Reading Ireland Month: Week 1 round-up and giveaway!
Well, that brings week one of Reading Ireland Month to a close and what a great week to kick everything off!
It was ‘Contemporary Novels’ week on 746 Books and I reviewed:
- Midnight Feast by Martina Evans
- The Truth Must Dazzle Gradually by Helen Cullen
- Foster by Claire Keegan
I also posted about the forthcoming Irish novels that I’m most excited to read and there are so many that I had to create not one but two posts! And finally, my Six Degrees of Separation had a distinctly Irish feel!
Reading lists are being made and book piles assembled and this week saw planning posts by Lynne at Fictionophile, Peggy at Peggy’s Porch, Carla at Carla Loves to Read and Cath over at Cath Humphris blog.
Nancy Elin shared a wonderful poem called Still by Felicia Olusanya, which was commissioned by RTE in response to the pandemic.
Reviews this week came from:
- Niall at Raging Fluff reviewed The Book of Evidence by John Banville
- Von at V’s View from the Bookshelves reviewed The Storm Keepers Battle by Catherine Doyle
- Cath at Cath Humphris reviewed In the Car with the Rain Coming Down by Jan Carson
- J.C. Greenway over at Ten Million Hardbacks re-shared a review of Seamus Deane’s masterpiece Reading in the Dark
- Sam at Taking on a World of Words reviewed Say Nothing by Patrick Raden Keaffe
- Virginia at Rosepoint publishing reviewed The Shortest Day by Colm Toibin; the audio book of The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue and Murder in an Irish Bookshop by Carlene O’Connor.
- Carla at Carla Loves to Read also reviewed The Pull of the Stars as well as The Dead House by Billy O’Callaghan
- Lynne at Fictionophile reviewed Big Girl Small Town by Michelle Gallen and The Silent House by Laura Elliot
- Laila at Big Reading Life reviewed the wonderful Tatty by Christine Dwyer-Hickey
It’s also been a great week for news about Irish writers too. The legend that is Edna O’Brien was honoured with France’s highest cultural distinction, being made a Commandeur of Ordre des Arts et Lettres, while poet Paul Muldoon was announced as editor of Paul McCartney’s ‘autobiography‘ The Lyrics, due out later this year.
To celebrate the start of Reading Ireland Month, I’m giving away a copy of this year’s One Dublin One Book choice, Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónán Hession.
Leonard and Hungry Paul is the story of two friends trying to find their place in the world. It is about those uncelebrated people who have the ability to change the world, not by effort or force, but through their appreciation of all that is special and overlooked in life.
Rónán Hession is an Irish writer based in Dublin. His debut novel Leonard and Hungry Paul was published by Bluemoose Books in the UK and by Melville House Books in the US and his follow up Panenka will be published in May.
If you’d like to be entered for the draw (I will post world-wide) then just let me know in the comments!
Check back in next week when I’ll be exploring Classic Irish Novels and there will be another giveaway.
Thanks to all who have taken part so far, read, commented on and retweeted Reading Ireland Month posts. Don’t forget to keep an eye on the hashtag #readingirelandmonth21 and link up any posts here.
You’re legends, the lot of ye!
Ireland Month #readingirelandmonth21 giveaway reading ireland month
Cathy746books View All →
I am a 40 something book buying addict trying to reduce the backlog one book at a time!
Thank you for providing this round-up Cathy as I had missed a couple of these reviews during the week. The first week of your reading Ireland month has opened my eyes to so many writers who are new to me, my TBR list grows ever longer. I am looking forward to reading your reviews of classic Irish novels next week. Take care 💚 ☘️
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A pleasure Veronica, glad to hear you are enjoying the posts x
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Thanks for sharing the poem “Still”, it is very thought provoking and the spoken word performance was amazing. If you don’t mind shipping to Canada, then i would love to enter the draw. Thanks for including my posts. I hope to have two more next week.
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No problem Carla, happy to ship anywhere 🙂
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Still haunted by ‘Foster’, the Claire Keegan short story you introduced us to last week, I’d love to be considered for the draw for Rónán Hession’s new book. Perhaps that will affect me as much as Keegan’s work did.
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No problem Mari, good luck!
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I’m not entering the giveaway because I have already read the book (a book club choice that had very mixed reactions).
Thanks for doing this round up; this week I am way behind on reading blog posts so its helpful to have everything in one place.
Not another book about McCartney – what can there possibly be left to say!!!
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Thanks Karen!
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I snuck in my contemporary Ireland post, and I’m not going to enter the giveaway, because obviously I’ve already read this book. It does have to go back to the library, but I’ll give someone else a chance to win. I’ll enter the other giveaways. Now to catch up on everyone else’s reviews!
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Thanks Laura!
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Just a heads up you linked to my blog instead of Fictionophile’s–I was wondering why I got the pingback since I haven’t posted any Reading Ireland Month content (YET!!)
I’ll throw my hat in the ring for the giveaway, I’ve had this on my TBR for ages and Rónán is very nice on Twitter!
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Oh sorry about that!
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No worries at all, just wanted to make sure Fictionophile gets her rightful ping 😀
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Looks like it’s going really well, I’m so pleased!
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Thanks Liz x
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I’m not even sure what week this is at the moment (brain tired, Friday) but so far this month I’ve done The Pull of the Stars [https://www.instagram.com/p/CMFyH1rgBTZ/?igshid=1u1hwls5cx3xl] (possibly the most read book of the readathon so far? as at least two others have read it based on your list above). And I’ve listened to Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan twice. Because of the audiobook I now know how to pronounce Naoise. I wouldn’t have guessed that pronunciation but isn’t it a lovely name!
I have one of the other books Carla read, The Dead House, but may save it for fall and do a bit of Edna O’Brien next.
Please do put me in the the giveaway if that’s still on the go.
Have a lovely weekend!
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yes Lara, The Pull of the Stars seems pretty popular!
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I’d love to be entered in the drawing please! Good roundup for your first week. Thank you!
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You have so many new posts to explore! I can’t wait to check out the upcoming Irish books!
Here seems as good a place as any to tell you my bittersweet tale… I thought I was on the ball when I picked up Reservoir 13 and finally read it in lots of time for Reading Ireland Month. Then I discovered that the author is British, not Irish! I don’t know why I assumed he was Irish… His name? That I clearly remember reading your review of If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things?
Bittersweet because the book was so good that I can’t be sorry I read it!
On the lookout now for an actual Irish book. 🙂
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Love it Naomi! That is actually one of my favourite ever books and I’m planning to reread it next month!
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Enjoy!
P.S. Have picked a book by Colm Toibin! (I found it at the used book store I went to yesterday.) 🙂
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