Review: The Night of the Party by Rachael English

Challenge criteria: A book with a time of day in the title.

Blurb:

January 1982: In the village of Kilmitten, the Crossan family are holding their annual party during the biggest snowstorm Ireland has seen in decades. By the end of the night, the parish priest, Father Leo Galvin, is dead.

The lives of four teenagers – Tom, Conor, Tess and Nina – who had been drinking beer and smoking in a shed at the back of the house, will never be the same. But one of them carries a secret from that night that he has never shared.

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Review: The Break by Marian Keyes

This book did not fit any of my challenge criteria.

(Disclaimer: I was sent this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way affected my opinion of the book, nor the outcome of the review.)

Blurb:

Amy’s husband Hugh isn’t really leaving her.

At least, that’s what he promises. He is just taking a break – from their marriage, their children and, most of all, from their life together. For six-months Hugh will lose himself in south-east Asia, and there is nothing Amy can say or do about it.

Review: Stand by Me by Judi Curtin

Challenge criteria: A book by/about a person with a disability.

Blurb:

What if something that happened a long long time ago still made you sad? Graham is Molly and Beth’s favourite uncle, so they really want to help him fix the past – and since the girls know of a mysterious door that can take them back in time, maybe they can! But how can they find who they’re looking for without apps or social media? And what will the girls make of the 60s, where the hairstyles are wild, the slang is weird and no one’s heard of a mobile phone?

Review: Needlework by Deirdre Sullivan

Challenge criteria: A book with an unreliable narrator or ambiguous ending

Blurb:

‘I would like to make things beautiful, but a tawdry and repulsive kind of beauty. A braver sort than people have from birth. Sexy zombies on a bicep. That sort of thing.’

Books I Studied in School

Today marks the beginning of the Leaving Cert, the final school exams in Ireland before you head off to college. It’s the sixth anniversary of when I sat my own exams, meaning I’ve been out of secondary school now for as long as I was in it. Kids starting their Leaving Cert weren’t even in secondary school when I sat my own exams. And that, readers, is how you feel old.

In honour of this great moment, I took a look at the texts and tomes I studied for my own Mental Torture™. The greatest feat will be if I can actually remember them. In this, I’ve included my studied prose – this would enter into thesis levels if I rattled off all the poetry and poets I focused on.