The Best Medicine by Christine Hamill – Book Review by Emily Elphinstone It’s often said that ‘laughter is the best medicine’, but few feel so much pressure to prove this theory as […]
The Best Medicine – Christine Hamill – Book Review
Paradise Lodge – Nina Stibbe – Audible Book Review
Paradise Lodge – Nina Stibbe – Audible Book Review by Pat V. Unlike many audiobooks, once you have listened to ten minutes of “Paradise Lodge”, Nina Stibbe’s latest novel, it is hard […]
The Gustav Sonata – Rose Tremain – Audible Book Review
The Gustav Sonata – Rose Tremain – Audible Book Review by Pat V. Rose Tremain’s latest novel, starting in the 1940s in Switzerland and covering almost 60 years, follows the life of […]
The Pier Falls – Mark Haddon – Audible Book Review
The Pier Falls – Mark Haddon – Audible Book Review The opening lines of The Pier Falls, the title piece in this début collection of short stories by Mark Haddon, describing a […]
Dalkey Book Festival 2016 Review
Dalkey Book Festival Review – by Conor MacNamara In its seventh year the Dalkey Book Festival ran from the 16th to the 19th of June, with this year’s theme being “migration, […]
At It Again – Romping through Dubliners
At It Again – Romping Through Dubliners With today being Bloomsday, we thought it was as good a day as any to mention another lovely pocket book from the good people at […]
Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas 2016 Review
Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas 2016 – Review June 10th to 12th 2016. Another year and another trip to Borris House. This year it started with a bang, with Simon Callow […]
Dublin Event Guide (13-06-16 – 19-06-16)
COYBIG! If Euro fever hasn’t taken over, here’s a list of things to do around Dublin. There is a huge amount of new theatre this week, with Boyz of Harcourt Street and […]
Interview with Ger Gaughran – Hay Festival Kelly
We had the chance to interview Ger Gaughran, one of the organisers of the Hay Festival Kells. We quizzed her on the festival itself and some of the highlights. You can see […]
A Country Road, A Tree – Jo Baker – Audible Book Review
A Country Road, A Tree – Jo Baker – Audible Book Review by Pat V. The title of Jo Baker’s novel recalls the opening stage directions of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot […]
Cathy Rentzenbrink & Decca Aitkenhead – Smock Alley Theatre – Review
Cathy Rentzenbrink & Decca Aitkenhead – Smock Alley Theatre – 22-05-16 – Review The International Lifterature Festival, Dublin continues until May 29th. These two writers have very different stories to tell but […]
Dublin Event Guide (23-05-16 – 29-05-16)
The dancing continues at Dublin Dance Festival. Their feet must really be sore by this stage, but they have another week of it as it runs until the 28th. There’s also the […]
Irish Festival Guide – International Literature Festival Dublin
The International Literature Festival Dublin kicks off tomorrow, with lots of events around the city for you to check out. Here are some of the highlights, but it’s worth having a good […]
Dublin Event Guide (16-05-16 – 22-05-16)
Dance, Dance, Dance… yes, it’s that time of year again when the dancers descend on Dublin, en masse. The Dublin Dance Festival runs from the 17th to the 28th. If you’re feeling […]
Reader, I Married Him – Audible Book Review
Reader, I Married Him – Audible Book Review by Pat V. Edited by Tracy Chevalier “Reader, I married him” at the conclusion of Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre, must rank among the […]
Dublin Event Guide (2-05-16 – 8-05-16)
It can’t be May, sure it was snowing last week. Something must be wrong! Thankfully, there are lots of warm spaces inside to entertain you… A couple of new plays, with Inhabitance […]
Hitman Anders and the Meaning of it All – Jonas Jonasson – Audible Book Review
Hitman Anders and the Meaning of it All – Jonas Jonasson – Book Review by Pat V. If you have read either of Jonasson’s other two novels, The Girl who saved the […]
The Little Red Chairs – Edna O’Brien – Audible Book Review
The Little Red Chairs – Edna O’Brien – Review by Pat V. A book that begins with a middle-aged man from the Balkans arriving in a small, rural Irish town and setting […]
No Heroes by Anna Seidl – Book Review
No Heroes by Anna Seidl, translated by Siobhan Parkinson. Book Review by Emily Elphinstone It’s not often that openly weeping by chapter three can be classed as an entirely good thing; but […]
Quicksand – Henning Mankell – Audible Book Review
Quicksand – Henning Mankell – Audible Book Review by Pat V. In 2011 Henning Mankell’s last novel featuring Inspector Kurt Wallander “The Troubled Man” was published in English. It is much darker […]
Irish Festival Guide 2016 – Borris Festival Announce Michael Chabon, Martin Hayes and More…
The Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas continues to punch above its weight, with a new list of artists announced which includes Michael Chabon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures […]
Despite The Falling Snow by Shamim Sarif – Book Review
Despite the Falling Snow – Shamim Sarif – Book Review by Patrick V. John Blake Publishing has issued a new edition of Shamim Sarif’s 2004 novel, Despite the Falling Snow, prior to […]
Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty – Audible Book Review
Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty – Audible Book Review by Pat V. Rain Dogs is McKinty’s 5th novel featuring Sean Duffy, a Catholic D.I. working with the RUC in Carrickfergus in the […]
Shylock Is My Name – Howard Jacobson – Audible Book Review
Shylock Is My Name – Howard Jacobson – Audible Book Review by Pat V. Howard Jacobson’s Shylock is my Name, based on The Merchant of Venice, is the latest volume to be […]
My Name Is Lucy Barton – Elizabeth Strout – Audible Book Review
My Name Is Lucy Barton – Elizabeth Strout – Audible Book Review by Patrick V. The often quoted lines of Philip Larkin “They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may […]
Needlework by Deirdre Sullivan – Book Review
Needlework by Deirdre Sullivan – Book Review by Emily Elphinstone Launch Party at Easons O’Connell street at 6.30pm on Feb 25th. Though it has grown in recognition and popularity in the last […]
Exposure by Helen Dunmore – Audible Book Review
Exposure by Helen Dunmore – Audible Book Review by Pat V. Reading like a version of The Railway Children for adults, Helen Dunmore’s latest novel Exposure, tells the story of three children […]
The Widow by Fiona Barton – Audible Book Review
The Widow by Fiona Barton – Audible Book Review by Pat V. The Widow has been heralded as the stand-out psychological thriller for 2016 in the same vein as Gone Girl and […]
If You Steal – Jason – Review
If You Steal – Jason – Book Review In the short biography at the start of ‘If you Steal’ by Jason we are told that he enjoys films, the work of Magritte […]
