No 599 Intepreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
In the title story of this wonderful collection of short stories, Mr Das, a tour guide and taxi driver in India muses on his abandoned career plans. He had dreamed of being an interpreter for diplomats and dignitaries, resolving conflicts between people and nations, settling disputes of which he alone could understand both sides. Ideas…
No 628 The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
What a fantastic collection of stories to kick off my 20 Books of Summer Challenge! Often considered one of the most terrifying stories of the twentieth century, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery created a sensation when it was first published in 1948. The New Yorker received a record number of complaints about the story ranging from…
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Young Skins and New Irish Voices
The Long Gaze Back – A Giveaway!
To celebrate Irish women writers, I am delighted to host a very exciting giveaway on the blog this week. I will be giving away a hardback copy of The Long Gaze Back, an anthology of short stories by Irish female writers, edited by Sinéad Gleeson along with a copy of Maeve Brennan’s novella The Visitor,…
A Slanting of the Sun by Donal Ryan
After years of rejection, Donal Ryan’s The Spinning Heart, a tale of the impact of the recession on the lives of people in rural Ireland, became a literary sensation. He won the Guardian First Book Award, the EU Prize for Literature and the Irish Book Award as well as being longlisted for the Booker Prize.…
No 637 Dark Lies the Island by Kevin Barry
William Trevor, one of Ireland’s most lauded short story writers says, Heroes don’t really belong in short stories. As Frank O’Connor said, “Short stories are about little people,” and I agree. I find the unheroic side of people much richer and more entertaining than black-and-white success. Kevin Barry’s Dark Lies the Island is a…
Dinosaurs on Other Planets by Danielle McLaughlin
In The Night of the Silver Fox, one of the many stand out stories in Danielle McLaughlin’s memorable collection Dinosaurs on Other Planets, a character notes that Trouble knows its way around Trouble certainly knows it’s way around in these 11 stories – each an intense exploration of loneliness and distance, each displaying the vulnerability…
Announcing Reading Ireland Month 2016!
A Kind of Compass: Stories on Distance edited by Belinda McKeon
Tramp Press a new independent publishing house based in Dublin was founded by Sarah Davis-Goff and Lisa Coen to encourage, support and maintain Ireland’s literary talent. Their aim to publish books for readers and to bring great writing in from the cold seems to be paying off as Sara Baume’s Spill Simmer Falter Wither was…
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