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Walk the Blue Fields
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
16 posts | 13 read | 8 to read
Claire Keegans brilliant debut collection, Antarctica, was a Los Angeles Times Book of the Year, and earned her resounding accolades on both sides of the Atlantic. Now she has delivered her next, much-anticipated book, Walk the Blue Fields, an unforgettable array of quietly wrenching stories about despair and desire in the timeless world of modern-day Ireland. In the never-before-published story The Long and Painful Death, a writer awarded a stay to work in Heinrich Blls old cottage has her peace interrupted by an unwelcome intruder, whose ulterior motives only emerge as the night progresses. In the title story, a priest waits at the altar to perform a marriage and, during the ceremony and the festivities that follow, battles his memories of a love affair with the bride that led him to question all to which he has dedicated his life; later that night, he finds an unlikely answer in the magical healing powers of a seer. A masterful portrait of a country wrestling with its past and of individuals eking out their futures, Walk the Blue Fields is a breathtaking collection from one of Irelands greatest talents, and a resounding articulation of all the yearnings of the human heart.
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review
HeatherBookNerd
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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Pickpick

Loved Small Things and then have made my way through Keegan's other books. Her writing is so spare and profound. Really love all her stuff.

tpixie Interesting- Litsy has JK Rowling s the author. Is this a mistake, or they both have a book with the same title… (edited) 3w
HeatherBookNerd I didn‘t catch that. No, Keegan is definitely not Rowling… 3w
28 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
Gissy
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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Pickpick

This is a collection of short stories about “despair and desire in the modern day Ireland” (book blurb). As always in my experience, some short stories are better than others. But I can say that what I like in all of them was author‘s writing style to describe the places, so atmospheric. Love the characters voices and love this cover. This the first time I read a book by this author, definitely it would not be the last one 3,5⭐️

Gissy March 2024
#ReadAway2024 @DieAReader @Andrew65 @Ghabi4Roses
#BookSpinBingo #8 #IrishReadathon prompt (green on the cover)
#ISpyBingo (maybe a sunrise? 😜🤣🤣🤣)
9mo
DieAReader 🥳Great! 9mo
39 likes2 comments
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Suet624
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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Pickpick

(This book is written by Keegan, not by Rowling, as you can see on the cover.) These short stories are pure Keegan & of course the writing is beautiful. However, maybe because it feels like the 120th day of no sunshine in VT, these stories all felt so sad. Then I realized all of Keegan‘s stories are sad. I‘m a sucker for sad stories usually but this time it was harder for me to recover from her world of complicated & depressed Irish men & women.

Gissy I recently bought this book by in a charity store. I need to read it then❤️ 11mo
Suet624 @Gissy the stories are all quite good. As we‘ve come to expect. 😊 11mo
sarahbarnes Another Keegan I haven‘t read yet! Stacking. I love the sadness of her writing as well. 11mo
See All 8 Comments
BarbaraBB I hadn‘t heard of this one. She writes so much! And I‘ve loved each book so far 11mo
Suet624 @BarbaraBB this book was published in 2007 so it‘s not new. 11mo
BarbaraBB Has she been writing for all these years? Her backlist must be enormous.. so much to catch up! 11mo
Reggie I hope the sun comes out soon for you, Sue. It rained for 6 days straight in Las Cruces in 2006. I remember thinking how down I was after the 4th day of no sun. Hope you feel better. 11mo
Suet624 @Reggie thanks for your comment, Reggie. I‘ve grown accustomed to gray skies but this phase has seemed endless. My little light box is getting a workout. Plus I‘m feeling pretty fragile around all the wars and the Republican dictator wanna be‘s. So sad books and I need to take a bit of a break. 11mo
66 likes1 stack add8 comments
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Deblovestoread
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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Pickpick

Enjoyed my books again this week although struggled to finish the tagged book. While there are some exquisite sentences in the book I am reminded that short stories just aren‘t my thing. #ShortStoryCollection #Booked23

Less than an hour on the Larson and Mirror is short. Not sure what‘s next…

#BookReport

Cinfhen It‘s rare for me to love an entire short story collection, too. Although I recently read & enjoyed this one. 2y
53 likes1 comment
blurb
mcctrish
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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My nightly ritual is to read a short story and have a drink ( tonight it‘s a glass of rosé) and slow down my brain. ( I do not know why JK Rowling is showing as the author, the author is Claire Keegan and she is so freaking fantastic I‘m pissed right off to see that JK Rowling there)

Bookwormjillk That‘s weird! 2y
JamieArc That sounds like a lovely way to end the day ❤️ 2y
mcctrish @Bookwormjillk it is! She hasn‘t written a forward or anything 2y
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Aimeesue That mis-attribution is very odd. 2y
Tamra Love her too! Yes, many of us have been exasperated by that tag. 2y
Suet624 Oh boy. I‘m with you on the Keegan/Rowling thought. 2y
51 likes6 comments
review
Lindy
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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Pickpick

“But death, at least, was certain. Every man needed to be certain of something.” The people in Irish author Claire Keegan‘s short stories tend to have many uncertainties — mostly due to circumstances. Being born a woman, or poor, or both, for example. They are interesting and seem true to life, no matter how eccentric. I enjoyed this audio production with three narrators: Aoife McMahon, Aidan Quinn and Aidan Kelly.

35 likes1 stack add
quote
Lindy
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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Your father moved into the other room but your mother gave him sex on his birthday. She‘d go into his room and they‘d have it there. It never took long and they never made noise, but you knew.

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Anna40
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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Pickpick

My favourites were the title story: Walk the blue fields and the last story in the collection: Night of the quicken trees.

Soubhiville Why is Rowling‘s name listed on the @litsy title line? Did she write the intro? That‘s annoying. 2y
Anna40 @Soubhiville I think it‘s weird and annoying too because Claire Keegan is the author and in my edition there is no foreword by Rowling. She‘s nowhere in the collection 😒 2y
Tamra Yes, that happened to me too. It‘s confusing with Rowling‘s name tagged. 2y
26 likes3 comments
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Tamra
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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Pickpick

Definite fan of Claire Keegan! I‘ve only listened to the tagged collection and read Small Things like These, but I‘m going to gobble up anything else she has written. Very engaging and intimate characterization. I‘m going to keep my eyes peeled for the tagged book in print.

Ruthiella Just so you know, you tagged a different book than the Keegan. 2y
Tamra @Ruthiella I noticed Rowling AND Keegan are listed as authors. (Click on the title.) Did Rowling write a forward? No clue! 🤷🏾‍♀️ (edited) 2y
Ruthiella @Tamra Hmmm. You‘d think the author‘s name would come first? 🤔 Maybe not when the author is as famous as JKR! 2y
Tamra @Ruthiella weird, I know! 2y
charl08 Another fan here. Everything I've read by her so far has been brilliant, hope I don't run out! 2y
56 likes5 comments
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Tamra
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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Just listened to the first short story of this collection and what a fabulous beginning to what I suspect is going to be a trove of delights!

jlhammar I loved this collection. Hope you enjoy! 2y
Tamra @jlhammar I am betting I will! 2y
68 likes2 comments
quote
charl08
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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Not five minutes after she'd hung the wash out on the line...

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charl08
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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Why can't they stop talking and embrace each other?

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blurb
DrexEdit
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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Hey, look at this! A #BookReport that's actually on time. Above is my report for the month of November. I did not finish as many books as I did in October. The top row are the books that I finished. All of them are really good!

The bottom row are all books in progress for various reasons. The #LibraryLottery has been impacting my reading *hard* this month. Plus more #chunksters on the month's #TBR. Pressing on!

@Cinfhen

Cinfhen Woohoo 🙌🏻 so glad you had a great reading month!! Quality over quantity is always better!!! And you still managed to read a lot!!! Hope you find the time to read in December 💚 3y
35 likes1 comment
blurb
DrexEdit
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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Claire Keegan is becoming a must-read author for me. I love her spare, strong writing style. This collection of short stories, while not all complete winners, are all worth your time. If you need more Irish writers on your #TBR, Keegan is a strong choice! I come away from reading them feeling like I've learned something true about what it means to be Irish.

This counts for my short story #bookspin commitment for the month!
@TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 3y
33 likes1 comment
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DrexEdit
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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Earlier, the women came with flowers, each one a deeper shade of red.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

blurb
TheEllieMo
Walk the Blue Fields: Stories | J.K. Rowling , Claire Keegan
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My partner assembled my new garden seat today, I‘m looking forward to spending some time here with a few good books (and a glass of gin!)

TrishB Looks great 👍🏻 3y
Leftcoastzen Lovely! 3y
wanderinglynn How lovely! 3y
BethM 😍 3y
42 likes4 comments