Thursday, November 08, 2007

Adventures in Reading

Readers may be interested in the following books which have been added to stock at Galway City Library:


The Reader, by Ali Smith: Constable & Robinson
Featuring a wide range of writers whose work Ali Smith has loved at different points in her life, and for very different reasons, The Reader is both a treasure trove of rare treats and a unique literary autobiography. It is full of pieces from wonderful writers - Plath, Spark, Grace Paley, Yeats, Atwood. But also full of lesser known writers about which readers will be very happy to hear, like Joseph Roth, and Clarice Lispector. Also full of pieces by brand new wonderful writer and full of surprises,

Leaving Tabasco, By Carmen Boullosa: Grove Press
This lovely coming-of-age novel is full of humour and touched by magic. Raised by her mother and grandmother, in an all female home, Delmira Ulloa comes into adulthood with a wicked sense of humour and a delightful imagination. As Delmira becomes a woman she will search for the missing stranger who fathered her, and in choosing her own allegiances make a choice that will force her to leave home forever. In terms of the A penetrating sense of humanity infuses the prose and poetry of Carmen Boullosa. A book which is as effortlessly accessible as it is profound.

All that Blue, by Gaston-Paul Effa: Arcadia Books
At the age of five, Douo, a Cameroonian boy, is given in (traditional) sacrifice to the local French church by his father. Deprived of contact with his family, he is ensconced in a convent for the rest of his childhood. Aged 15 he is sent to become a monk in a monastery in Paris. As an adult he looks back at the nine years he spent in the convent school and the pain that has compelled him ever since to seek his absent father through the teaching of priests—and his mother's love in the arms of every woman he seduces.

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