Putting a Spotlight on Irish & Celtic Literature

We started a monthly Irish and Celtic book club! Book selections will feature fictional and nonfictional novels with Irish or Celtic theming and/or written by authors from the Celtic nations, Irish America, and East Coast Canada. Join us in celebrating and in supporting Irish and Celtic literature. Join our Facebook group below to participate in discussions and to stay updated.
 

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April Book Club Selection

The Life and Loves of a He Devil: A Memoir
Graham Norton

Virtual Discussion: Date Coming Soon
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Revealing, moving, and hilarious, Graham Norton tells the story of his life through the things he loves in a brand-new memoir

Graham Norton has been entertaining audiences and having fun with some of the world's biggest stars for nearly 20 years. He is loved for his delight in the peculiar and for his ability to find humor and a common ground in all that life brings. Here is Graham's funny and honest memoir on the theme of love. As he shows, it's really the things you love that make you who you are, and so Graham tells his story from his Irish childhood to the present day, describing just what and who he loved—and sometimes lost—as a young boy, and his new loves and obsessions—big and small—as he's grown older. It's been 10 years since his last book, and being a decade older, Graham has come to realize that what makes a life interesting is less what happens to you and more what inspires and drives you, what you love. From Dolly Parton and dogs to wine and Ireland, Graham tells of his life and loves with characteristic humor and outrageous candor.

About the Author

Graham Norton is one of the UK's most treasured comedians and presenters. Norton's first big TV appearance was as Father Noel Furlong on Channel 4's Father Ted in the early 1990s. He then secured a prime time slot on Channel 4 with his chat shows So Graham Norton and V Graham Norton. Known for his quick wit and flamboyant style, Graham began hosting a variety of talent shows on BBC1 from Strictly Dance Fever and Andrew Lloyd Webber's How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? to The Eurovision Song Contest and the BAFTAs. Graham was soon approached by the BBC to front his own self titled chat show The Graham Norton Show in 2007. Graham Norton has won 5 BAFTAs for Best Entertainment Performance. He presents a show on BBC Radio 2 every Saturday and also writes, as Agony Aunt, weekly in a column for the Telegraph.

May Book Club Selection

The Paris Express
Emma Donoghue

Virtual Discussion: Date Coming Soon
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Based on an 1895 disaster that went down in history when it was captured in a series of surreal, extraordinary photographs, The Paris Express is a propulsive novel set on a train packed with a fascinating cast of characters who hail from as close as Brittany and as far as Russia, Ireland, Algeria, Pennsylvania, and Cambodia. Members of parliament hurry back to Paris to vote; a medical student suspects a girl may be dying; a secretary tries to convince her boss of the potential of moving pictures; two of the train’s crew build a life away from their wives; a young anarchist makes a terrifying plan, and much more.

About the Author

Emma Donoghue, born in Dublin, is a playwright, literary historian, novelist, and screenwriter. Her works of contemporary and historical fiction include the New York Times bestsellers Room and Frog Music. Her books have also been finalists for the Man Booker Prize, the Commonwealth Prize, the Orange Prize, and the Women's Prize for Fiction. She also writes story collections, literary history, and plays for stage and radio. 

June Book Club Selection

The Snapper
Roddy Doyle

Virtual Discussion: Date Coming Soon
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From the Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, the follow-up to his acclaimed debut novel The Commitments

Twenty-year-old Sharon Rabbitte is pregnant. She’s also unmarried, living at home, working in a grocery store, and keeping the father’s identity a secret. Her own father, Jimmy Sr., is shocked by the news. Her mother says very little. Her friends and neighbors all want to know whose “snapper” Sharon is carrying. In his sparkling second novel, Roddy Doyle observes the progression of Sharon’s pregnancy and its impact on the Rabbitte family—especially on Jimmy Sr.—with wit, candor, and surprising authenticity.

About the Author

Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of ten acclaimed novels, including The Commitments, The Van (a finalist for the Booker Prize), Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (winner of the Booker Prize), The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, A Star Called Henry, The Guts, and most recently, Love. Doyle has also written several collections of stories, as well as Two Pints, Two More Pints, and Two for the Road, and several works for children and young adults, including the Rover novels. He lives in Dublin.