Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Book Club
I think we should start an online book club. Of course, that would mean we would have to find time to read a book which I am not sure that I can do, but it would be fun. I just heard a book review about a book titled "Brooklyn" by Colm Toibin. He is an Irish author and was also a professor at UT Austin. Anyway, the book is about an Irish immigrant in NY in the 1950's and it sounded good. Has anyone read any books by this author?
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7 comments:
It takes me about 2 months to read a book - I watch way too much tv, but this sounds like a good book, so I will try and find it, then we can discuss amongst ourselves. Did you ever find that Wally Lamb book that we were talking about? I want to read that too. I got a chain letter from cousin Georgia, wanting me to mail a paperback book to a stranger and then send 6 people the chain letter so that they could mail cousin georgia book, does anyone want a copy of the chain letter? I don't know 6 people...
I love the idea. I have a library card and can get the book at the library - I will check it out - not this Saturday but next Saturday. I'm going to Austin this weekend.
you can get the book at amazon.com for about 16.00 - here is the review
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, May 2009: Committed to a quiet life in little Enniscorthy, Ireland, the industrious young Eilis Lacey reluctantly finds herself swept up in an unplanned adventure to America, engineered by the family priest and her glamorous, "ready for life" sister, Rose. Eilis's determination to embrace the spirit of the journey despite her trepidation--especially on behalf of Rose, who has sacrificed her own chance of leaving--makes a bittersweet center for Brooklyn. Colm Tóibín's spare portrayal of this contemplative girl is achingly lovely, and every sentence rings with truth. Readers will find themselves swept across the Atlantic with Eilis to a boarding house in Brooklyn where she painstakingly adapts to a new life, reinventing herself and her surroundings in the letters she writes home. Just as she begins to settle in with the help of a new love, tragedy calls her home to Enniscorthy, and her separate lives suddenly and painfully merge into one. Tóibín's haunted heroine glows on the page, unforgettably and lovingly rendered, and her story reflects the lives of so many others exiled from home. --Daphne Durham
From Booklist
In his latest novel, following The Master (2004), a celebrated and highly imaginative re-creation of the life of American novelist Henry James, Toibin maintains his focus on the past. Keeping the pace relatively slow and stressing the wealth of authoritative detail, he contrasts small-town Ireland and big-city Brooklyn in the early 1950s, highlighting the vast differences between the two in customs and opportunity. Eilis Lacey, a smart young woman unafraid of hard work, must leave employment-poor Ireland to find a more lucrative existence in booming New York City. Under the auspices of an Irish priest, Eilis secures employment at a department store and residence in a rooming house for young women. She meets a handsome, charming Italian man, and their relationship quickly flowers into love. When her outgoing sister dies in Ireland, Eilis returns home and must face the decision to stay put or go back to the more exciting life she had begun to create in Brooklyn. --Brad Hooper
It sounds great - I want to read it. I hope I have two arms so I can hold the book!
I ordered the book from amazon, I will try and read fast so that I can pass it around - what ever happened to the Glass House, we were all supposed to read it, remember?? it ewas really good
I read the Glass Castle and then passed it on to Eileen - Beaner, do you still have that book or did you pass it on to Debbie?
i did give it either to debbie or maggie. christine just gave a copy to emily for her birthday, when she's done i'll ask her for it.. that was one of my favs, did ya'll read it?
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