Review: Scenes of a Graphic Nature by Caroline O’Donoghue

Challenge prompt: A book you picked because the title caught your attention.

Blurb:

‘Do you know what céad mile fáilte means?’
‘A hundred thousand welcomes.’
‘Not a hundred thousand homes. Not a hundred thousand “stay here’s”.’

Charlie Regan’s life isn’t going forward, so she’s decided to go back.

After a tough few years floundering around the British film industry, experimenting with amateur pornography and watching her father’s health rapidly decline, she and her best friend Laura journey to her ancestral home of Clipim, an island off the west coast of Ireland. Knowing this could be the last chance to connect with her dad’s history before she loses him, Charlie clings to the idea of her Irish roots offering some kind of solace. But she’ll find out her heritage is about more than clichés and clover-foamed Guinness.

Review: Anseo by Una-Minh Kavanagh

Challenge prompt: A book written by an author in their 20s.

Blurb:

A contemporary and gorgeous memoir of adoption from Vietnam to Kerry, the love of her small family and the power of the Irish language to overcome loss, racism and online trolls.

In 2013, Úna-Minh Kavanagh was spat upon and racially abused in Dublin’s city centre, an incident that was widely shared in the media and online. In the days that followed, Úna-Minh had only one niggling regret: that she had not responded in her first language, Irish.

Irishathon TBR Ideas

This post is part of Top Ten Tuesday run by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl.

Happy St Patrick’s Day! Our national holiday is the perfect time to get a little bit of green into your reading. Luckily, there’s a great readathon happening at the moment to help you out.

The Irishathon is a month long readathon run by Aoife (not me), Elaine, and Leanne. I would love to say I’m taking part, but unfortunately the announcements completely passed me by. So, instead I’m going to share some books I would read were I taking part. Who knows, this could be some inspiration for you.

Favourite bookshops

Some of the happiest places in the world are bookshops. I’ve spent large chunks of each of my pay package in some of my favourite book shops across the world. Forget Disney, bookshops are the happiest place in the world.

Review: The Call by Peadar O Guilín

Challenge criteria: A book inspired by mythology, legend, or folklore.

(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:

What if you only had 3 minutes to save your own life and the clock is already counting down…

Three minutes.
Nessa, Megan and Anto know that any day now they wake up alone in a horrible land and realise they’ve been Called.