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

Recommended Read

For some light bed time reading try:

 ’Miss Pettigrew lives for a day’ by Winifred Watson

Guinevere Pettigrew, a middle-aged London governess, finds herself unfairly dismissed from her job. An attempt to gain new employment catapults her into the glamorous world and dizzying social whirl of an American actress and singer, Delysia Lafosse.

Latest books reviewed by our book club

Le Divorce by Diane Johnson 6/10
 
Told from the perspective of Isabel Walker, a film school drop-out sent to Paris to live with her stepsister Roxanne (Roxy), the novel concerns Isabel’s search to learn more about herself and the French culture which threatens to exclude her.
Isabel arrives in Paris to discover that Roxy, two months pregnant with her second child, has been deserted by her French painter husband for another woman. The usually pragmatic Roxy becomes more and more withdrawn and morose as she considers her dwindling possibilities. Isabel, however, uses the circumstances to learn more about her sister and the city, developing her assertiveness and confidence as she assumes more responsibility for her own and others’ happiness. Indeed, Isabel’s unlikely affair with the much older Edgar Cossett, the uncle of her sister’s errant husband, does much to teach Isabel about the historical and cultural infrastructure of Parisian society. Under his tutelage, Isabel uncovers a sense of the city which she uses to acclimate herself to her adopted culture.
This book was not gripping enough for some to stick with but those who did found it a rewarding experience and enjoyed it. The main character tended to over analyse everything and she was a figure of fun for the French characters in the book but she developed as the book went on and ultimately was very likeable. It was a lighthearted book that wasn’t too taxing and it was given a book club rating of 6/10.
 
The Missing by Tim Gatreaux    8/10
This book was also a slow burner but rewarding for those who stuck with it. Sam Simoneaux’s is the main character, his troopship docked in France just as World War I came to an end. What he saw of the devastation there sent him back to New Orleans eager for a normal life and a job as a floorwalker in the city’s biggest department store, and to start anew with his wife years after losing a son to illness. But when a little girl disappears from the store on his shift, he loses his job and soon joins her parents working on a steamboat plying the Mississippi and providing musical entertainment en route. Sam comes to suspect that on the downriver journey someone had seen this magical child and arranged to steal her away, and this quest leads him not only into this raucous new life on the river and in the towns along its banks but also on a journey deep into the Arkansas wilderness. Here he begins to piece together what had happened to the girl—a discovery that endangers everyone involved and sheds new light on the massacre of his own family decades before.
Tim Gautreaux brings to vivid life the exotic world of steamboats and shifting currents and rough crowds, of the music of the twenties, of a nation lurching away from war into an uneasy peace. The Missing is the story of a man fighting to redeem himself, of parents coping with horrific loss with only a whisper of hope to sustain them, of others for whom kidnapping is either only a job or a dream come true. The suspense—and the complicated web of violence that eventually links Sam to complete strangers—is relentless, urgently engaging and, ultimately, profoundly moving. This book was set in an interesting time in America in an unusual setting and raised some interesting moral questions. The bookclub felt Sam was very unfairly treated by his employer when he was sacked because he could not prevent the abduciton of the small girl. When he eventually finds her he is torn becasue she is looked after very well by the family who ordered her abduction and may even be better off there than with her mother . This book was very well received and was given a rating of 8/10 by the book club.

Cultural Trail in Dublin recently launched

 Click here for more details

BATTLE OF THE BOOK CLUBS

Battle of the Book Clubs Quiz for World Book Night on March 5th

Books being reviewed at the March Meeting

4 Irish Novels make the Impac Dublin Longlist

FOUR IRISH NOVELS on the

2011 IMPAC DUBLIN long list!

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, nominated by libraries in Germany, Greece, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, Canada and the USA.

Brooklyn by Colm Toibín, nominated by libraries in Belgium, England, Ireland, Switzerland, South Africa, New Zealand and the USA.

Love and Summer by William Trevor, nominated by libraries in Ireland and the USA.

John the Revelator by Peter Murphy, nominated by Limerick City Library, Ireland.

Click here for more details.