Rick O'Shea

In case it looks like I’ve spent most of my time since my last update reading books, I have. Most of them in the two weeks I was away on holidays. So, we have everything here from the brilliant to the deplorable. Best to get cracking. Andy Weir – Artemis (out on Nov 14th) If, like me, you loved The Martian then you’ll be on familiar ground here. Set in the first human colony on the moon it starts with Jazz, a twenty-something porter who does a little smuggling on the side and ends up in the middle of a […]

   The shorter I make them, the more people comment on how much they enjoy them. That’s what reading Twitter all day does for you… 🙂 Nonetheless… Some are brand new, some already out, all read by me in the last few weeks.   June Caldwell – Room Little Darker God what a breath of fresh air to read a collection short stories by an Irish author that, in places, literally blow you away and are frequently like nothing else you’ve read in years! Part dark sexuality, part speculative fiction, all wonderfully original. Yes, not for those with dicky tickers […]

  Late as usual, life (and festivals, events, work etc.) getting in the way, but here are my latest very short reviews of stuff I’ve read recently.   David Sedaris – Theft By Finding As someone who has read and loved him for years this is just brilliant. His actual diaries from 1977 right the way through 2002. Fascinating and funny in and of themselves, I do wonder though if you’d find them as interesting if you’d never read any of his collections. I loved it though.   Sally Rooney – Conversations With Friends This highly anticipated debut novel was […]

Bless me gods of all literature, it has been 2 months since my last post  of reviews and in that time I have read… Lisa McInerney – The Blood Miracles If you remember how much I liked her debut The Glorious Heresies then it may not come as an enormous surprise to find that the continuing story of Ryan and those that surround him in Cork is just as compelling. Fast, elegantly written in a world of drugs, amorality and dance music but an expansion on the first book that’s far more than a sequel – you end up so […]

A thought after something was mentioned in the ROSBC (you can join my book club HERE) and as a result of it a one-stop shop of brilliant books written by women that I’ve read in the last 3 years or so that you might not have stumbled on from every possible genre. All have full reviews if you click on the title. Shirley Jackson – We Have Always Lived In The Castle Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale Naomi Klein – This Changes Everything Susan Cain – Quiet – The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop Talking Emily St. […]

  Sara Baume – A Line Made By Walking There is always a trepidation when you are handed the second novel by an author whose first one you came across, read and were genuinely astonished by. You hope against hope that the author isn’t a one trick pony and that they’ll disappoint you with a just average second time out. I needn’t have worried. Sara Baume’s new book (after the all-conquering Spill, Simmer, Falter, Wither) is a similar and yet different beast. Just as beautiful in language, just as hypnotic in the internal monologue of an outsider and their life, […]