*That’s all Folks!

So there we have it. Another Reading Ireland Month/ Begorrathon is over and what a great month it was!

With over 130 blog posts, an array of writers, poets, musicians and movies were explored. I read and reviewed 20 books by Irish authors, reduced the 746 by 10 and discovered many, many more writers I would love to read!

You can still check out, or add to, the link up here which has gathered together all your fantastic posts.

As usual, I ran out of time and didn’t get to read everything I had planned. I also ran out of time to post about Lisa McInerney’s fabulous The Glorious Heresies and the wonderful Irish documentary The Queen of Ireland.

But you know, my kids had to eat and I had to sleep so I squeezed in what I could! Next year could someone make March just a few days longer?!

Congratulations to the winners of my giveaways:

Annabel at Annabel’s House of Books won the signed copy of Gull by Glenn Patterson

Fiction Fan won a copy of The Long Gaze Back and The Visitor by Maeve Brennan

Madame Bibilophile won a copy of Fallen by Lia Mills

There will be one final giveaway of a subscription to Irish literary journal The Stinging Fly which will be open to everyone who contributed a Reading Ireland Month post and I will make the draw next week once all posts have been added.

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Highlights of the month for me were the response to my post about the criminally under read Maeve Brennan, seeing your choices for the month and getting into a Twitter chat with Lia Mills about my slowly decreasing TBR!

The main highlight though was all the fantastic enthusiasm and support I received from the blogosphere. Thanks to everyone who took part, from the blog posts to the retweets, you have all been supportive and joined in the fun.

Thanks to Niall at The Fluff is Raging for co-hosting this year’s celebration with me. Remember The Begorrathon Facebook page celebrates Irish literature and culture all year round, so do give us a follow.

For now though, it’s back to normality here at 746books. I’ll keep working away at that TBR and I am looking forward to planning my books for the 20 Books of Summer Challenge.

As usual in the week after Reading Ireland Month, I question whether or not I will do it again, but I’m sure Reading Ireland Month will return in some shape or form. I’ve even been debating whether or not there would be any interest out there for a Ulysses Readalong?

Am I mad? Most likely….

Ireland Month Irish Literature #begorrathon16 #readireland16 irishliterature lia mills maeve brennan reading ireland month ulysses