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Posts tagged ‘Irish Literature’

Aug 27

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Heather Blazing by Colm Tóibín

heather blazing

Heather Blazing by Colm Tóibín
Published: 1992
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Jen
Format: Audio narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds
Find it/buy it here: The Heather Blazing

I think Colm Tóibín may be on his way to become one of my new favorite authors. There is something about his writing style that I find very comforting and beautiful. I first discovered him while working my way through the 1001 Books to Read Before you Die list. I loved The Master — a fictionalized portrait of Henry James that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2004. I became equally enamored with my latest selection: Heather Blazing. Read more

Aug 21

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2015 Man Booker Longlist: The Green Road by Anne Enright


green road

Next up in our attempt to complete the 2015 Man Booker Longlist is a book we both read: The Green Road by Anne Enright. Keep reading to find out what we thought and how it ranks in our list of 2015 longlist books read to date.

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Jun 5

1001 Book Review: Shroud John Banville

shroud

Shroud by John Banville
Published in: 2002
Awards: Man Booker Prize Nominee for Longlist (2002)
Reviewed by: Book Worm and Jen
Find it here:Shroud

Synopsis (from Amazon): One part Nietzsche, one part Humbert Humbert, and a soupcon of Milton’s Lucifer, Axel Vander, the dizzyingly unreliable narrator of John Banville’s masterful new novel, is very old, recently widowed, and the bearer of a fearsome reputation as a literary dandy and bully. A product of the Old World, he is also an escapee from its conflagrations, with the wounds to prove it. And everything about him is a lie.

Now those lies have been unraveled by a mysterious young woman whom Vander calls “Miss Nemesis.” They are to meet in Turin, a city best known for its enigmatic shroud. Is her purpose to destroy Vander or to save him—or simply to show him what lies beneath the shroud in which he has wrapped his life? A splendidly moving exploration of identity, duplicity, and desire, Shroud is Banville’s most rapturous performance to date.

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