Book Reviews
Children's Books
Wonder by RJ Palacio
'So, why can't you have surgery to fix your face', asks Jack Will. 'Dude', replies Auggie, 'this is what I look like after having surgery!'
Meet Auggie: he is ten years old and starting school for the very first time. He has a facial deformity which makes him look very peculiar and people stare at him wherever he goes. And yet Auggie is also a very typical boy. He LOVES Star Wars. His best friend is his dog Daisy and he loves his big sister Via – well, he does until she starts a new school and gets a boyfriend! But, starting school and having that face, Auggie is about to come up against his biggest battle yet. There are plenty of kids who consider Auggie a freak; some are even scared to touch him in case it makes them look as bad as he does.
You might well agree that Auggie has the worst face EVER but he's funny, clever and a really great friend to anybody willing to give him a chance. This is a fantastic story told by those who know and love Auggie the best: his sister and Auggie’s two new friends for life, Jack and Summer. Little does Auggie realise how lucky they feel to have him in their lives and it is this that makes Wonder a story you will never forget.
Noelle Grace, Dubray Books Kilkenny
Non Fiction Reviews
Saved by Cake, Marian Keyes
Many years ago, while out driving on a Sunday afternoon we had an accident. No one was hurt thank God but our car was badly damaged and we were all pretty shaken. When we returned home I headed, without thinking into the kitchen and began to make a cake. My husband thought this was a small bit bizarre but instinctively I knew that baking would calm my frazzled nerves.
Baking works as a de-stresser for me to this day. Oven on, flour, butter, sugar eggs and off I go. I love the calm magic of baking. I love the alchemy of transforming a sloppy mixture into a light as a feather sponge. I love that baking fills my house with the most gorgeous nurturing aromas, like an olfactory hug. Baking grounds me spirit and anchors me completely in the present moment. I should confess right here though, I am no great shakes at this baking... My creations are very pedestrian to say the least. But I enjoy the process and the odd time something is truly wonderful.
Crime/Thrillers Reviews
The Imitation of Patsy Burke by John J Gaynard (Createspace, 2011)
Patsy Burke, a famous Irish sculptor in Paris, wakes in a small apartment hungover, battered and bruised and with a broken arm. He’s somewhat confused and has little recollection of the night before. Over the course of a morning, and with the aid of the cast of voices residing in his head (including The Scandal Man, Caravaggio, Goody Two-Shoes, Forget Me Not, The Chopper, The Observer) and Khadija, one of his lovers, he starts to piece together what happened and to situate it within the narrative of his life, which includes a boarding school in the north of England, the death of his sweetheart, three marriages, five daughters, a series of lovers, a kidnapping, squabbles with gallery owners, fights in bars, and an infamous sculpture that offended the Church and sold for millions of euro. Despite everything that has happened in his eventful life, it seems that the previous night he may have gone too far.
Poetry Reviews
John Walsh's Chopping Wood with T.S Eliot published , Salmon Poetry 2010 , is a taut wonderfully controlled collection of poems that forms a panoramic exposition of modernism but never once sacrifices form to mere expressiveness. There is a directness about Walsh's vision that is encapsulated in each poem's edifice or super-structure. Chopping Wood with T.S Eliot provides an exemplar of how form and distillation free the poet's voice .
This puts me in mind of Ted Hughes' reference to his practice of sometimes retaining an image in his 'black box flight-recorder', the poet wryly observes disaster and proceeds to condense it spectacularly, be it about Tara in Yes Minister, or the dangerous beginning-flight of the bird in Tipping Point.
Fiction Reviews
A Moment Like This by Anita Notaro
An anonymous friend has entered shy, retiring songbird Antonia Trent for a nationwide talent show. At first, Antonia doesn't intend to leave her small Wicklow town and her place in the church choir to attend the auditions. Gradually she realises that she needs to take this opportunity in both hands and move her life forward. Antonia has hidden herself away for too long, using caring for her invalid mother as a way of keeping the wider world at bay. She has been blessed with a beautiful voice that her mother used to liken to a nightingale’s song; maybe now's the time to shine. When Antonia meets Dr Niall O'Rourke, she begins (despite her tendency to blush scarlet with alarming frequency) to hope for love.
To move forward however, Antonia (or her alter ego Toni) will have to use all the courage she can muster to deal with the tough world of the overnight celebrity. This is a novel about taking your life back and using your talents to the full. But, it is also about friends and friendship; the people who will back you up, hold your hand and tell you what’s what when the going gets tough. Will Antonia /Toni manage to deal with the Simon Cowell lookalike? Does her new romance with the hill-walking doctor have a future? And should she pretend to have a romance with a fellow contestant as a publicity stunt?
For the answers to these pressing questions, read this tale of a budding star's 'moment like this'!
Chris Mills Hughes and Hughes, Dundrum
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