“When we hold onto each other, we find home.”
“A thread of love weaves through every challenge.“
pickA heartwarming family story of Irish immigrants finding strength and connection through the art of lace-making.
pickI enjoyed this collection of pandemic stories, even though---like the days during lockdown---the stories tend to blend into one another. In these stories, Doyle explores with sensitivity issues of connection, estrangement, vulnerability, mental illness, substance abuse, and grief. I know a lot of people still don't like revisiting that time, but I find it intriguing and therapeutic to look back at those years that have influenced so much.
pickSolid pick. Rural Ireland crime drama with believable flawed characters; great writing.
#Nov2024 Book107 #audiobook #DogsofLitsy #CopperBopper #whpg #Autumn #MyStreet
I didn‘t even know this book had been written. I thought I‘d read all of Keegan‘s works. Then @Cathythoughts recently reviewed it & I explored my public libraries to no avail. Imagine my surprise as I was walking on the rail trail and peeked inside a free library in a remote location. I look in this LFL often and the books are always the same, kind of unappealing. But today, at the bottom of a new pile of books, this book was winking at me. 💕💕
pickLove this. Bumblers into heroes arc, beautiful prose, beautifully paced. Set in Sicily during the Peloponnesian War, but laced with Irish jargon and a stripped-down setting of quarries & markets for a sense of timelessness near the “wine-dark” sea. Brutality & art. Preservation of culture. Entertaining the enemy. Funny & sentimental. Crazy premise (stage Medea with actors now prisoners of war) becomes a beautiful mediation on art & freedom. 2024
pickGoodness this one hits hard. Dystopian fiction that feels not many miles from our reality. I‘ve always enjoyed dystopian fiction but this is bleak; watching Eilish‘s normal life unravel, the decisions made too late, her desperate attempts to protect her children from the state. The questioning as to how you would respond to these circumstances. An extremely powerful way to tell a terrifying story💔
I decided to pause and try something from my freebies stash before I continue with the Burnished City. THE IRISH COTTAGE‘s pacing put me off at first, but I mostly like the characters and it‘s got great foreigner-in-Ireland vibes so I‘ve stuck with it and I‘m really enjoying it.
ALSO, I stopped at Michael‘s to get out of the rain and found some excellent Hallowe‘en clearance. I shall paint it black and orange.
