A woman sat in a hotel bar, watching the door. Sally Rooney writes about the glorious and torturous intimacies that are a part of all the close relationships that we create for ourselves - best friends, lovers, siblings, colleagues. In Beautiful World, Where Are You Rooney continues this process, moving through the world of twenty-somethings … Continue reading Beautiful World, Where Are You | Sally Rooney #IRLfiction
Confession one: this story was a chore to read. Confession two: for the past week I have been trying to read three books that were a chore to read. Why, I hear you ask? Confession three: I made myself finish one, but I have decided to abandon the other two. Sometimes a book does not … Continue reading All That Swagger | Miles Franklin #1936Club
It had stopped raining. Okay, I'm now a Niall Williams convert. This is Happiness is a delight of a book, from start to finish. Full of wonderful, poignant story-telling and rich, humorous characterisation. It is proudly Irish, with glorious descriptions of the weather and the matter-of-fact grimness and poverty of everyday life in County Clare … Continue reading This is Happiness | Niall Williams #IRLfiction
Charlotte McConaghy has written an intense, emotional story about the effects of mass extinction in The Last Migration. I don't normally quote the back blurb of the book, but in this case it so aptly describes the book, I'm really not sure I can top it. The Last Migration is a wild, gripping and … Continue reading The Last Migration | Charlotte McConaghy #AWWfiction
After reading a number of slow, reflective reads lately, I needed something a bit easier and faster. The Pull of the Stars fit the bill nicely. It was easy to read, even with the rather detailed 1918 midwifery and autopsy scenes that left me gasping and wincing in sympathy! In keeping with my current Plague … Continue reading The Pull of the Stars | Emma Donoghue #IRLfiction
Police procedural is not my usual fare, but sometimes book club leads me down a path I wouldn't choose for myself, yet it turns out okay in the end. I very nearly used the 'not enough time' excuse to not read this book, but a recent rainy weekend gave me a chance to check it … Continue reading The Good Turn | Dervla McTiernan #AWW
Oh, this was utterly delicious. Deliciously melancholy, if that's a thing. The Heather Blazing is the story of Judge Eamon Redmond, and the loss and grief that has defined his whole life. Tóibin writes these rather sad, introspective characters so well. Like Nora Webster, you're left wondering, if perhaps Eamon's first person story is missing … Continue reading The Heather Blazing | Colm Tóibin #Begorrathon
I have to ask straight up - who is Norah's father? Could you work it out? I wasn't sure. There didn't seem to be any repercussions or exposition after the reveal. Was it all about the #metoo element? But since you kind of figure that out for yourself very early on, it wasn't so much … Continue reading Actress | Anne Enright #Begorrathon
In my previous post, about The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, I referred to Heaney's poem about the bog man found in Denmark in the 1950's. To find out how Tollund Man and Achilles go together in my universe, you'll have to read the post.As always, though, I'm fascinated by the stories we tell … Continue reading Tollund Man by Seamus Heaney
I'm heart broken.And I may just have read my most favourite and best book for 2018.Sally Rooney has written a gut-wrenching, painfully poignant love story about two young damaged souls that will stay with me for a very long time. In Normal People she has captured perfectly all the angst, insecurity and missteps that dog … Continue reading Normal People by Sally Rooney
It's very sad to think these are the very last William Trevor short stories ever. Except I still have so many of his earlier books to read as well as the short stories he wrote after 1993 (I have a copy of his HUGE Collected Stories from 1993. It took me nearly two years to … Continue reading William Trevor Last Stories
My intention this year was to read through my handful of Iris Murdoch books with Liz @Adventures in Reading for her #IMreadalong. She's reading all of them, one a month, in chronological order. I only have to slot in five books, but so far I've been woeful at sticking to her schedule. Fortunately Liz has … Continue reading The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch
I finally got around to reading The Green Road thanks to Cathy's #ReadIreland Month. It has been sitting on my TBR pile since 2016.Over my years of blogging, I've come to realise that writing a rave review about a book I really enjoyed, if not loved and adored, is actually harder to do, than writing … Continue reading The Green Road by Anne Enright
I picked Midwinter Break from my TBR pile to read for Cathy @746Books #ReadIreland18 month. It is a staff pick at work thanks to one of my colleagues, so I was looking forward to it. But I failed to engage.There was lots to like about the story. I enjoyed the time that Stella and Gerry had wandering … Continue reading Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty
Happy St David's Day! Dydd Gŵyl Dewi! The 1st of March is the National Day of Wales. You may be wondering why someone in Sydney would care about such things? My name is the first give away - Bronwyn (although my variation is a masculine Anglicized take on the traditional Welsh spelling of Bronwen). My mother's … Continue reading Stories & Shout-Outs #15
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