Book club update - message from Ambassador
News
08 June 2018A message from Ambassador Nolan
Dear Book Lovers,
Last night we concluded the last Embassy Book Club, before folk here start going off on their summer holidays, with Kit de Waal’s poignant and beautiful “The Trick To Time”. As usual, we had a rich and lively discussion with lots of different views, some moments of reflection and plenty of laughter too.
The Book Club discussions are so interesting and enjoyable that we would like to be able to share more of these with you. For this reason, we want to make it as easy as possible for people to join in. We are announcing the next three books and the dates well in advance and we are going to try out some live tweeting, from and to the Book Club, which would allow those of you on Twitter to follow discussions and to contribute your own views - in 280 characters or less of course!
The next book choice “Connect” by Julian Gough, seems ideal for such a pilot. As you know, we are reading contemporary works of fiction by Irish authors, alternating male and female, and our gatherings are in English. However, from now on we will also let you know if the books we select have been translated into French or Dutch or other European languages, in case anyone would like to read them in those languages and then join in the conversation, in English.
To recap on the Book Club so far, this year we have been reading: “Academy Street” by Mary Costello, “Midwinter Break” by Bernard McLaverty, “When Light Is Like Water” by Molly McCloskey and “The Hearts Invisible Furies” by John Boyne.
Even if you’ve missed the Book Club discussions, you might enjoy reading these over the summer break. In addition, Book Clubbers might like to read Kit de Waal’s award-winning first novel, “My Name Is Leon”, to complement last night’s fascinating discussion. And since we are going to be reading new work later in the Autumn by both Sally Rooney and David Park, you might like to also read their earlier novels; Sally’s “Conversations with Friends” has won wide acclaim and “The Truth Commissioner”, “The Light Of Amsterdam” and “The Poets’ Wives” are some of David’s more well-known books.
If you enjoyed our very first read by Mary Costello, try dipping into her short story collection “The China Factory” and of course don’t forget the recently published “Last Stories”, a posthumous collection from the renowned William Trevor.
Those of you who enjoyed the glorious “Female Lines” event recently might like to track down other writings by the fabulous women featured in this very special anthology (some of them have brand new books out or coming soon) and maybe check out some other recent anthologies of women’s writing from Ireland like “The Glass Shore” and “The Long Gaze Back”, edited by Sinead Gleeson.
In the meantime, please do join us at the Embassy for what are sure to be delicious Bloomsday celebrations on 14 June (details in our most recent newsletter) and at The Aloft Hotel on 15 June for some “poems in the city”, courtesy of former Belgian resident, Phil Lynch, and our colleagues in Culture Ireland (Register to attend on Eventbrite).
Happy Summer and Happy Reading!
Exact dates and registration details for the September, October and November meetings of the Embassy Book Club follow shortly.