All my extra reading this month was linked this year’s RIP Reading Challenge, with each book offering its own unique brand of unease, from surreal horror to gothic atmosphere, but all exploring obsession, memory, and the ways our pasts haunt us. Mona Awad’s Rouge is a strange and unsettling meditation on beauty, grief, and the…|
Having read and greatly admired Thomas Tryon’s The Other a few years ago — a quietly sinister and psychologically astute piece of horror — I was eager to explore more of his work. Harvest Home, his…| 746books.com
The shortlist for the 2025 An Post Irish Book Awards has been unveiled, featuring a diverse and exciting mix of exceptional writing from both new and established writers across 19 categories. The A…| 746books.com
My only previous encounter with Aldous Huxley was his classic sci-fi novel Brave New World and I wasn’t all that aware of his ‘manor house’ novels – of which Those Barren Le…| 746books.com
This week I’m taking part in the 1925 Club hosted by Kaggsy and Simon, with a book that has become a massive part of the public consciousness. A century on, Franz Kafka’s The Trial – a quiet, bureaucratic horror – still feels alarmingly familiar and impressively prescient. The Trial opens with Josef K., a respectable…|
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? by Henry Farrell is a darkly delicious psychological thriller. First published in 1960, this gothic tale of sibling rivalry, fading stardom, and festering resentment is a masterclass in suspense, blending campy melodrama with some creepy scares yet still delivering real emotional depth. The novel centers on the Hudson sisters: Blanche,…|
Donald E. Westlake’s The Ax (1997) is a darkly funny, razor-edged thriller that slices into middle-class anxiety with unnerving precision. I’ve never read Westlake before, but he built his reputation on clever crime stories and comic heist novels, unlike this book which offers a grim yet oddly hilarious look at desperation, morality, and the extremes…|
Novellas in November starts in a matter of weeks and Rebecca has opened the Linky to share your posts. Add your planning posts all through October and then be sure to share all of your reviews and listicles with us during November. Show us your (short) shelves! What novellas are you considering reading next month?…|
Six Degrees of Separation is the brain child of Kate over at Books Are My Favourite and Best, a meme where we all start with the same book and see where our six links take us! This month’s starting point is I Want Everything by Dominic Amarena. I Want Everything by Dominic Amarena follows an unnamed, struggling…|
The Irish writer and broadcaster Manchán Magan has died at the age of 55. His passing is a profound loss to Irish culture, language, and literature. Manchán was a figure whose work embraced the local and the global and the past and the present. He first came to prominence through his travel documentaries, often made…| 746books.com
With just a few weeks to go until this year’s Novellas in November hosted by myself and Rebecca at Bookish Beck, it’s time to start planning what I’m going to read! In recent years, novellas h…| 746books.com
It’s 1 March so time to join me for this, the TENTH annual Reading Ireland Month as I celebrate all that is good about Irish books and culture. It won’t be any fun without you, so grab th…| 746books.com
I’m delighted to once again join forces with Kim from Reading Matters during 2025 for a Year With Edna O’Brien! Josephine Edna O’Brien DBE (15 December 1930 – 27 July 2024…| 746books.com
2025 is gearing up to be another great year for Irish Fiction. Some big hitters include Twist, a sprawling new novel from Colum McCann in March and a new standalone historical thriller from the eve…| 746books.com
Yep, it is official, I’m doing it again. 20 Books of Summer is back for another year and this is your call to start planning! Do you fancy getting 20 books off your TBR in three months? Think of th…| 746books.com
I’m delighted to be joining forces with Kim from Reading Matters during 2024 for a Year With John Banville! Yes, following our teaser post last week, a few of you guessed who next year’…| 746books.com
It’s been a whole ten years since the first 20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge! That’s a decade of frazzled reading, rushed reviews and brilliant piles of books. Shall we do it again?…| 746books.com
