Tag: Irish blogger
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Book Review – Of Sunshine and Bedbugs by Isaac Babel
Of Sunshine and Bedbugs: Essential Stories by Isaac Babel is a newly curated collection of stories by Russian author Isaac Babel (1894 – 1940), translated into English by Boris Dralyuk, that draws from previous collections of his stories also translated by Dralyuk. This collection opens with a new and enlightening foreword by Dralyuk, as well…
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Book Review – Constellations by Sinéad Gleeson
“I have come to think of all the metal in my body as artificial stars, glistening beneath the skin, a constellation of old and new metal. A map, a tracing of connections and a guide to looking at things from different angles.” Constellations: Reflections from Life (Picador, 2019) is the debut book by Sinéad Gleeson,…
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Book Review – The Magician of Lublin by Isaac Bashevis Singer
The Magician of Lublin by Isaac Bashevis Singer (1903 – 1991) was first published in English in 1960, having been translated from Yiddish. In the author’s note of my copy, Singer thanks his editors who ‘for years have encouraged me in the difficult task of introducing Yiddish writing to the American reader’. I found this…
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Interview – Burning Books Podcast by Books Ireland
Books Ireland is our national hub for all things literature, covering the literary scene from pretty much every angle possible: news, interviews, features, reviews, Irish book charts, events listings, First Flash (a roundup of books published in the current month) and, most recently, a series entitled Backlist Beauties, giving books a well deserved return to…
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Book Review – A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
‘This is a female text.’ A Ghost in the Throat, by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, is a work of profound beauty, and unlike anything I have ever read before. The book is billed as a blend of ‘essay and auto-fiction’; drawing from the author’s own story, but not bound by it. However, eschewing neat categorisation under…
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Too Many Books, Too Little Time
I started this blog largely as a space to write about one of my main passions: books. However, although they are one of the main things that bring me joy, I decided against categorising this blog as a book blog; I wanted to leave myself the space and flexibility to post about the many things…
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Book Review – Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
When we were new, Rosa and I were mid-store, on the magazines table side, and could see through more than half of the window. Kazuo Ishiguro’s latest novel, Klara and the Sun, offers up its first delight before we even open the book. A subtle detail in the cover design is a nod to all…
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Book Review – Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
It was a pleasure to burn. Back in school, I was lucky enough to have studied philosophy, where I was introduced to a number of profoundly impactful dystopian novels, such as 1984, Brave New World, and Animal Farm. In recent years, I often saw Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury mentioned alongside them. I finally got…
The Resting Willow 