Booker Booker On The Shelf...

"He should have seen it coming. His life had been one mishap after another. So he should have been prepared for this one…"

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobsen, winner of the 2010 Man Booker Prize, is now available for loan in the main lending section of the Library.

Notable as the first comic novel to win the prize, it was described by Andrew Motion, Chair of the judges as "very funny, of course, but also very clever, very sad and very subtle. It is all that it seems to be and much more than it seems to be. A completely worthy winner of this great prize."

The other shortlisted titles for this year's prize are also available from the Library, including Room by Irish author Emma Donoghue. Check them out!

Book of the Month

“The fact is, the whole of Australia despises my father more than any other man, just as they adore my uncle more than any other man. I might as well set the story straight about both of them...”

This month we are giving the Library thumbs-up to A Fraction of the Whole the hilarious debut novel of Australian writer Steve Toltz which was shortlisted for the 2008 Booker Prize. Though it missed out on the main prize, Toltz's quirky prose has seen him compared to writers such as John Irving and DBC Pierre.

It's a hefty work coming in at over 700 pages but don't let it's size put you off. As The Guardian put it "it is a fat book but very light on its feet… it is brilliant.'
We agree! Check it out and judge for yourself...

Booker Prize Winner announced - do you agree?

Aravind Adiga was the suprise winner of the 2008 Man Booker Prize for his debut novel The White Tiger. Adiga is the fourth first-time novelist to win the prize and was highly praised for the book's unromantic portrayal of contemporary Indian society.

The full 2008 shortlist, which included Dubliner Sebastian Barry is below and all six titles are now in stock in the Library. Check them out (literally) and make up your own mind!

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (Winner)
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant
The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher
A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz

Book of the Month

"Oh, what did you see, my blue eyed son?"

On this blog we will frequently be drawing attention to interesting new titles to be found on the library shelves.

First time out, we're throwing the spotlight on
Hard Rain: Our Headlong Collision with Nature, by Mark Edwards.
This book contains a collection of stunning photographs taken by Edwards over 40 years, detailing environmental and humanitarian concerns, and marries them with the lyrics of Hard Rain, written by Bob Dylan during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
The collection was exhibited in the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin during the summer. The book also contains essays by Robert May, John Elkington, Geoff Lye, Jonathon Porrit and David Bohm.