Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye.
How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball Continue reading
Tag Archives: Mary Costello
In the mood for Irish misery porn? Yes, always.
Last week, my Goodreads buddy, David, remarked on my reference to ‘Irish misery porn’ – I don’t think I coined that phrase (although a quick search suggests that the most frequent use of the phrase is on this blog…hmmm) but for the purposes of this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, I’ll claim it as my own.
Irish misery porn refers to those particular types of stories that involve bleak childhoods, mams full of woe (usually with husbands that spend the money on pints of Guinness rather than pints of milk) and relentless rain. I love them.
Top Ten Tuesday – Top 5 Books I’ve Read So Far in 2015
See what I did there? I’m only picking five. My true stand-outs. Continue reading
Six Degrees of Separation – from Wild to The Heart Broke In
It’s time again for my favourite meme. Based on the concept of six degrees of separation, Emma Chapman and Annabel Smith have created #6DEGREES, where bloggers share links between books in six moves. Check out the rules if you want to play along.
I haven’t read this month’s starting point – Wild by Cheryl Strayed – but I do know that Strayed penned the memoir after her mother’s death and her failed marriage prompted an epic hike along the US Pacific coast. Continue reading
Academy Street by Mary Costello
Sometimes there’s perfection to be found in the most ordinary of things. Such is the case with Mary Costello’s short novel, Academy Street.
I don’t mean to imply that Academy Street is an ordinary book. Rather, it’s the story of Tess, a woman who has a reasonably ordinary life. The story is told through descriptive snapshots of Tess’s life over four decades, beginning with the sudden death of her mother when Tess is aged seven.
“She pulls and drags on the hems of the dresses and skirts, bringing them towards the light. She is almost crying. There is no blue dress. Her mother is wearing it in the coffin. Then she remembers that her mother is no longer in the chapel. She is down in the ground now. Or up in Heaven.” Continue reading
Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts
1. I love a list but I’m a bit fed up with all of the book lists circulating Twitter at the moment. Can’t keep up with what’s hot, what to look out for, what was the best and who’s the next Franzen.
2. That said, if you must read a list, this list of 27 books to look forward to this year is good.
3. Except that they forgot to include Irving. Continue reading