Irish Archives - BookDragon

Twelve Percent Dread by Emily McGovern [in Booklist]

17 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, British, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Irish, Repost

Irish cartoonist Emily McGovern’s sophomore graphic novel slyly examines screen-dependent twentysomethings stumbling through London life. At 25, Katie still lacks steady employment (and income). She rents a small room with gender-fluid, not-working artist Nas in has-been actor Jeremy’s townhouse. Katie and Nas are ex-best friends who...

The Con Artists by Luke Healy [in Shelf Awareness]

28 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Irish, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW The prologue alone to Luke Healy's sharp, skilled The Con Artists is a wow-inducing example of show-don't-tell genius. "Oh, hello. I'm Luke Healy, the author of this book. No big deal," he modestly introduces himself. As he reads "a prepared statement" – the usual "entirely...

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan [in Booklist]

04 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Irish, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Narrator Aidan Kelly persuasively transforms Claire Keegan’s brilliantly polished story into a gorgeous treasure. Adapting the lilting rhythms of Keegan’s Irish-accented English, Kelly utterly embodies local coal man Bill Furlong making his delivery rounds as the Christmas holiday approaches. A devoted husband and father of...

Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman [in Booklist]

04 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Irish, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

An octogenarian shoplifter doesn’t quite seem like a likely hero, but British actor Siobhan Waring will certainly make you believe otherwise. Kleptomaniacal Irish matriarch Millie is caught yet again at the village shop and this time her son Kevin (energetically embodied by Irish-born Gary Furlong)...

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy [in Booklist]

30 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Australian, Fiction, Irish, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Seasoned narrator Barrie Kreinik showcases her prowess as a dialect coach as she embodies Charlotte McConaghy’s vast cast around the world from Australia to Ireland to Greenland, traversing quickly emptying terrains and oceans. Making her adult fiction debut, McConaghy introduces Franny Stone, an untethered...

I Am I Am I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O’Farrell [in Library Journal]

03 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Irish, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Cats may have nine lives, but Maggie O’Farrell, who won the Costa Book Award for The Hand That First Held Mine, has had 17, as revealed in this stupendous collection of essays named for various body parts that have caused her near demise. Her...

Smile by Roddy Doyle [in Library Journal]

18 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Irish, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Short Stories

*STARRED REVIEW When an author is as spectacular reading his work as his writing is on the page, the result is a literary treasure. Having created these characters, Roddy Doyle (Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha) knows exactly who endures, who lashes out, who threatens, who flirts,...

The Glorious Heresies by Gloria McInerney [in Library Journal]

14 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction, Irish, Repost

This may be Lisa McInerney’s debut novel, but the author has had plenty of practice chronicling daily life in her lauded blog, "Arse End of Ireland." Arriving stateside, already impressively awarded (2016 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction), Heresies melds wrenching reality with bitter comedy, taking...

The Secret Place [Dublin Murder Squad 5] by Tana French

22 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction, Irish

"One road and two extra-high walls" separate St. Kilda's and St. Colm's, two privileged, private schools for girls and boys, respectively. Christopher Harper, 16, of St. Colm's is found dead on the grounds of St. Kilda's. Over the next year, his murder remains unsolved ...

Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell

04 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Irish, Nonethnic-specific

Alas, this was the last Maggie O'Farrell I had left. Ever since discovering The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox (my first and still favorite, I admit), I've moved her books to the top of the top of the To-Be-Read piles with regularity. Now that I've...

The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell

03 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Irish, Nonethnic-specific

On a summer afternoon in mid-1950s rural England on the border between Devon and Cornwall, journalist Innes Kent, already 34, happens upon angry Alexandra Sinclair, not yet 22. During their brief exchange in her parents' yard after he hits car trouble, he manages to inadvertently...

Broken Harbor [Dublin Murder Squad 4] by Tana French

08 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Irish

With Broken Harbor finished, my Tana French days are over ...

Faithful Place [Dublin Murder Squad 3] by Tana French

25 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Irish

Tana French has a method to her mysteries: While all four of her titles are standalone thrillers, you'll get more out of each if you read them in chronological order because each book's protagonist is connected to the next. Rob opens the Dublin Murder Squad series with In the...

The Likeness [Dublin Murder Squad 2] by Tana French

19 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Irish

In the second installment of Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series, Cassie Maddox hasn't quite recovered from Operation Vestal of In the Woods, the series' debut. While she gained a caring, supportive, all-around good guy lover, she lost her partner who was also her very...

In the Woods [Dublin Murder Squad 1] by Tana French

14 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Irish

Okay, so Tana French’s website says that she won the coveted Oscar-for-mysteries Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 2007, but if you check the actual Edgars site (which has an 'I've never seen this anywhere else, but every award site should have one!'-database), that...

Astray by Emma Donoghue

24 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, Fiction, Irish, Nonethnic-specific, Short Stories

Maybe it's the craziness of the season, but I've really been appreciating short story collections. This latest title from Emma Donoghue – the author of the phenomenal Room – is an intriguingly composed compilation: Donoghue presents a story introduced with a specific city and year, then gives the 'ripped-from-the-headlines'...

Landing by Emma Donoghue

11 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, European, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Indian, Irish

Had I not been so enthralled with Room, I don't know if I would have discovered Emma Donoghue's many other titles, but I've definitely been enjoying reading newly discovered authors' works backwards. Take a look at the cover and you can probably guess what Landing is about....

Room by Emma Donoghue

24 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, Fiction, Irish, Nonethnic-specific

Room will leave you speechless. Listening to the audible version, pitch-perfectly performed by Michal Friedman, Ellen Archer, Robert Petkoff, and Suzanne Toren, is a chillingly addictive experience; even after you've turned off your device, you won't be able to stop Jack from haunting you. In spite...

BookDragon Irish