won the Nobel Prize in Literature for her five decades of published work that has spanned controversial subjects ranging from feminism and politics to her difficult youth in Africa.
Announcing the award in Stockholm, the Swedish Academy described Doris Lessing as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire, and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny." We hope you’ll share this announcement with your patrons.
Book of the Moment
Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2007
The Gathering is a family epic. It is also a sexual history: tracing the line of hurt and redemption through three generations - starting with the grandmother, Ada Merriman - showing how memories warp and family secrets fester. This is a novel about love and disappointment, about thwarted lust and limitless desire, and how our fate is written in the body, not in the stars.
Original Fiction:
Book of the dead
by Patricia Cornwell
The deportees and other stories
by Roddy Doyle
Each of these stories look at the immigrant experience, something of increasing relevance and importance in today's Ireland. The stories range from "Guess Who's Coming to the Dinner", where a father who prides himself on his open-mindedness when his daughters talk about sex, is forced to confront his feelings when one of them brings home a black fella, to a terrifying ghost story, "The Pram", in which a Polish nanny grows impatient with her charge's older sisters and decides - in a phrase she has learnt - to 'scare them shitless'. Most of the stories are very funny, while others are deeply moving. In the title story, Jimmy Rabbitte, the man who formed The Commitments, decides it's time to find a new band, and this time no White Irish need apply.
Make the most of the Christmas Holidays with the following choice of books ...
I will in me politics: the Maurice Hickey diaries
by Pat Shortt
It's rare that a political diary of such significance comes along. Councillor Maurice Hickey is a leader in his community, the man who gets things done. And what needs doing in the parishes of Killdicken, Honetyne and Glengooley mostly relates to blocked drains, mad dogs, parish festivals, clerical appointments, over-zealous guards and the occasional romantic dalliance.Global events are not the concern of this councillor or his constituents. Looming large over the political and personal life of Councillor Hickey is the Mother. She is his spin-doctor, cook, inspiration, conscience - and his fiercest critic!An hilarious account of local politics from Pat Shortt's legendary creation, the esteemed Councillor Hickey. This diary could be described as an invaluable piece of social history by people who know nothing about it. If you enjoy watching a man wade through one self-made mess after another, then this is the book for you!
Judging Dev
by Diarmaid Ferriter
Eamon de Valera has often been characterised as a stern, un-bending, devious and divisive Irish politician. But how valid is this caricature? In "Judging Dev", Diarmaid Ferriter re-examines de Valera's life and legacy. It contains an in-depth analysis of the impact of de Valera and includes many previously unpublished key letters, documents and photographs from the National Archives of Ireland and the UCD Archives to chronicle the extraordinary career of the most significant politician of modern Irish history and his role in the history of the Irish state.
Trevor Brennan: Heart and soul
by Trevor Brennan
Brennan won the William Hill Irish Sports Book of the Year Award 2007 for his book Heart and Soul. The book, which was written with the assistance of Irish Times journalist Gerry Thornley, depicts Brennan from his time growing up in Leixlip and playing for Barnhall right through to his time at Toulouse where he won two European Cups before his eventual five-year ban from rugby following an altercation with an Ulster fan during a game.
The Thirteenth Tale
Diane Setterfield
A gripping first novel, a great story and very well told. Setterfield built up the characters and the atmosphere brilliantly.
Her description of reading & being totally engrossed in a book and its characters is excellent and really impressed the members of all the Clonmel book groups. We could identify with it….
It is a story of lost lives, madness, intrigue, family secrets and lots of puzzles.
The members (almost unanimously!!) of the 4 Book Clubs gave it 9.5 out of ten and we are all dying for her second novel.
Christine Falls
by Benjamin Black (aka John Banville)
All bookclubs meeting in Tipperary Libraries that have read this book so far have loved this, a huge departure for Banville from his elegant prose and words. It is a good Irish story, set in Dublin, with a few twists.
The Girls
by Lori Lansens
Once more this book went down a treat with the Clonmel Library Bookclubs . They describe it as a " Brilliant read, which moves from past to present easily and skilfully. It tells the story of the life of a 70 year old American woman, caring for a 5 year old child in her care. A very, very moving story, heartwarming, sad, funny, touching…. It has it all but in the end it is full of hope." One reviewer loved it so much read that she read it in two sittings……
I, Mona Lisa
by Jeanne Kalogridis
Clonmel Book Club: "Excellent read , all members agreed". This book presents a great insight into life in Florence under the Medici`s and Leonardo etc. Great twist at the end. Well worth reading
Two Caravans
by Marina Lewycka
An idyll of the English countryside: a beautiful summer's evening in a Kent field, and around their two caravans a little group of strawberry pickers is getting ready to celebrate a birthday.
But who picks our strawberries these days? The Ukrainians: Irina, just off the coach from Kiev, and eager to improve her excellent English and find true love with a romantic Englishman; Andriy, the miner's son from the other Ukraine; the Poles: Bob Dylan fan, Tomasz, (whose smelly trainers will soon punish those in the men's caravan), Yola, the petite, voluptuous gangmistress and her religious niece Marta, who finds the wild mushrooms to cook with the sliced loaf; then there is Vitaly, king of the new mobilfon world of the shiny new Eastern Europe; two Chinese girls; Emanuel, the round eyed eighteen-year-old from Malawi, come to England to look for his sister. And although he can't exactly help pick strawberries, there's also the Dog...But these are a group leading dangerous lives - exploitative employers, British regulations and gang masters with guns will all threaten their existence as they take to the caravan road until each of them peels off to find their destiny.
Hilarious, gritty, moving, and slapstick by turns Two Caravans has every bit of the extraordinary distinctiveness and wit and heart that made A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian so successful.
Zoli
by Colum McCann
Another title which has received good reviews in more of the Tipperary Libraries bookclubs. In Clonmel library the memebrs found it a very interesting read about the life and times of Zoli a romany gypsy who was , a poet, she being loosly based on the life of Papusza a polish gypsy poet of mid 20th century. The book takes a good look at Nazi`s etc from a different slant. Mixed reactions, worth reading.
Best line… a romany saying, `The river is not where it starts or ends`
Thurles Library Book Club
The following are a list of recent titles read by members of the Thurles Library Book Club, all of which were read with great interest, and discussed at length by the members.
The Space Between Us – Thirty Umrigar
No Saints, No Angels – Ivan Klima
We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox – Maggie Farrell
My Sisters Keeper – Jodi Picoult
Q & A - Vikras Swarup
Cook with Jamie
by Jamie Oliver
last updated on: Monday, 17-May-2010 18:23:36 IST
The books we read should be chosen with great care, that they may be, as an Egyptian king wrote over his library, "The medicines of the soul." Author: Paxton Hood
Doris Lessing has won the Nobel Prize in Literature for her five decades of published work that has spanned controversial subjects ranging from feminism and politics to her difficult youth in Africa.
Announcing the award in Stockholm, the Swedish Academy described Doris Lessing as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire, and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny." We hope you’ll share this announcement with your patrons.
nuashonraithe ar: Monday, 17-May-2010 18:23:36 IST