This novel is all about the psychological. Set in New York in the sixties, it tells the story of Constance, who at the age of twenty-one marries Sidney, an author and literacy expert in his late forties. Sidney, who had been married twice before became fascinated by...
Wow, what a fantastic novel but at 471 pages in length, it’s not a quick read (although I wasn’t able to put it down for long). This novel tells the story of a paedophile priest and assists the reader in getting to grips with the clerical abuse scandals that first...
This novel is 24 years old now so hardly new, however, it has been reprinted several times over the years which shows how popular it has been. It’s a ‘coming out’ story about a young man and is set in Blackrock in Dublin. Although we now live in a very changed world...
Loved it, loved it and loved it. This is easily the best novel I have read in ages. It was recommended to me by his brother Kevin who commented on its originality. For me, The Thing about December delivers something very unique that Irish people in particular will...
This short novella is a quick and easy read. The story and narrative belongs to Mary, mother of Jesus, as an elderly woman living her final years in exile in Ephesus (Turkey) whilst looking back on her life, and in a state of fear that she might get captured and...
I consider myself a well-educated man but I defy anybody to read a John Banville novel and not have to make a few trips to the dictionary. He certainly has an expansive vocabulary at his disposal. He reminded me of Francis Mac Manus – an Irish writer long since dead....
It is said that humour comes in many varieties. I wasn’t keen on the variety shown in this book by Iain Banks and rather suspect it’s an acquired taste. It’s the quirky socialist type, often associated with Guardian readers, but in this book it is mingled in with...
This classic read (first published in 2000) is about the brutality and horrendousness of AIDS. No modern disease can frighten in the way AIDS can, but none more so than in the 1980s and 90s before antiretroviral drugs became a lifeline and replaced the automatic death...
Giannis, my Greek friend, recommended this book to me and how pleased I am that he did. Published for the first time in 1950, Doris Lessing’s story of racism and white supremacy in Africa (set in Rhodesia – which is now Zimbabwe) reminds us of racism in its purest...
This really is a very enjoyable read. It left me in a state of awe at how well it’s written. It’s no surprise that it has sold several million copies in the UK and the USA. It's a gripping thriller set in London suburbia. Paula Hawkins has done a superb job at...
This is easily one of the best books I have ever read and possibly one of the best books written in modern times, according to some online reviews. Although I finished reading it a few days ago, I am still thinking about Zac, the main character. Have you ever watched...
I’ve just been looking at my eyes in the mirror. They have definitely increased in size since reading this ‘thriller’ by Paul Read (pictured inset). The novel is an eye-opener purely because of the sheer un-believability of the plot. Every chapter gets more and more...
