Ch4 Summer Reads

Click here for Channel 4′s Summer Reads as advertised on the TV Book Club.

Summer Reads @ the County Library, Tallaght

Looking for a good Summer Read – Look no further than South Dublin Libraries. Check out two seasonal displays at the County Library, Summer Reads and Crime in a Warm Climate.

The displays feature many of the books mentioned in the Irish Times article Thirty titles to tide you over summer which was published on Saturday 25th June 2011. Click here fro the article.

Colum McCann:Winner of Dublin Impac Literary award

Colum McCann was announced as the winner of the Dublin Impac Award last night. Click here for more information.

McCann is the second Irish author to win the prize since it began in 1996.

Recommended Reads

Jussi Adler-Olsen has been hailed as the next Stieg Larsson.

Mercy:

At first the prisoner scratches at the walls until her fingers bleed. But there is no escaping the room. With no way of measuring time, her days, weeks, months go unrecorded. She vows not to go mad. She will not give her captors the satisfaction. She will die first.

Copenhagen detective Carl Mørck has been taken off homicide to run a newly created department for unsolved crimes. His first case concerns Merete Lynggaard, who vanished five years ago. Everyone says she’s dead. Everyone says it’s a waste of time. He thinks they’re right.

The voice in the dark is distorted, harsh and without mercy. It says the prisoner’s torture will only end when she answers one simple question. It is one she has asked herself a million times:WHY is this happening?

This is the last of the Wallander series.

A novel that works on a number of levels: as a compelling investigation into a Swedish cold-war spy ring, a philosophical assessment of policing and its social function, and a very personal evaluation of a person’s worth in the grand scheme of things…Written in Mankell’s downbeat style (beautifully translated by Laurie Thompson) it has a fatalistic tone that is entirely fitting for the final testimony of one of crime fiction’s great protagonists…a hugely satisfying novel that ranks alongside Mankell’s best, a heartbreaking tale of descent into despair and darkness that serves as a totem for what great crime writing can achieve’ –The Irish Times

Free literary event at The Sugar Club on May 11.

Free literary event at The Sugar Club on May 11.

While it would be quite a cool name for a band, Murder in the City is actually an event with a more literary spin. Crime authors from Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy and Scotland will give readings and discuss their work, accompanied by similarly spine tingling music from some DIT musicians. The event will be introduced by crime journalist and writer Niamh O’Connor. Catch it at The Sugar Club on May 11 at 18.30. No booking is required, and best of all it’s free.

The Sugar Club
Harcourt Street
Dublin 2.

Summer Book Club meetings

Our book club group have decided to meet unofficially throughout the summer months to discuss books they are reading by themselves. We will post the most popular summer reads as they are voted for

IMPAC SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED 12TH April

Three Irish authors have been shortlisted for this year’s International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

  Tóibín – Nominated for Brooklyn

The three are: Colum McCann for ‘Let the Great World Spin’;

Colm Tóibín for ‘Brooklyn’ and

William Trevor for ‘Love and Summer’.

Completing the 10-author shortlist are: Michael Crummey (‘Galore’), Barbara Kingsolver (‘The Lacuna’), Yiyun Li (‘The Vagrants’), David Malouf (‘Ransom’), Joyce Carol Oates (‘Little Bird of Heaven’), Craig Silvey (‘Jasper Jones’) and Evie Wyld (‘After the Fire, a Still Small Voice’).

The winner of the award, which is worth €100,000, will be announced on 15 June.

Man Booker International Prize 2011

Man Booker International Prize 2011

Book Review

The Lacuna

We started with The Lacuna which was the life story of one man who had a Spanish/Mexican mother and an American father. He was always moving from place to place but along the way he always kept diaries which eventually came together to tell the story. Some people found the link to the particular time in history was interesting and we all agreed that the main character held our interest throughout. However 3 people gave up on it as it just didn’t hold their interest. We all felt it was very drawn out and possible could have been more interesting as a much smaller book. We discussed the other book we all knew from the same author “The Poisonwood Bible” and agreed it was much more interesting although also a very long book. One person in the group really loved it but others thought it was over killed with detail. It scored an average of 4.3 from those of us who read it or started it and gave up.

On The Black Hill

Most people in the group had read and finished this one and it sparked off an interesting discussion in general about the twin-twin relationship that can exist between very close twins. It was the story of twin boys growing up in very rural Wales who with the exception of short separation during the war, lived together all their lives into the 80s and still shared the same bed. We all agreed it was an unusual tale with a very pathetic storyline to it. It was agreed that within the relationship, one twin was much more dependent on the other twin and he held the stronger twin Lewis back from leading a somewhat normal life. They lived in great poverty and primitive conditions throughout their lives even though they had built up a sizeable farm and probably had plenty of money. The money was controlled by the more dependent twin Ben and was probably used to control Lewis from setting off to see the world. The ongoing relationship between the twins was the strong storyline throughout. This scored an average of 6.7 from the group

One City One Book: Joseph O Connors’ Ghost Light

‘Dublin: One City, One Book’ encourages everyone to read the same book during the month of April each year. The chosen book for April 2011 is Ghost Light by Joseph O’Connor

 For more information on events inDublin city during April click here