pickA dark story about the dead ends of life. Two characters kidnap a teen boy to force his brother to pay a drug dealing debt, stashing him at their loner cousin‘s house. The cousin is a young man who experiences depression and anxiety and is grieving the loss of his mother. The boy‘s girlfriend just wants to escape the town. It‘s a story that doesn‘t offer easy resolutions but brilliantly illustrates the dead ends in some communities.
I‘m going to be in Ireland at the beginning of May (Dublin, Cork, and Galway) and while I‘m doing a tour, I‘ll also have free time and would love suggestions of what to do/see!
#ireland #travel
pickA well written historical fiction set in the 7th century. Three monks leave Ireland to find an island without any people so they can live without any negative worldly influence. Train and Cormac are very likable men. Artt is more unlikely to be by the two other monks. The island is covered with sea birds, which are used for foods, fire, down, feathers until they leave for the winter. Will they survive? Lots of rituals and ceremonies. 4/5 stars
so-so4th book read from the Women‘s Prize for fiction long list. Mixed feelings with this one. It was beautifully written but I didn‘t find a well integration in the story, specially the first parts. In some parts I just lost interest because I felt author was jumping from one topic to another🤷🏽♀️Let‘s see if it included in the short list. It didn‘t work for me as I expected 3⭐️
so-so★★★☆☆
I bought this and read it to explore the clash of native worldview with Christianity in early mediaeval Ireland. The story was interesting and the writing was moving at times. It would have earned a higher rating if 1) it's central framing device wasn't that a pagan woman's writings somehow survived mediaeval Christianity into modern times in order to be translated by Horsely (so very unlikely that it borders on fantasy), ⬇️
pickNow living in Dublin,Maggie Darcy has just finished training as a Garda.She‘s walking a beat in the city, attuned to its relatively quiet daily rhythms.One day D‘arcy & her partner answer a call that ends up to be a murder scene of a young mother. The mother‘s toddler is missing. She‘s asked to help the investigating homicide team.What follows is a quest to find a murderer,& a kidnapper,in what turns out to be a quite devastating plot.
pickBeautifully written, a light touch that nonetheless brings the pain and fear of Northern Ireland at the peak of the troubles to life. Cushla is not an easy to like protagonist but her challenges, her ambiguous relationship with her religion, her deep care for her student soften off the edges of some of her poorer decisions. Would be a five star read but for the fact I was a bit icked out by the ‘great love story‘ which felt v unhealthy to me
Friday night read. #libraryfind I have a dilemma. Libraries are like bookstores to me. I come home with way too many books to read! My dilemma is that I have so many books in my TBR & yet I keep getting more library books to read. Then I feel like I need to read them because they have a time limit. What‘s a reader to do?!!
On a light note, Taylor Swift & her newly released music was reverberating all over the HS today.💃🎼🎸🎹💔❤️
