IMPAC Dublin Literary Award – Winner 2011

Winner of  IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2011 is the writer Colum McCann with his book ‘Let the Great World Spin‘.

 

The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is the largest and most international prize of its kind.

Local authors invited | Colm Keegan and Paul Kestell

Clondalkin readers Group hope to invite  local authors to  “read” with and facilitate them over the next few months. 

 Colm Keegan  local author/ poet   joined us in March to discuss “ Alone in Berlin” by  Hans Fallada   The book is part of a body of work  written in the 1930 ‘s 40’s which  has been recently republished. The group which is all female were delighted to be  given a male perspective and also as  a poet  Colm drew our attention to the authors “old fashioned” turns of phrase and use of language . The book would have been a departure from the regular choices however it provoked a very lively discussion.

 Colm hopes to be with us when we next meet with visiting author Paul Kestell in  April to discuss that authors work “Viareggio”  and again in May when the group will  be reading “Shantaram”, a more contemporary novel by Gregory David Roberts

Bookclub Choice for April 2011

April will see the visit of author Paul Kestell to Clondalkin library book club.  The meeting is on Thursday 21st April and all are welcome.  Book lovers may have heard Paul being interviewed on the Arena show on RTE Radio 1 on 23rd March. Listen the interview here.

  Viaréggio – Paul Kestell

 ” Viareggio, the debut novel from the pen of Irish writer Paul Kestell, presents the story of a man’s struggle with his mortality after a heart bypass operation. Of course, there is nothing quite like a close shave with death to focus the mind resolutely on the unsavoury matter of mortality. Kestell’s hero, Stephen, takes Socrates’ wisdom to heart, pardon the pun, as he embarks on an exhaustive journey of self-analysis.” -Review Independent

 Viaréggio in Facebook

Bookclub Blog for March 2011

The Book for March is Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada.

Every Man Dies Alone or Alone in Berlin (German: Jeder stirbt für sich allein) is a 1947 novel by German author Hans Fallada. It is based on the true story of a working class husband and wife, Otto and Elise Hampel, who committed acts of civil disobedience in Berlin during World War II before being caught, tried by Judge Roland Freisler, and executed in Plötzensee Prison. Fallada’s book was one of the first anti-Nazi novels to be published by a German after World War II. Primo Levi said it is “the greatest book ever written about German resistance to the Nazis.” -Wikipedia

Did you read this book? Give your opinion, leave a comment!

Bookclub Book for January 2011

The Book for January is The Room by Emma Donoghue.

Visit the Website of the book, you’ll find extra information about the book.

The story is told from the perspective of a five-year-boy, Jack, who is being held captive in a small room along with his mother.

Bookclub Book for December 2010

The Book for December is The Slap by Christos Tsiolkos.

“The Slap, which was first published in Australia in 2008 and has since won the Commonwealth prize, is a “way we live now” novel, and it is riveting from beginning to end.” -Book Review by The Guardian

Man Booker Prize 2010

Man Booker Prize for Fiction -

won by Howard Jacobson for

The Finkler Question

“For some writers a thorough investigation of the situation of British Jews today might do as the subject for a single book. In The Finkler Question it’s combined with his characteristically unsparing – but not unkindly – ruminations on love, ageing, death and grief. He also manages his customary – but not easy – trick of fusing all of the above with genuine comedy. And sentence by sentence, there are few writers who exhibit the same unawed respect for language or such a relentless commitment to re-examining even the most seemingly unobjectionable of received wisdoms.”  Review by  Thelegraph

Upcoming Events

October Bookclub Meeting Thursday 28th @6.30pm

October 2010 Meeting

BookClub Meeting on Thursday  October 28th-Book up for discussion is

Lacuna by Barbara Kingslover

and we will be readingThe Elegance of The Hedgehog by  Muriel Barbery

Bookclub Book for August 2010

 

The Book for August is Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

“From one of our finest living writers, Wolf Hall is that very rare thing: a truly great English novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. With a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us Tudor England as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion and suffering and courage.” Review The Man Booket Prizes.