On swanky hotels, Gráinne O’Malley’s tailor-made pirate outfits, and her own unusual hidden talent. Mary Beth Keane’s novel, Ask Again, Yes, is a lyrical, moving tale spanning 40 years about family, love, alcoholism, and mental illness. Told with tenderness and empathy for the human condition, it is juxtaposed with just the right amount of humor to carry the story along. … [Read more...] about What Are You Like? Writer Mary Beth Keane
Book Review
Review of Books
Recently-published books of Irish and Irish-American interest. ℘℘℘ FICTION A Keeper By: Graham Norton As a friend commented recently, is there anything Graham Norton can’t do? He’s already got the perfect chat show, the reasonably decent wine varieties, and even added best-selling novelist to his array of talents two years ago with Holding. And now, the so-called difficult … [Read more...] about Review of Books
Review of Books
Recently-published books of Irish and Irish American interest. ℘℘℘ FICTION Normal People By: Sally Rooney There is something quietly knowing in the title of Sally Rooney’s second novel. Perhaps the reader is lulled into a false sense of security by the reassurance that these are characters just like us. And for the most part, they are. But anyone who read her first book – … [Read more...] about Review of Books
Review of Books
Recently-published books of Irish-American interest. NON-FICTION Poets and the Peacock Dinner By Lucy McDiarmid Virginia Woolf wrote, “one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well,” a message that permeates Lucy McDiarmid’s sumptuous new book Poets and the Peacock Dinner. McDiarmid, a professor of English at Montclair State University in New … [Read more...] about Review of Books
Review of Books
Recently published books of Irish and Irish American interest. ℘℘℘ The Opal Deception Eoin Colfer The Artemis Fowl franchise keeps rolling along. Often dubbed "the Irish Harry Potter," written by former school-teacher Eoin Colfer, the fourth book in the Fowl series is now out, entitled The Opal Deception. In this latest adventure for kids and teens, Artemis, the brilliant … [Read more...] about Review of Books