New poems by Pat!!

PAWMARKS ON MY POEMS 

This is a new collection of beautifully humorous poetry from local legend Pat Ingoldsby - it will make a perfect Easter treat for someone special! Just €15!

New top tens

TOP 10 NEW CRIME FICTION

1. A Wanted Man

by Lee Child

2. The Black Box

by Michael Connelly

3. Live by Night

by Dennis Lehane

4. The Savage Altar

by Asa Larsson

5. Never saw it coming    

by Brian Freeman

6. Creole Belle

by James Lee Burke

7. Istanbul Passage

by Joseph Kanon

8. The Bat

By Jo Nesbo 

9. Gone Girl

by Gillian Flynn

10. Lucifers Tears

by James Thompson

TOP 10 NEW FICTION

1. One Last Thing before I go

by Jonathan Tropper

2. Once Upon a River

by Bonnie Jo Campbell

3. HHhH 

by John Laurent Binet

4. Hope: A Tragedy

by Shalom Auslander

5. The Rules of Civility

by Amor Towles

6. May We be Forgiven

by A.M. Holmes 

7. Old Filth

by Jane Gardam

8. The Glass Room

By Simon Mawer

9. The Beginner Goodbye

by Anne Tyler

10. Sweet Tooth

by Ian McEwan

A tale of Empire

Old Filth by Jane Gardam is a great novel which follows the decline of the British Empire through life story of Old Filth. FILTH, in his heyday, was an international lawyer with a practice in the Far East. Now, only the oldest QCs and Silks can remember that his nickname stood for Failed In London Try Hong Kong. Long ago, Old Filth was a Raj orphan - one of the many young children sent 'Home' from the East to be fostered and educated in England. Available in the shop for €11.70

I Just finished reading the fourteenth and final book in the epic Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. For fans of the series it is a worthy ending, The Last Battle is fought. I won't give any spoilers.
For those of you who haven't read Robert Jordan and want to get you teeth into some good fantasy, the first book is called The Eye of The World. That I am still reading these books after 12 years and 14 books is a testament to how enjoyable the are.


Life in Emond's Field has been pretty boring for Rand Al'Thor and his friends until a strange young woman arrives in their village. Moraine is an Aes Sedai, a magician with the ability to wield the One Power, and she brings warnings of a terrible evil awakening in the world. That very night, the village is attacked by bloodthirsty Trollocs - a fearsome tribe of beast-men thought to be no more than myth. As Emond's Field burns, Moraine and her warrior-guardian help Rand and his companions to escape. But it is only the beginning of their troubles. For Moraine believes Rand Al'Thor is the Dragon Reborn, and that he is fated to unite the world against the rising darkness and lead the fight against a being so powerful and evil it is known simply as the Dark One.

My favorite book this Christmas is A.M. Holme's brilliantly written "May We Be Forgiven."

My favorite book this Christmas is A.M. Holme's brilliantly written "May We Be Forgiven."

This is a novel about the destruction of a family and how the main character pulls it and himself back together. It is an ambitious and often enthralling book, which 

The Silver family seem like the perfect product of the American dream. The descendant of recent immigrants, George is a highly rewarded television executive, married to Jane, a beauty, with two kids at boarding school; his brother, Harold, is a professor of history. So far, so successful. But the Thanksgiving scene at the beginning of the novel is full of intimations of trouble: Harold fancies Jane; the children are locked into computer screens; nobody helps clear up. Before the reader has even had a chance to blink, George has gone mad, killed two people, been sectioned, escaped, found Harold in bed with Jane, and murdered the latter with a lamp.

Homes plays with the substance of the American dream, and gives us a horrific, internet-age deconstruction. In homage to the fast-paced, senselessly violent narratives with which we are increasingly surrounded, she piles the incidents on Harold and his remaining family without breaking narrative stride. Her style – pacy, unwordy and direct – moves things along breathlessly. Soon after George is put (again) in a mental hospital, Harold embarks on a string of casual sexual encounters, is imprisoned by two children, and is sacked from his teaching job. These things happen, Homes suggests, because we all live in bubbles, incapable of communicating, kept alive by suspicion and medication.

There is a sense that we are becoming desensitised, not just emotionally, but in all other aspects, through technology. Everybody in the book is seeking some kind of relationship, even if, like George, they are incapable of keeping it. A female teacher finds comfort in George’s 11-year-old daughter; two demented old people that Harold ends up housing nurse dolls as if they were children. And yet nobody really knows how to connect with others in a true manner. Harold muses: “The loss of the human touch scares me.”

The narrative is unrelenting, and yet it makes a kind of sense that all these troubles should be brought to bear on a few individuals. What’s interesting about this book is that for all its ferocious now-ness, its messages are old fashioned. Peace is found in a South African village, amongst community and participation; acts of kindness bring their own rewards. Homes, however, is not a pious or a schmaltzy writer – she is aware that things are compromised, as when George’s son Nate realises that the South African villagers he’s been supporting are really only interested in what material goods they can buy. But this doesn’t detract from the morality of the book’s core. Only connect, Homes tells us, and we can escape the nightmare of the 21st century – if only for a while.

Nordic crime lovers- Asa Larsson

If you are like me and have spent the last few years reading crime fiction set in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, you will love the new author that Village Books has discovered- Asa Larsson. Her series of novels are set in Kiruna which is in Lapland in the North of Sweden. Her books revolve around a young female lawyer Rebecka Martinsson and two local detectives Anna-Maria Mella and Sven-Ulrich. Kiruna in Lapland is the location of a baptist religious revival which forms the backdrop to the crimes. The extreme weather, constant daylight, subzero conditions and Sami culture which Larsson explores provide an insight into this unusual location. I have just read three Asa Larsson books in a row, I thoroughly recommend them. Start with the first book "The Savage Altar".

What Mary read on holidays...

I had a wonderful holiday in Spain, sipping Manzanilla, eating omelettes and of course reading loads.

Here is what I read: "Live by Night" the new Denis Lehane, set in a casino in 1920s. "The Bat"by Jo Nesbo which tells the story of Harry Hole first detection of a serial killer in Australia....great read, I love Harry. Another great series of nordic crime thrillers that I tried were the ASA Larsson series, a great find.

After all those thrillers, I read "The Cutting Season" by Attica Locke, a murder set the in an American plantation and "We may be forgiven" by AM Holmes a darkly comic look at 21st century domestic life. Eileen Battersby gave it a great review, here's the link:http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2012/1027/1224325763317.html