Madame Bovary is Half of a Haunted, Remarkably Empathetic Film
On its surface, Sophie Barthes’s film of Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary comes at us like a musty blast of Quality – what...
View ArticleRemembering David Bowie through his 100 favorite books
Although David Bowie was best known for his music, he also made countless contributions to the worlds of art, fashion and film. But the singer, who died Sunday, was also devoted to literature. In 2013,...
View Article‘Based on a true story’: the fine line between fact and fiction
From Kapuscinski to Knausgaard, from Mantel to Macfarlane, more and more writers are challenging the border between fiction and nonfiction. Here Geoff Dyer – longtime master of the space between, in...
View Article'Bovery' or 'Bovary,' story still works
When in 1857, Gustav Flaubert published his now-classic novel, "Emma Bovary," about a wife's infidelity, the writer was brought to trial (and acquitted) for immorality, overlooking the work's profound...
View ArticleReview: Uninspired And Disengaged 'Madame Bovary' Starring Mia Wasikowska
By Rodrigo Perez | The Playlist Tue Jun 09 18:04:00 EDT 2015 0 It is not prerequisite that the period costume drama needs a hook, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. Joe Wright’s stylish “Anna Karenina”...
View ArticleMadame Bovary at 160: a bourgeois sex revolutionary
Flaubert’s anti-heroine, the original Desperate Housewife lost in the dreams of romantic fiction, was a scandal on publication and still challenges our morality...
View ArticleThe 100 best novels in English? Irish writers and critics have their say
Fair play to Robert McCrum. Compiling a list over two years entitled The 100 best novels written in English for the Observer and guardian.com is not simply sticking your head over the literary parapet,...
View ArticleA Q&A with Colin Barrett, this month’s Irish Times Book Club author
Young Skins, Colin Barrett’s debut work, has won the Guardian First Book Award, The Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and was longlisted for the...
View ArticleA sneak preview of next Saturday’s books coverage in The Irish Times
On the fiction front this week, Irish Times crime-writing columnist Declan Burke reviews Belfast Noir, a Northern anthology edited by Stuart Neville and Adrian McKinty. Eileen Battersby reviews Uppsala...
View ArticleMichael Grothaus Q&A: ‘Don’t worry about the first draft. It’s always going...
What was the first book to make an impression on you? The very first book to make an impression on me was the novel Shibumi by Trevanian. It’s a philosophical exploration about democracy, consumerism,...
View ArticleTore Renberg: ‘We will prevail. We will write. People will read. Literature...
Tore Renberg, from Stavanger, Norway, made his literary debut in 1995 with the short-story collection Sleeping Tangle, for which he won the Tarjei Vesaas Debutant Prize. Since then he has written...
View ArticleAnthony Glavin on Eggshells by Caitriona Lally: a novel that keeps its promises
I’ll confess it was with fingers crossed that I opened Caitriona Lally’s beguiling debut novel, Eggshells, of which I had previously seen the first 10,000 words as one of three judges for the Irish...
View ArticlePeter Swanson: ‘Being lost in a book is one of the greatest feelings in the...
Peter Swanson is the author of two novels, The Girl with a Clock for a Heart, and The Kind Worth Killing (Faber & Faber, £14.99). His poems, stories and reviews have been published in journals such...
View ArticleGavin McCrea: ‘when I finished John McGahern’s Memoir, I wept for an entire day’
What was the first book to make an impression on you? The one that I watched my mother read in her chair in the corner of the kitchen. What was your favourite book as a child? Roald Dahl’s Matilda....
View ArticleMelissa Hill Q&A: ‘The Secret Garden inspired my love of the mystery genre to...
Melissa Hill is the author of 13 novels, including Something from Tiffany’s, The Charm Bracelet and many more. A Gift to Remember was published by Simon & Schuster last year and her new novel, The...
View ArticleChristine Dwyer Hickey Q&A: my influences, from Mrs Dalloway to Janice Galloway
What was the first book to make an impression on you? Probably the Irish Racing Form Book as my father always had his nose in it and I kept nagging him to read it to me which he eventually did – what a...
View ArticleDublin, what a character
Dublin features in my novel, Eggshells, almost as a character in itself, a sometimes magical but occasionally sinister character. For Vivian, the protagonist, Dublin is the place she hopes will show...
View ArticleGraeme Macrae Burnet Q&A: ‘Like most writers I’m a dreadful procrastinator’
Can you tell us about your latest work and how it came about, the story behind the story? His Bloody Project tells the story of a triple murder in a remote Highland crofting community in 1869. The...
View ArticleMark Billingham Q&A: ‘Cops solving crimes with supernatural powers strikes me...
Mark Billingham’s latest novel is The Bones Beneath, published by Grove Press. A former actor, television writer and stand-up comedian, his series of novels featuring DI Tom Thorne has twice won him...
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