Alice Winn's 'In Memoriam'
Alice Winn’s début novel In Memoriam is a fast-paced revisiting of the First World War in fiction, this time concentrating on a highly-charged erotic relationship between two schoolfriends, Ellwood and Gaunt.
Read MoreReview round-up, June 2023
A round-up of short reviews from the Fortnightly newsletter, from January to June 2023.
Read More'Youth' by Kevin Curran
Kevin Curran’s new novel Youth captures four teenagers in contemporary Balbriggan, on the cusp of adulthood.
Read More'The Great White Bard' by Farah Karim-Cooper
Professor Karim-Cooper’s The Great White Bard: Shakespeare, race and the future is a rich and provocative look at the plays with a fresh eye.
Read MoreBilly O'Callaghan's 'The Paper Man'
Billy O’Callaghan’s new novel The Paper Man is a beautifully-crafted story of the now-forgotten Austrian footballing genius Matthias Sindelar and his young lover Rebekah, connecting Vienna in the 1930s and Cork City in the 30s and 80s.
Read MoreJonathan Bate's 'Bright Star, Green Light'
Jonathan Bate’s Bright Star, Green Light, a parallel-biography of John Keats and F. Scott Fitzgerald, is essential reading for English teachers.
Read MoreSeamus Heaney and the Classics
The UCD Special Collections exhibition ‘Heaney & the Classics’ has been launched, with Roy Foster (pictured) giving the key address.
Read MoreElizabeth Boyle's 'Fierce Appetites'
Elizabeth Boyle’s account of 2020 is a startling mixture of personal, cultural and literary history.
Read MoreAnthony Joseph's 'Sonnets for Albert'
Anthony Joseph’s Sonnets for Albert deals with the troubled heritage of his father’s past with honesty, control and grace.
Read More'The Wife of Bath: a biography' by Marion Turner
Marion Turner’s The Wife of Bath a biography is a thrilling follow-up to her major biography of Geoffrey Chaucer, placing the fictional character in her literary and cultural context, and then looking at her many and persistent ‘afterlives’ through history.
Read MoreJoseph O'Connor's 'My Father's House'
My Father’s House, Joseph O’Connor’s fictional treatment of the life of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, is particularly brilliant in its evocation of Rome and the Vatican under Nazi occupation.
Read MoreThe Portrait of a Lady
A discussion about Henry James’s masterpiece The Portrait of a Lady.
Read MoreShort review round-up, 2022
An annual round-up of short recommendations of books which I didn’t review fully.
Read MoreMy Books of 2022
My annual selection of excellent reading.
Read MoreBooks of the Year lists 2022
The 13th annual round-up of the best Books of the Year lists.
Read MorePatrick Freyne's 'OK, Let's Do Your Stupid Idea'
Patrick Freyne’s collection of personal essays, OK, Let’s Do Your Stupid Idea is a skilful, funny and often moving collection of stories.
Read MoreOliver Lovell's 'Tools for Teachers'
Tools for Teachers by Oliver Lovell, based on his podcast the Education Research Reading Room, is packed with interesting and well-balanced advice about classroom practice.
Read MoreBruegel and the cover of 'Small Things Like These'
The beautiful jacket of Claire Keegan’s novel Small Things Like These is fashioned from Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s ‘Hunters in the Snow’. A significant detail is excluded from the selection.
Read MoreMolly Twomey: 'Raised Among Vultures'
Molly Twomey’s collection ‘Raised Among Vultures’ is an impressively accomplished début.
Read MoreEmma Smith on 'Macbeth'
Some notes on the Macbeth chapter in Emma Smith’s book This is Shakespeare.
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