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The Book of Kells
The Book of Kells | R. A. MacAvoy
9 posts | 4 read | 8 to read
A contemporary couple journeys back in time to ancient Ireland in this delightful fantasy by the author of Tea with the Black Dragon. John Thornburn is an artist, mild-mannered and nonviolent. To make ends meet, he teaches some courses in Celtic design. And although his background is half Micmac Indian, he lives in Ireland for two reasons: his far more confrontational and warrior-like girlfriend, Derval OKeane, and his fascination with the beautiful illuminated manuscript known as the Book of Kells. But hes about to take a journey to a far more distant place, one that he could not have imagined. Along with Derval, John will find himself in an ancient Celtic realm, where a Viking attack begs to be avenged and a fantasticand sometimes terrifyingadventure awaits . . . From a master of magical fantasy, the author of the Damiano Trilogy and a winner of the John W. Campbell Award, this is a tale of warriors, love, danger, and Irish history that will cast a spell on anyone who dreams of discovering treasures in long-lost worlds.
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Texreader
Book of Kells | R a MacAvoy
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#5joysFriday

1-2) Seeing the real Book of Kells (not tagged book) and the library at Trinity College on our last day in Dublin
3) Coming home to see kitty
4) Son‘s return from trekking across Europe 1 day after we returned from Ireland
5) Dr was able to perform quick minor surgery today on my poor toe that took a beating from all the walking on vacation

@DebinHawaii Thanks for the tag!!

TheBookHippie All wonderful!! Hope you heal quickly! 5mo
Lynnsoprano Ouch on the toe! Been there; when we did a walking tour in Italy, it messed up both my big toes. Hope you feel better soon. Sore feet are no fun 😘 5mo
Texreader @TheBookHippie @Lynnsoprano Thanks so much y‘all! Not sure how I managed so long while traveling. I guess adrenaline? But when I got home it was clearly in bad shape and waking me throughout the night in searing pain. So grateful for the Dr who immediately took action, promising a worse weekend if he didn‘t do it right then. I can‘t imagine both toes being in that bad of shape at the same time! Yikes! 5mo
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Lynnsoprano @Texreader I ended up losing the nails on both big toes. My problem was the results of my toes banging into the hard toe box of hiking boots. Definitely adrenaline kept me going, plus spending our off day with my feet dangling in the cold water of the pool at our hotel. Now I wear good athletic shoes, trail walking shoes mostly, for travel. 5mo
Texreader @Lynnsoprano oh no!! Dr got to mine quickly enough I think to catch and stop the infection from spreading. Fingers crossed. 5mo
TheBookHippie @Texreader I have taped up my feet every journey since that happened to me on wilderness hike for 21 days on Isle Royale here in Michigan. It‘s SO PAINFUL!!! 5mo
DebinHawaii Great list of joys (except the pain from the toe of course, but the fact he took action right away is good!) 💛💛💛 Thanks for sharing & helping spread the joy! 🤗 5mo
48 likes7 comments
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Texreader
Book of Kells | R a MacAvoy
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We visited Trinity College Dublin and saw the Book of Kells. Loved the tour of the school but especially reading about its history and seeing it in real life

Teresereading The Book of Kells is amazing 5mo
dabbe #completelygobsmacked 🖤🩶🖤 5mo
mcctrish 💚💚💚💚 5mo
46 likes3 comments
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danasreadingthis
Book of Kells | R a MacAvoy

My parents are in Ireland, and they stopped in to see The Book of Kells; sending me pictures was the sweetest thing, as the Trinity College Library is on my #bucketlist #bookitlist of #placestoread ... #bibliophile

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GatheringBooks
Book of Kells | R a MacAvoy
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#LiteraryLuck Day 7: I did a Book of Kells Pilgrimage at the Trinity College in Dublin while I was in #Ireland last year. I posted about this for our Photo Journal Tuesdays at GatheringBooks. Here are more photos: https://wp.me/pDlzr-jfr

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks You always have the best books!!! 6y
vkois88 Oh, so beautiful! 6y
73 likes2 comments
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ofbooksandme
Book of Kells | R a MacAvoy
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I'm creating a hashtag called #Medievalitsy (see what I did there?) just because, but if you like it we can do it a regular thing, like "On Wednesday we wear coat of mail".
I don't know if you know, but I'm starting my PhD on medieval lit and I'm keen on sharing what I love with you.
In this case, The Book of Kells. Probably the most beautiful book in the world. Medieval books were not so much to read as they were works of art. (Cont on comment)

ofbooksandme The Book of Kells was created sometime in the IXth century in the Abbey of Kells. It's drawings are an exquisite mixture of Christian and Celtic arts,thoigh it was severely mutilated in the XIXth century (a destine shared in that period by many manuscripts). 7y
ofbooksandme What I shared with you is the first folio of the St John's Gospel (the Book of Kells is a Bible). In between all those drawings it says "In principio erat verbum et verbum". Yes, it says that. I know, right? And at the top there's a cute drawing of St. John. 7y
ofbooksandme This was loooong. If you got here, thank you! If you want to #askmedievalkaru (that's me) something, please feel free to do it! I love talking about this! 7y
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SmallestAct @ofbooksandme Did you see the movie The Book of Kells? It has amazing artwork, I love the animation. It's about the people who illuminated the texts. 7y
ofbooksandme @SmallestAct Yes! I love it (the same Irish studio has another movie called The song of the Sea that I also highly recommend). The animation of the film is so deeply entrenched with the style of the manuscript. It's truly amazing. 7y
SmallestAct @ofbooksandme The song of the sea is high on my 'To watch'-stack! I'm so glad I found someone who knows these movies:D 7y
BookishMe Fascinating! 7y
LoveToReadLiveToRead Interesting post! I really like this type of art, I remember studying some similar stuff in school. I think it must have been the Lindisfarne gospels as I‘m from the north east of England so that would make sense. (edited) 7y
LoveToReadLiveToRead Also, The Song of the Sea made me weep like a baby when I watched it on a flight a few years ago! 😭😭😭 7y
ofbooksandme @BookishMe I know, right? Heres a random fact for your enjoyment: contrary to what the drawings show, the copy of the actual text is somewhat careless. It has many mistakes, omitted words and repeated phrases. All for this apparently shows that it was not meant for daily use, but for very few special occasions (like Easter mass) 7y
ofbooksandme @Lovetoreadlivetoread Yes! It just have been.The Lindisfarne gospels share some of the same Celtic influences. Another beautiful manuscript mixing the Christian, Celtic and Saxon traditions. If you're ever I Dublin and haven't been before, I recommend you go see Kells. It's such a precious experience. 7y
BookishMe 👍🏽 👍🏽 7y
drokka I visited the book when I was in Dublin, but it was open to a page with only text that day (they turn the page every morning). I felt a bit underwhelmed. I had to keep reminding myself that it's existence alone is an achievement. Then I saw other gorgeous psalters there and fell in love with one. I need to find the journal I wrote it's name in, but it was just a wee thing. 7y
44 likes13 comments
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IamIamIam
The Book of Kells | R. A. MacAvoy
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Yes, #Littens, this room smells just as good as it looks!!! #thestuffofdreams #TheLongRoom #TrinityCollege #Dublin #booksniffer

TamarackTrail Please tell me you're allowed to climb the ladders..... 7y
goodbyefrancie Oh my! 7y
Reviewsbylola Whoa! 😍 7y
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IamIamIam @TamarackTrail I SOOOO wish!!!!! I wanted to climb the spiral staircase at the entrance, though!!!! 😍😍😍 7y
Debiw781 I loved my visit to Ireland! Dragged my husband to this ❤️ 7y
MrBook Oh, heck yeah!!! 7y
27 likes6 comments
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lauralovesbooks1
The Book of Kells | R. A. MacAvoy
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I'm not going to lie -- I got a little teary-eyed today when I stood in Trinity Library.

Bambolina_81 I so want to visit there! My friend went to uni there and I was so envious 😍 8y
18 likes1 comment
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TeR
The Book of Kells | R. A. MacAvoy
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And here we have made it! The book of Kells and the long room at Trinity College. Gorgeous💚

LeahBergen ❤❤ 8y
ValerieAndBooks Nice 😍 8y
PurpleyPumpkin I loved it there. THE place to visit if you're a bibliophile. Glad you're enjoying it!😉☘️ 8y
rabbitprincess The Long Room smells so good! Mmmmmm old book smell ♥️ 8y
43 likes4 comments
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BeththeBookDragon
Book of Kells | R a MacAvoy
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An example from the Irish Nationality Room at the Cathedral of Learning at Pitt

rockpools Stunning! 8y
Louise Gorgeous! ❤ 8y
Suzze Wow! 8y
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mklong Beautiful! 8y
beaniebankbeth Love the Cathedral of Learning. It's like Hogwarts. 8y
Kimzey Love this❣ 8y
LeahBergen ❤❤ 8y
BeththeBookDragon @beaniebankbeth My 5 year old swears he saw Harry Potter while we were there! 8y
beaniebankbeth @BeththeBookDragon I do have photographic evidence of graffiti carved in either one of the walls or tables that says "Ron + Hermione". ? 8y
105 likes9 comments