“Dead in the Water” attempts to unravel the enigmatic events surrounding the alleged hijack and attempted scuttling of the Brillante Virtuoso, an oil tanker embroiled in a complex web of ownership and insurance connections. The book’s initial sections hint at…
I dove into “Prophet Song” during the Christmas break, and I can’t say it provided the festive cheer I may have hoped for. The dark, Stalinesque future it paints for Ireland is undeniably bleak. While I have a soft spot…
My rating: 3.5 of 5 starsIn “Act of Oblivion,” Robert Harris undertakes an ambitious narrative journey, spanning decades, which is a significant departure from the more concentrated temporal scope of his previous works like “V2” and “Munich.” While this expanded…
“Brick by Brick” presents a compelling exploration, primarily geared towards business-minded readers, yet it offers a narrative that may also captivate Lego enthusiasts. This book delves into the tumultuous phases of Lego’s corporate history, detailing its near-catastrophic downfall at the…
I have long been aware of this book – seen it about – and actually had it sitting around – and yesterday finally dove in and was so entranced had to savour my way through. It is both a keystone…
What a thought-provoking wee read. Short, pithy, hinting, and intriguing.
A very quick review in praise of Stephen Clarke’s The Spy Who Inspired Me. A rollickingly good read mimicking Ian Flemming (or Lemming for copyright reasons) that shares one of the hero’s wartime tales demonstrating the vast amount of inspiration…
The fifth in the Wyndham and Banerjee detective series by Abir Mukherjee – The Shadows of Men – continues a stunningly engaging and superbly constructed detective tale set in late Raj-Era India. This volume adopts an alternating POV approach as the principal…
And now for a non-bookie post. Quite clearly it’s been awhile, but this seemed the right place to make a note. Wanting to make very quick look at now the changing spatial distribution of Irish breweries over the past 300…
The club as a whole had a bifurcated experience tonight – apologies to all those who could not join in via Zoom. I won’t go on about the experience of being able to have a face-to-face book club after such…
Gaia and Luna: In the View of the Moon by Mark Newton My rating: 3.5/5 This is an intriguing, lyrical exploration of human perception of the growth of our galaxy through an amusing anthropomorphising of the planets. Newton gives ‘life/expressed…
Last year as I was compiling the year’s Book Club end of year considerations, I decided to add to some of our tabulating since starting the club. As we have finished our 10th year, I wanted to update our look…