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 ArticleEggshells by Caitriona Lally review – a daring debut
An eccentric outsider roams around Dublin in an inventive and moving debut...
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 ArticlePaul McVeigh Q&A: ‘It’s ironic the two books I did the most research for I...
What was the first book to make an impression on you? Fluffy Bum the Cat by Spike Milligan. Milligan was a comedy genius. I loved his irreverance. As a very young, working-class boy, without a book in...
View ArticleJuan Tomás Ávila Laurel Q&A: ‘I wrote one of my first novels sitting up a tree’
Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel is a novelist from Equatorial Guinea, who writes mostly about social, political and economic ineqality in his country and in Africa more widely. His latest novel By Night the...
View ArticleRob Doyle: ‘It would be nice to shock people, but I think that’s long gone’
The opening story in This Is the Ritual, the second book by the Dublin-born writer Rob Doyle, is a comic slaying of a herd of sacred cows. The narrator, also named Rob, finds himself on the ferry from...
View ArticleCaitriona Lally on Eggshells: The Irish Times Book Club podcast
The Irish Times Book Club’s in-depth look at Caitriona Lally’s Eggshells reaches its climax with a podcast in which the author reads a passage from her debut novel and discusses...
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 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...
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