books & reading

Interview with Ruth Long

Cover of Treachery of Beautiful ThingsThe series of interviews I have been doing with authors was actually inspired by a conversation between Ruth and I about a year ago.  Unfortunately her previous books proved impossible to source with our suppliers, and Treachery of Beautiful Things was difficult, but we persevered and it is in stock.

Ruth and I know each other online and through several conventions, we're both librarians, fantasy lovers and lovers of old books, only she gets to work with them in her job.

New for Children this Christmas!

PosterLest we should forget our younger borrowers this Christmas (Joking! However could we!!), here are just some of the new books and DVDs we have in our branch libraries in readiness for Christmas. Or anytime in fact!

Browse the list of DVD and book titles below, each of which links to its respective catalogue record where you can get further details and check on availability.

Junior Book Club Choices 2013

Roddy Doyle, Roald Dahl and Anne Fine are popular authors among our Junior Book Clubs.

Old favourites such as The Secret GardenThe Hobbit and The Diary of Anne Frank are still going strong.

The most popular books were Roald Dahl's The Magic Finger; Roddy Doyle's Greyhound of a Girl and Wilderness; Louis Sachar's Holes and There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom; and Andy Stanton's Mr Gum and the Cherry Tree

Search the library catalogue to check availability or reserve any of these books.

Bookcover The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Bookcover: A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle Bookcover: There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar Bookcover: Mr Gum and the Cherry Tree by David Tazzyman 

Christmas Fiction Reads for Adults

Calling Mrs Christmas, Carole MatthewsChristmas can be such a hustle and bustle time of year as we all know, and one of the best ways to escape all that hustle and bustle is to engross yourself in a good book when you can and partake of the many pleasures that reading brings.

To help you on your way, we have compiled some Christmas-themed reads for you.

Calling Mrs Christmas, Carole Matthews.
Cassie Smith has been out of work for a while but she has an idea. Drawing on her love of Christmas, she begins charging for small things: wrapping presents; writing cards; tree-decorating. She's soon in huge demand and Cassie's business, Calling Mrs Christmas, is born. Carter Randall wants to make Christmas special for his children, so he enlists Cassie's help, and his lavish requests start taking up all her time. Thank goodness she can rely on her loving partner Jim to handle the rest of her clients. When millionaire Carter asks Cassie to join his family on a trip to Lapland, she knows she shouldn't go. Suddenly Cassie finds herself facing a heart-breaking choice that could change her entire life.

What Reading Room staff are reading

The Morville YearWorking in the busy Reading Room leaves little time for reading, so when the long dark evenings before and after the winter solstice close in I always have a little pile of treasures waiting to be read. A real discovery for me this year were the books by Katherine Swift about her garden at Morville.

2013 Irish Book Award Winners Announced

John BanvilleThe BORD GÁIS Energy Irish Book Award winners were announced last night.

Authors Roddy Doyle, Darina Allen, Paul Howard and Michael Harding were among the winners in the various categories.

Children’s writers Benji Bennett and Derek Landy, newcomer Niamh Boyce, crime writer Louise Philips, sports writer David Walsh, short story writer Billy O’ Callaghan and Fintan O’Toole were also honoured at the gala ceremony held in Dublin.

Esteemed novelist John Banville (left, image source) was presented with the 'Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award 2013' by actress Sinéad Cusack for his contribution to Irish literature, and a tribute to the late Seamus Heaney was screened during the ceremony which featured accolades from former US President Bill Clinton and Edna O’ Brien.

The Ireland AM Crime Fiction Book of the Year is... The Doll's House!

The Doll's HouseThe Ireland AM Crime Fiction Book of the Year is... 'The Doll's House' by Louise Phillips!

The winning books in each category of the Irish Book Awards were announced tonight.

This Dublin-based psychological thriller, published in August 2013, is the second novel from Phillips. It features criminal psychologist Kate Pearson and DI O’Connor.

Louise Phillips' debut novel, 'Red Ribbons', was shortlisted for the 2012 Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year Award.

Lou Reed

Lou Reed passed away on the 27th of October 2013.

Lou Reed Transformer album cover

He was one of the most influential figures in rock music. His first band The Velvet Underground is probably solely responsible for any "Indie Music" we hear today. However he is most famous for two songs, "Walk on the Wild Side" and Perfect Day". The former was a hit in 1972. A most unusual chart song with sparse arrangement of an infectious backing vocal, two note bass line and spoken styled melody of  lyrics about transsexuals and prostitution inspired by characters of the pop artist Andy Warhol's hangout, The Factory. The song surfaced again in 1990 as it's memorable bass line was sampled by A Tribe Called Quest as the backbone of their song "Can I kick it?". The latter was "Perfect Day" (the b side to Walk on the Wild side) which had a resurgence in the film Trainspotting and was released by an all star cast as a charity single in 1997. Both songs were featured on the album Transformer.

Assassination: read all about it!

JF KennedyOn Friday 22 November 1963 at 12.30 pm local time John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States of America, was shot in the streets of Dallas, Texas. Three shots rang out as he rode, with his wife Jacqueline, in an open-topped limousine. He was rushed to Parkland Hospital where he died of his wounds. The news of the assassination reverberated around the world. In Ireland the shock was numbing as only five months had passed since his official visit to Ireland, where people had given him a rapturous welcome. Experience the immediacy of the moment by logging on to www.irishtimes.com/search and www.irishnewsarchive.com for free access to newspaper coverage at your local branch library.

The Irish Crime Fiction Festival: A Virtual Who's Who of Irish Crime Authors

//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TrinityHof.JPGA festival devoted to Irish crime fiction, featuring some seventeen or so of the most exciting Irish and Irish-American crime novelists, takes place on Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd November in Trinity College, Dublin. The festival concludes with the highlight event, best-selling American author Michael Connelly being interviewed by Irish crime writer John Connolly. The event marks the occasion of the Irish launch of his newest novel, 'The Gods of Guilt'. I for one have my ticket booked and I hope to get to attend most of the sessions during the festival.

Irish crime authors appearing are (with links to library catalogue entries):

Conor Brady. Probably best known as the former editor of The Irish Times and also a former member of the Garda Síochána (Police) Ombudsman Commission. Author of, amongst other works, two crime novels - 'A June of Ordinary Murders' and the just released 'The Eloquence of the Dead' (October 2013, not yet in stock).

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