Athlone Book Club read Alice Winn's In Memoriam in September 2024. They said 5 Stars A stunning debut novel; heartbreaking, brilliant and thoroughly researched. It provoked a lively discussion for the book club. In 1914, war feels far away to Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood. They're too young to enlist, and anyway, Gaunt is fighting […]
Athlone book club read Snowflake by Louise Nealon in July 2024. They thought Mixed feelings were experienced by members of the group. Some didn’t enjoy it. The majority did. The characters are recognisable and there was a lovely relationship depicted between the uncle and niece. Every 3rd level lecturer should read this. 3.75 Stars. Eighteen-year-old […]
In June 2024 the Athlone Book Club read Purple hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. They thought
Set in the near future Bewilderment is the story of Theo, a father trying his best to raise his 9 year old son after the sudden death of his mother. Theo is an astrobiologist, searching for life on other planets, but his son Robin is utterly consumed by this world and its ecological problems.I really […]
review by Manus Lenihan There are many treasures to be found on the Borrowbox app, and Small Gods is one of them. Small Gods is one of the high points in the long span of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. In this novel (which, like most of the series, can be read as a standalone) Pratchett […]
Manus from Kilbeggan Library reviews Haven by Emma Donoghue in this staff review. Check the library for a copy by clicking here Around the year 600, three monks set out on a quest to find an island off the west coast of Ireland where humans have never set foot, there to build an outpost of […]
No Second Chances by Rio Youers, published Harper, 2022. Reviewed by Manus in Kilbeggan Library. At the center of No Second Chances is a villain you love to hate. The bearded, tattooed Johan Fly performs a hipster-Viking persona on social media, where he has a horde of adoring fans. But in his less public life […]
Julian is running a failing bookshop in a small seaside town. One day, in walks a strange elderly man named Edward who has an exciting idea to improve the fortunes of the shop. As the story goes on, Edward’s connections to the shadowy world of British intelligence slowly come into focus. Is he really the […]
Kathleen from Athlone Library reviews The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This is a memoir of a successful journalist's journey from the deserted mining towns of the American Southwest. Jeanette’s father was an intelligent man, but was an alcoholic unable to support his family. Her mother was an Artist, in her own world, and was […]
Ray from Kilbeggan Library reviews Dark Blue by Shane Carthy. Shane Carthy's journey over the last five years has seen it all. From the highs of Leinster glory in the Under 21 football final versus Meath in 2014 to the lows of waking up in St. Patrick's Mental Health Hospital a few days afterwards, a […]