Monthly Archives: June 2009

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A Dance In Time by Orna Ross

A DANCE IN TIME

 Orna Ross’s second book A Dance in Time is now on sale in paperback. It is published by Penguin Ireland and its ISBN is 1844880532. It is an enjoyable but complex read. There are over 600 pages of Irish historical facts and gossip mixed with contemporary fiction. I loved this as I love Irish history but it is an equally enjoyable read as a family murder mystery. Izzy stands accussed of her father’s murder and instead of defending herself she tries to unravel her past. It is a journey of discovery and a tale of the burden of illegimatacy and the strains of mother daughter relationships. Orna Ross is not afraid to rewrite history and her great writing skill brings the historical figures like Maud Gonne and WB Yeats to life. The book has it all an epic saga, betrayal, revenge, suspense, murder, surprise, great characters and the brilliant twist at the end of the novel. Reviewed by Annette Dunlea author of Always and Forever and The Honey Trap.

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Book Search Engine

BookFinder.com Search | About | Preferences | Interact | Help
 
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BookFinder.com is a one-stop ecommerce search engine that searches over 150 million books for sale—new, used, rare, out-of-print, and textbooks. We save you time and money by searching every major catalog online, and letting you know which booksellers are offering the best prices and selection. When you find a book you like, you can buy it directly from the original seller; we never charge a markup.

The BookFinder.com website is part of the BookFinder.com/JustBooks network, produced by a team of high-tech librarians and programmers based in Berkeley, California, and Düsseldorf, Germany. We are heavy readers, and buy several dozen books every year using our own search engine. We enjoy blogging about our work, and advocating for a strong, diverse, bookselling industry.

BookFinder.com was launched in 1997 by then-19-year-old UC Berkeley undergraduate Anirvan Chatterjee (personal website). Over the years, both users and the press have discovered why we are one of the most useful resources for bibliophiles online. Whether you collect rare books or buy cheap paperbacks to read on the train, we think you will appreciate our breadth, precision, and unbiased results.

Our searchable inventory

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BookFinder.com is an independent subsidiary of AbeBooks, which is based in Victoria, Canada.

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Blog of The Week 29/6/09

Booksurfer: http://booksurfer.blogspot.com/

Franklin Rosemont 1943 – 2009

Franklin Rosemont, celebrated poet, artist, historian, publisher, street speaker, and surrealist activist, has died in Chicago aged just 65. He was active in the Sixties in the Wobblies and as part of the group around Rebel Worker. He translated Breton’s writings in English (published in the UK by Pluto Press), and was the author of one of the best books on the life of Joe Hill. A tribute to Franklin by David Roediger, Paul Garon, and Kate Khatib, has been posted on InterActivist Info Exchange:

“Between the history he himself helped create and the history he helped uncover, Franklin was never without a story to tell or a book to write—about the IWW, SDS, Hobohemia in Chicago, the Rebel Worker, about the past 100 years or so of radical publishing in the US, or about the international network of Surrealists who seemed to always be passing through the Rosemonts’ Rogers Park home. As engaged with and excited by new surrealist and radical endeavors as he was with historical ones, Franklin was always at work responding to queries from a new generation of radicals and surrealists, and was a generous and rigorous interlocutor. In every new project, every revolt against misery, with which he came into contact, Franklin recognized the glimmers of the free and unfettered imagination, and lent his own boundless creativity to each and every struggle around him, inspiring, sustaining, and teaching the next generation of surrealists worldwide.”

Read the full text of the tribute here:

http://info.interactivist.net/node/12524

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Thanks For The Memories by Cecelia Ahern (Book Review)

No Thank-you for the Book Cecelia Ahern

Thanks for The Memories is a paperback fiction novel by Cecelia Ahern. It is published by Harper and its ISBN is 007233698. It is a warm uplifting story, beautifully written . I have read all Cecelia Ahern’s books and I loved them all. This novel marks a new maturity and flexibility in her writing. I think this is her best novel yet. It is a sweet tale of a daughter and father relationship. Joyce Conway suffers a miscarrage and is rushed by her dad to ER.

“I place my hand on my belly. If my child is gone, and I suspect this is so, I’ll join it there.grieve. I’ve landed now, the land of my life. And, still, my heart pumps on.Even when broken it still works. Where . . . where? Wherever. It; a heartless word. He or she so young; who it was to become, stilla question. But there, I will mother it. There, not here. I’ll tell it: I’m sorry, sweetheart, I’m sorry I ruined your chances, my chance – our chance of a life together. But close your eyes and stare into the darkness now, like Mummy is doing, and we’ll find our way together. There’s a noise in the room and I feel a presence. ‘Oh God, Joyce, oh God. Can you hear me, love? Oh God. Oh God. Oh, please no, Good Lord, not my Joyce, don’t take my Joyce. Hold on, love, I’m here. Dad is here.’ I don’t want to hold on and I feel like telling him so. I hear myself groan, an animal-like whimper and it shocks me, scares me. I have a plan, I want to tell him. I want to go, only then can I be with my baby. Then, not now. He’s stopped me from falling but I haven’t landed yet. Instead he helps me balance on nothing, hover while I’m forced to make the decision. I want to keep falling but he’s calling the ambulance and he’s gripping my hand with such ferocity it’s as though it is though I’m all he has. He’s brushing the hair from my forehead and weeping loudly. I’ve never heard him weep. Not even when Mum died. He clings to my hand with all of the strength I never knew his old body had and I remember that I am all he has and that he, once again just like before, is my whole world. The blood continues to rush through me. Rushing, rushing, rushing. We are always rushing. Maybe I’m rushing again. Maybe it’s not my time to go. I feel the rough skin of old hands squeezing mine, and their intensity and their familiarity force me to open my eyes. Light fills them and I glimpse his face, a look I never want to see again. He clings to his baby. I know I’ve lost mine; I can’t let him lose his. In making my decision I already begin to grieve.”

She receives an emergancy blood transfusion and the donor’s Justin’s memories. Joyce and Justin meet up occassionally and are instantly attracted to one another. A unique relationship is formed. Joyce is grieving from a divorce and miscarriage and Clever Justin is looking for meaning in his life. If you love romance and feel good stories you will love this book. Cecelia Ahern fans will be rewarded with another bestseller.I highly recommend this book. Reviewed by Annette Dunlea author of Always and Forever and The Honey Trap.

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Poems By John Keats (Book Review)

The Poems by John Keats is now published in hardback by Penguin Classics. The Poems have been selected by Claire Tomaline. Its ISBN is 1846141435. She provides us with an introduction and a wide selection of Keat’s Poems. Although while alive John Keats (1795-1821) was heavily critized he has since his death become a very popular poet. He was a key poet in The Romantic Movement in the early 19th century and his poems heavily influenced later poets like Tennyson and Owen. Keats’ Odes are still the most popular poems in English literature. His poems have such beauty, imagination and kindness and a maturity of writing that has set him aside from most poets. In this collection there is a ballad : La Belle Dame Sans Merci and the a selection of sonnets including: To My Brother, To Sleep and On Fame. The next section is Keat’s Odes including: Ode to Psyche, Ode to Nightingale, Ode on Melancholy and To Autumn. Next sections are on a song To Sorrow, some narrative poems including : The Eve of St.Agnes, From Lamia and From Hyperion. The last three sections are : the natural world, light hearted and nonsense poems and finally Letters. This collection is beautifully compiled and introduced for the general reader. I highly recommend it. This book was reviewed by Annette Dunlea author of The Honey Trap and Always and Forever.

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Trinity Celebrates Alice Munro Winner of Man Booker Prize Today

PANEL DISCUSSION

COME AND FIND OUT HOW THE PANEL CHOSE THE 2009 WINNER

12.30pm, Thursday 25th June, Trinity College, Dublin

This event is now fully booked
There will be a limited number of returns available on the door from 12.00

Alice Munro has been announced as the winner of the third Man Booker International Prize and the judging panel will be at Trinity College Dublin to discuss how they came to their decision.

The judging panel for the Man Booker International Prize 2009 is: Jane Smiley, writer; Amit Chaudhuri, writer, academic and musician; and writer, film script writer and essayist, Andrey Kurkov. The three judges will be discussing the reasons for their choice and taking questions from the audience. The discussion will be chaired by award-winning author Colm Toibin, who was a judge for the 2007 Man Booker International Prize.

The panel made the following comment on the winner:

“Alice Munro is mostly known as a short story writer and yet she brings as much depth, wisdom and precision to every story as most novelists bring to a lifetime of novels. To read Alice Munro is to learn something every time that you never thought of before.”

NOTE: The winner will not be present at this discussion

For further information visit http://www.themanbookerprize.com

PANEL DISCUSSION
Thursday 25th June,
12.30pm,
Exam Hall, Trinity College, Dublin

This event is now fully booked.

Last Updated: 23-Jun-2009
Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2Accessibility Privacy Disclaimer Contact

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John The Revelator by Peter Murphy (Book Review)

John The Revelator is a great debut novel by Peter Murphy. It is published by Faber and Faber and its ISBN is 0571240208. This is a quirky coming of age tale. It is well written in evocative and  beautiful prose. The story is not original but it is an interesting account of the pain and agony of being an illegitimate child in old rural Ireland and the boy’s desire to escape. It touches other subjects like the power struggle between mother and son, religion and friendship. The narrator is John Devine who is  a loner until at 16 he meets Jamie who introduces John to pubs and criminals. Lily his mother quotes the bible alot and tries to keep him on the straight and narrow. This is magnificently written, its language is poetic in parts and is a pleasure to read. I highly recommend this novel. Reviewed by Annette Dunlea author of The Honey Trap and Always and Forever.

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  • The State of Jones by Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer 06/24/2009
    New York Times bestselling author Sally Jenkins and distinguished Harvard professor John Stauffer mine a nearly forgotten piece of Civil War history and strike gold in this surprising account of the only Southern county to secede from the Confederacy.

    snash

  • In the Company of Alexander McCall Smith 06/24/2009
    “An endless supply of quotes exist telling us we should do what we love in life. Though many are cliché, I found myself rooting around for just the right one after hearing Alexander McCall Smith read,” says Megan Shaffer in a recent piece on Bookbrowse.com. Read the whole article here.

    htisman

  • A Monster’s Notes by Laurie Sheck 06/23/2009
    What if Mary Shelley had not invented Frankenstein’s monster but had met him when she was a girl of eight, sitting by her mother’s grave, and he came to her unbidden? What if their secret bond left her forever changed, obsessed with the strange being whom she had discovered at a time of need? What if he were still alive in the twenty-first century?

    pcortland

  • Comic Book Resources Calls Asterios Polyp “one of the great comics of all time” 06/23/2009
    Comic Book Resources, the premier online comics magazine, has written a rave review of David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp, on sale July 7.

    jkals

  • Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom by Julia Child 06/23/2009
    How many minutes should you cook green beans? Is it better to steam them or to boil them? What are the right proportions for a vinaigrette? How do you skim off fat? What is the perfect way to roast a chicken? All the answers are close to hand in this indispensable little volume: the delicious, comforting, essential compendium of Julia’s kitchen wisdom— […]

    pcortland

  • Two Recipes from Julia Child: Poached Salmon Fillets and Steamed Lobster 06/23/2009
    Today marks the paperback publication of Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom, which contains Julia Child’s essential techniques and recipes from a lifetime of cooking. The following two recipes from the cookbook perfectly showcase Julia’s simple genius for seafood.

    pcortland

  • Read Poems and a Story by John Updike 06/23/2009
    Some selections from John Updike’s two final books: Endpoint (poems) and My Father’s Tears (stories).

    pcortland

  • TheLostSymbol.com Launches – A Summer of Lost Symbols 06/23/2009
    In anticipation of the long-awaited publication of Dan Brown’s fifth novel, THE LOST SYMBOL, on September 15 of this year, Doubleday is pleased to announce the launch of a summer-long event featuring an enigmatic array of codes, cryptic trivia, puzzles, secret history, maps, aphorisms, ciphers, arcane knowledge, and more.

    snash

  • On Sale Now: White is for Witching 06/23/2009
    The Boston Globe writes, “The most chilling horror is the everyday one. The calm, slow suicide. The complacent murderer. The monster that believes in nothing so much as its own moral compass. In her third, profoundly chilling novel, Helen Oyeyemi gives readers all three for a slow-building neo-Gothic that will leave persevering readers breathless.”

    rfeldman

  • On Sale Now: Brodeck 06/23/2009
    From the writer and director of I’ve Loved You So Long, the acclaimed film starring Kristin Scott Thomas, comes a novel hailed as “a modern masterpiece” (The Daily Telegraph), “full of terror, horror, and beauty and wonder” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

    rfeldman

RSS AD’s Google Literary Blog  (My Second Lit Blog)

  • RSS Feed of My Blog Updates
    Subscribe to this blog’s RSS Feed click on orange button on toolbar and click subscribe and okHttp://www.annettedunlea.blogspot.comBlog Archive▼ 2009 (160) ▼ June (92) Author John Grisham Author Jeffrey Archer Author Khaled Hosseini Weekly Reader Website Author Diane Ackerman Authors Website Must Haves Author Ken Follett Romance Writers Biographies Aut […]
  • Author John Grisham
    http://www.jgrisham.com/Latest WorkThe Associate“GRISHAM HAS A FIELD DAY…The Associate grabs the reader quickly and becomes impossible to put down.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times“Grisham’s confident style hasn’t changed, and THERE’S SUSPENSE APLENTY.”—People“Grisham makes it easy for us to keep flipping the pages…A DEVASTATING PORTRAIT OF THE BIG-TIME, BI […]
  • Author Jeffrey Archer
    http://www.jeffreyarcher.co.uk/Welcome to the official web site of Jeffrey Archer, the internationally acclaimed author and playwright. For over 30 years, Jeffrey has delighted his fans — and defied his critics. Meet the writer behind the bestsellers.Jeffrey’s audio book in the spotlightThe audio edition of A Prisoner of Birth, read by Roger Allam, is […]
  • Author Khaled Hosseini
    http://www.khaledhosseini.com/BiographyKhaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His father was a diplomat with the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and History at a large high school in Kabul. In 1976, the Afghan Foreign Ministry relocated the Hosseini family to Paris. They were ready to return to Kabul in 1980, but by then […]
  • Weekly Reader Website
    http://www.weeklyreader.comDiscover the classics in a whole new way with READ’s Great Authors. This NEW multimedia experience offers teachers a way to connect today’s tech-savvy students with great literary classics.Order now and you’ll get:4 Interactive websites that use sound, video, animation and more to help you teach Shakespeare, Poe, Twa […]
  • Author Diane Ackerman
    http://dianeackerman.com/”If you’re lucky, you have someone in your life like Diane Ackerman: smart and capable, and successful in the world of grownups. But still brimming with the kind of infectious enthusiasm and wonder found generally only in children.”–The Chicago Tribune.”Ackerman’s essays awaken us to a fresh awareness, sayin […]
  • Authors Website Must Haves
    http://www.web-savvy-book-promotion.com/authorswebsite.htmlAbout An Authors WebsiteBefore we even get into how to create an authors website, let’s take a look at why you need to have a website. The Internet has over 1 billion users and over 200 million of them have bought books online. Why not provide a means of contacting them? With a website you have […]
  • Author Ken Follett
    http://www.ken-follett.com/Quick takes … Ken Follett burst into the book world in 1978 with Eye of the Needle, a taut and original thriller with a memorable woman character in the central role. The book won the Edgar award and became an outstanding film starring Kate Nelligan and Donald Sutherland.He went on to write four more bestselling thrillers: Triple […]
  • Romance Writers Biographies
    http://www.harlequinpresents.com/httpdocs/authors/author_home.htmlBiographies: Jacqueline BairdHelen BianchinMaggie Cox Catherine George Abby GreenIndia GreyLynn Raye HarrisKate HewittChristina HollisSharon Kendrick Jennie LucasSandra MartonAnne McAllisterMelanie MilburneLucy MonroeTrish MoreySusan NapierSabrina PhilipsJane PorterMichelle ReidSusan StephensK […]
  • Author Dan Simmons
    http://www.dansimmons.com/Dan Simmons’s first published story, “The River Styx Runs Upstream,” won the Rod Serling Memorial Award in 1982. His first novel, SONG OF KALI, won the 1986 World Fantasy Award (the only first-novel to do so up to that time.) His next novel, 1989′s CARRION COMFORT, won the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writer […]
  • Author Patricia Cornwell
    http://www.patriciacornwell.com/Patricia Cornwell’s BiographyPatricia Cornwell was born on June 9, 1956, in Miami, Florida, and grew up in Montreat, North Carolina.Following graduation from Davidson College in 1979, she began working at the Charlotte Observer, rapidly advancing from listing television programs to writing feature articles to covering the […]
  • The Society of Authors
    The Society of Authors is a non-profit making organisation, founded in 1884, “to protect the rights and further the interests of authors”http://www.societyofauthors.org/Help, advice and informationThe Society of Authors has been serving the interests of professional writers for more than a century. Today it has more than 8,500 members writing in all areas of […]
  • Author John Boyne
    http://www.johnboyne.com/Author of The Thief of Time, The Boy in The Stripped Pyjamas,…… etchttp://www.irishwriters-online.com/johnboyne.htmlIrish Writers Online John BoyneJohn Boyne was born in Dublin in 1971. His first short story was published by the Sunday Tribune and shortlisted for a Hennessy Literary Award. His novels are The Thief of Time […]
  • Author J K Rowling
    http://www.jkrowling.com J. K. Rowling Author of The Harry Potter SeriesJ. K. Rowling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._RowlingRowling after receiving an honorary degree from the University of Aberdeen, in 2006. Born Joanne Rowling31 July 1965 (1965-07-31) (age 43)Yate, Gloucestershire, England, UK Occupation Novelist Nationality British Notable work(s) Har […]
  • Author Michael Connolly
    http://www.michaelconnelly.com/HomeBiographyBooksShort Stories Other WordsSigningsMailing ListMessage BoardPhoto GalleryAudio & VideoInterviewsSeries OrderInternational Translations Buy A BookGameContact THE SCARECROW Is Available In The USA, Canada, The UK, Ireland, Australia and New ZealandReporter Jack McEvoy and FBI Agent Rachel Walling are reuni […]
  • Author Mary O’Sullivan
    http://www.maryosullivanauthor.ie/Welcome to my website! Whether you arrived here through interest, curiosity or chance, you are very welcome. Please stay a while and share in the life and times of Irish author Mary O Sullivan. The Early YearsI was born in Limerick city in Ireland. When I was two years old my pa […]
  • A CommonPlace Blog Irish Top 5
    http://dgmyers.blogspot.com/2009/03/five-best-of-irish-fiction.htmlFive best of Irish fiction In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, Stefan Beck has offered, over at the New Criterion’s Arma Virumque blog, a “Five Best of Irish Lit” (no Angela’s Ashes, he promises) in the style of the Wall Street Journal’s “Five Best” format:(1) James Joyce, Dubliners.(2) Flann O‘Br […]
  • Irish Fiction Since The 1960s
    http://www.colinsmythe.co.uk/books/irfic.htmIrish Fiction Since the 1960′sEdited by Elmer Kennedy-AndrewsThis collection of fourteen substantial essays has been designed to map the landscape of Irish fiction since 1960, and to assess the extraordinary literary achievement of Irish novelists and short story writers, North and South of the border, over th […]
  • Irish Crime Writers
    http://www.cormacmillar.com/Link-IrishCrimeWriters.htmlIRISH CRIME WRITERS web links compiled by Cormac Millar Liz AllenFormer crime correspondent of the Irish Independent; author of two thrillers, Last to Know (2003) and The Set-Up (2005). Keith BakerFormer Head of News and Current Affairs for BBC Northern Ireland, author of psychological thrillers includin […]
  • Iirsh Fiction
    Irish fiction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_fictionFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, searchJonathan Swift — the first Irish novelist of noteAlthough the epics of Celtic Ireland were written in prose and not verse, most people would probably consider that Irish fiction proper begins in the 18th century. However, there are aspects […]

RSS PaperCuts Blog

  • Living With Music: A Playlist by Peter Terzian
    My favorite songs have little pieces of autobiography in them. Pretty much all songs are autobiographical in some sense, of course. But the memoir-songs I’m talking about recount events that the singer actually lived through: a big snowstorm, an adolescent romance or a trip to Berlin.

    By Blake Wilson

  • Innocent Pleasures
    Forget the rain: it’s summer! That means it’s time for summer reading, even if the beaches are wet, the flights are turbulent and the skies are gray. For the next month, National Public Radio is conducting a poll of the best beach books of all time; meanwhile, NPR’s “All Things Considered” is also asking readers [...]

    By Gregory Cowles

  • Book Review Podcast: Katie Roiphe on Love and Ross Douthat on ‘Digital Barbarism’
    This Week: Katie Roiphe on Cristina Nehring’s “Vindication of Love”; Ross Douthat on Mark Helprin’s “Digital Barbarism”; Motoko Rich with notes from the field; and Jennifer Schuessler with best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus, the editor of the Book Review, is the host.

    By The New York Times

  • Stray Questions for: Elina Hirvonen
    Elina Hirvonen is the author of a novel, “When I Forgot.” “I am writing my second novel, a story about unconventional friendship between an African woman and a Finnish man.”

    By Gregory Cowles

  • Wild Thing
    Is Dave Eggers the busiest man in literature?

    By Gregory Cowles

  • Living With Music: A Playlist by Suzanne Vega
    Most writers face a deadline at some point. Here are 10 songs to help you procrastinate.

    By Blake Wilson

  • Je ne Les Aime Pas, Sam-C’est Moi
    In the category of “Things I wish had existed when I was in school,” the California publisher Ulysses Press has released French translations of two Dr. Seuss classics.

    By Gregory Cowles

  • Not Necessarily the Best-Seller List
    You’d have to be pretty cheeky to name your first book “How I Became a Famous Novelist,” but, to judge from the evidence at hand, Steve Hely has as much cheek as Alvin and the rest of the Chipmunks combined. Hely’s novel, which Black Cat will publish in July, is about a slacker who decides that the best way to take revenge on his ex-girlf […]

    By Gregory Cowles

  • Book Review Podcast: The Novelist Kate Walbert
    This week: Kate Walbert, author of the novel “A Short History of Women”; Paul Barrett on the Wall Street implosion; Motoko Rich with notes from the field; and Jennifer Schuessler with best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host.

    By The New York Times

  • Stray Questions for: Carol Lynch Williams
    What are you working on? At this very moment I am finishing up a five-day conference at Brigham Young University.

    By Blake Wilson

  • Weird Science
    Forget the Two Cultures. Science meets the arts at interesting angles as the 2009 World Science Festival rolls into town tonight.

    By Jennifer Schuessler

  • Living With Music: A Playlist by Liesl Schillinger
    As a book critic, I spend each week with a different book, sometimes several. Before writing a review, I kickstart my process by listening to music that calls up the book’s mood.

    By Blake Wilson

  • Next!
    Looking for a new go-to source for Jewish arts and culture news? You’re in luck. Nextbook.org, the six-year-old Web site, has just relaunched as Tablet, combining a fresh look with a slightly more political approach.

    By Jennifer Schuessler

  • A Prairie Home Poet
    If you’ve occasionally wished that the news from Lake Wobegon contained more erotic poetry – and really, who hasn’t? – then you’ll want to get your hands on Garrison Keillor’s new book, “77 Love Sonnets.”

    By Gregory Cowles

  • ‘Paradise’ in Texas Prisons
    More about the letter Toni Morrison received from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which was referenced in another post last week.

    By Motoko Rich

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Creative Writers Inkwell

Inkwell: http://www.inkwellwriters.ie/index.html

Welcome to Inkwell Writers Workshops
 

  •  
    • Are you a writer looking for inspiration?
    • Have you always wanted to write but don’t know where to start?
    • Have you dreamed of writing a best seller?

Now you can find out how at INKwell Writers’ Workshops

INKwell Workshops are organised by a writer for writers

Combining the experience and success of some of Ireland’s best selling authors with creative writing seminars, designed to kick start your own creativity and inspiration.

INKwell Workshops offer a unique opportunity for writers to meet,
mix and get writing!

***

 

British by birth, Course Convenor Vanessa O’Loughlin is a graduate of Queen Mary College, London University and the busy mother of two small children.

INKwell Writers’ Workshops, was born from Vanessa’s appreciation of how influential published authors can be on new writers, and the guidance and inspiration they can offer.

   
     
 
 

Over the years Vanessa has been privileged to have met many authors and literary professionals who have shaped and improved her writing. INKwell Writers’ Workshops are a product of this experience and, whether kick starting your own creativity or helping you polish your style, will take you a step closer to your goal.

Since establishing INKwell, Vanessa’s own writing has gone from strength to strength. 2007 saw her win third place in the RTE Seoige and O’Shea/Poolbeg Do the Write Thing short story competition, as well as second place in the Today with Pat Kenny, RTE Guide and Mills and Boon Romance short story competition.

 
 
 

Vanessa has recently signed with a major London based Literary Agent
and is looking forward to seeing her first book in print.

Prudence Magazine September 2008 published an article about the work of INKwell – click here to download the .pdf
 
   
 

This year too, Best Selling author Sarah Webb asked Vanessa to contribute to ‘Mum’s the Word: The Truth about Motherhood ‘, a collection of short stories from thirty three of Ireland’s top women writers.

Mums the Word together with the Seoige and O’Shea Do the Write Thing anthology (a collection of the top 14 stories entered for the competition) will be published in September 2008.

All proceeds from the sale of ‘Mums the Word’ are being donated to the
National Children’s Hospital and Cystic Fibrosis – more details can be found at:
 http://www.newisland.ie/node/212
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Invitation To Link To My Lit. Blogs

Invitation To Link to my Blogs

Authors Writers You are invited by me to link to my 2 literary blogs
For The latest bestsellers list, author news and my book recommendations and reviews

http://www.ajd8.wordpress.com

Annette Dunlea is a Irish author. She has written two novels: Always and Forever and The Honey Trap. She writes short stories and book reviews by commission and poetry for pleasure. Her author webpage is http://www.annettedunlea.com and has a second literary blog at http://www.annettedunlea.blogspot.com.
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The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Book Review)
Blog of The Week
The Reapers by John Connolly (Book Review)
FReado.Com A New Site For Authors and Readers
Irish Bestsellers June 2009
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14 Things I Have Learned about Book Author Websites
On Minding the Gate | 20 April 2008 with 8 comments

After tracking down Neal Stephenson’s site — and being disappointed with it — I started thinking about author websites again. Who should own them? Who should control them? What platform should they be built on? Who should build them? And who should pay to have them built and maintained? Questions that have been following me around for two years or more.

Kanye West just launched KanyeUniverseCity and 50cent is using the ning.com platform at Thisis50.com. Clearly book authors have a long way to go.

http://indexmb.com/14-things-i-have-learned-about-book-author-websites/

Here are 14 things I have learned from handling author sites.

If you don’t have a website you don’t exist.
Author websites are different than book websites. Blogs, twitter, myspace and facebook are different tools, use them in different ways.
Voice is important; authors should update the author website.
Frequency is important. It is like shopping for produce, people like to buy fresh.
Frequency isn’t as important as you may think. If you are writing, it is fine to update posts once every two weeks, but broadcast that fact beforehand. Keep tour info or product info as up-to-date as possible.
Free is your friend. Make your work available in its entirety. If someone is willing to read your 400 page novel on screen, you have found a fan for life.
Access is vital. Be available to your fans. If they want to talk to you, talk to them back.

Posted by Annette Dunlea at 5:10 PM
A library of links http://www.writersinoxford.org/index.html

Members’ shortcut to the directory – click on the inkpot logo to the left

LINKS INDEX

Members’ websites | Oxford links | authors’

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Research Site

http://www.encyclopedia.com

Encyclopedia.com -- Online dictionary and encyclopedia of facts, information, and biographies
Find facts, information, and biographies inside Encyclopedia.com

Verified facts, information, and biographies from trusted sources

Encyclopedia.com gives you credible answers from published reference works – all in one place:

  • 49 encyclopedias from sources like Oxford University Press and Columbia University Press
  • 73 dictionaries and thesauruses with definitions, synonyms, pronunciation keys, word origins, and abbreviations
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The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Book Review)

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne has sold 6 million copies and also has been made into a dvd and film. The book is published by Simon and Schuster and its ISBN is 18473770292. It is a new age self help book that claims all you want is yours to have if you simply have positive thoughts. Its theme is self fullfillment and all negative things come from ones negative thoughts. I like the concept of postive thinking and self belief but the idea that world wars, diseases and poverty are ones own fault from negative thoughts is silly.Her theory is your thoughts are the primary cause of everything. If you have the rights thoughts, feelings you can cure yourself, make yourself thinner, richer and happier. ….I wish. She writes “You are God in a physical body”. ” You are master of the universe. You are heir to the kingdom. You are the perfection of life and now you know The Secret”. Put simply it is the laws of attraction and your thoughts determine your destiny. Although I believe in the virtue of self believe, postive thinking, creative visualisation and mediating I feel the author goes too far with her promises. I hope nobody believes they can think themselves free of cancer. It was an interesting read. Reviewed by Annette Dunlea author of Always and Forever and The Honey Trap.

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Blog of The Week

Blog is BookNinja: http://www.bookninja.com/

June 19, 2009

Pint-sized publisher Taya on Canada AM

Taya, an old friend of my son, has hit the media circuit to promote the book she published, Robert Munsch’s Braids. Here she is on Canada AM. I can’t believe how tall she is! Congratulations to Taya and her family.

Posted by George [discuss (1)] [link]

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And another “I’m not dead yet…” article

Kindle DX can’t kill the newspaper, says this review of the plastic behemoth at Slate.

You can think of the DX as the Hummer of Kindles. The standard Kindle has a 6-inch screen, weighs less than a pound, holds 1,500 books, and sells for $359. The DX has a 9.7-inch screen, weighs a bit more than a pound, holds 3,500 books, and sells for $489. The DX, unlike the standard version, also has a built-in PDF reader, and it can be used either in portrait or landscape mode—the text shifts when you rotate it, just like on an iPhone. In every other respect, the big Kindle is the same as the small one: It has the same great E Ink display and the same instant wireless access to Amazon’s huge online store. And it’s just as addictive—you find yourself unable to put it down, buying and reading more books than you ever have before.

The DX also has a few obvious advantages over print newspapers. It’s cheaper than the national dailies—subscriptions go for between $6 and $15 a month, depending on the paper. You can buy a new DX and get a year’s subscription to the NYT’s Kindle edition for about $650, less than you’d pay for delivery of the paper. (The NYT, the Boston Globe, and the Washington Post have all said they plan to offer subsidies for new Kindles to customers who live in areas where the papers don’t deliver, but details, so far, are sketchy.) The DX is also more portable than the newspaper, giving you the ability to carry several dailies at a time and to read on a train without elbowing your fellow commuters in the face. Plus, you can take the Kindle along with you on vacation, it never gets drenched in the rain, and your neighbors can’t steal it in the morning.

Posted by George [discuss (2)] [link]

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John Freeman defends print

Granta’s new editor is like a five legged man at an ass kicking contest in an article at the Independent, saying print’s not dead yet, despite the best efforts of the Canadian government. (Give him a crowbar and he’s nearly Gordon Freeman. If you got that joke, I have only one thing to say to you: NEERRD! Actually, two things: how about some 1v1 HL2DM, CAL rules, bunny hopping and grav-nading allowed?)

Bad things happen up north in the winter, when no one is looking. Like last February, when Canada’s heritage minister James Moore gave a speech which poorly disguised the fact that his office was effectively preparing to clear-cut many Canadian journals. Under his directive a literary journal in Canada must now sell at least 5,000 copies each year to be eligible for government assistance. This may seem like an abstruse piece of bookish trivia, until one remembers that most journals are lucky to reach half that number of readers, and that this radical cutback in funding is happening in a country whose tiny journals supported the early work of Michael Ondaatje, Anne Michaels, and Alice Munro, let alone talented newcomers such as Pasha Malla.

But it’s not just Canada leading this retreat. Fearful capitulation has been the norm in so much English-language literary publishing over the last four years. Newspapers in the US and England have slashed book review supplements, and watched dumbfounded as readers upchucked their subscriptions.

Publishers are still buying multi-million celebrity “books” but grow antsy when it comes to signing up literary writers, the type whose fourth or fifth book (such as Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland) might someday underwrite an entire season. It’s always the end times in publishing, sure, but due to the anxiety over new technology and the comeuppance created by far too much corporate merging these are especially dour ones.

Yet it’s a great time for literary journals. Even though the word “novel” means new, the strictures of the market mean that a book cannot be too new, since something truly new will not be instantly embraced. Publishers keep hoping that will happen nonetheless.

Posted by George [discuss] [link]

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The Reapers by John Connolly (Book Review)

John Connolly is a great literary crime writer. His latest novel The Reapers is an excellent fast paced novel. It has a great plot and is action packed, a real page turner. It has 544 pages long of excitement and is published by Hodder. Its ISBN is 034093668 and it is now in paperback. It’s cover announces “blood will follow” and in the chain of murders that follows it certainly does. In this book there are three main protagonists : Parker, Angel and Louis. The Reapers are elite killers and the plot is a cat and mouse game of killer seeking killers. Louis’s past comes back to haunt him and Louis and Angel are trapped in a town but Parker has help on the way but will it be too late ? I highly recommend this compelling novel. Reviewed by Annette Dunlea author of Always and Forever and The Honey Trap.

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FReado.Com A New Site For Authors and Readers

 
Website:
  http://www.freado.com/bestsellers-and-award-winners.php http://www.annettedunlea.com
About Me:

 

Author of Always and Forever and The Honey Trap. Annette Dunlea is a professional Irish writer. She has written two novels and an anthology of poetry. She is a frequent contributor of short fiction and book reviews  to the local newspapers. Her author website is http://www.annettedunlea.com. She is an active blogger and she maintains two literary blogs. Her Blogger is http://www.annettedunlea.blogspot.com and her WordPress blog is http://www.ajd8.wordpress.com. My two books are available on Amazon and Lulu.

 
Favourite Authors:
Favourite Books:
Title :   Always and Forever
Uploaded on : 4th Jun 2009
Rating: 5 Star Ratings
Description: Now available from Amazon as a paperback book or by download – Annette’s book on the life and death of a fictional Rose of Tralee Historical fiction, more…
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Title :   The Honey Trap
Uploaded on : 4th Jun 2009
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Description: The Honey Trap   by Annette Dunlea   Available in paperback or as download from Amazon or bookstores.   pbk €12.97, download €2.98    ISBN: more…
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Irish Bestsellers June 2009

 TOP IRISH BESTSELLERS THIS MONTH JUNE 2009

newmoon

Dying to Survive (Signed by author)
by Rachael Keogh
€14.99£11.39$18.29

  
Brooklyn paperback
by Colm Toibin
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€12.99£9.87$15.85
Secret Scripture
by Sebastian Barry
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€7.99£6.07$9.75
Happy Ever After (Signed by author)
by Patricia Scanlan
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€12.99£9.87$15.85
Between the Sheets
by Colette Caddle
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€7.99£6.07$9.75
Best Love Rosie
by Nuala O Faolain
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€13.95£10.60$17.02
Ma Im Getting Meself a New Mammy
by Martha Long
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€7.99£6.07$9.75
Someone Special (signed by author)
by Sheila O Flanagan
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€5.99£4.55$7.31

 

TOP NON FICTION BESTSELLERS:

Best Love Rosie
by Nuala O Faolain
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€13.95£10.60$17.02
Ma Im Getting Meself a New Mammy
by Martha Long
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€7.99£6.07$9.75
Angels in My Hair
by Lorna Byrne
€11.99£9.11$14.63
Ronnie
by Ronnie Drew
€4.99£3.79$6.09
4 Ingredients
by Bermi McCosker Kim &
€8.99£6.83$10.97
What Would Ma Say
by Kathleen Doyle
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€12.99£9.87$15.85
Times Great Irish Lives
by Books Times
€3.99£3.03$4.87
TOP PAPERBACKS BESTSELLERS
New Moon
Paperback by Stephenie Meyer
€9.20 €7.99£6.07$9.75
Scarpetta
by Patricia Cornwell
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€8.99£6.83$10.97
Angels & Demons Film Tie in
by Dan Brown
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€8.99£6.83$10.97
Secret Scripture
by Sebastian Barry
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€7.99£6.07$9.75
Between the Sheets
by Colette Caddle
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€7.99£6.07$9.75
Gypsy
by Lesley Pearse
Part of the Summer Reading 3 for 2 promotion
€6.99£5.31$8.53
White Tiger
by Aravind Adiga
€8.99£6.83$10.97
Eclipse
Paperback by Stephenie Meyer
€9.69£7.36$11.82
Twilight
Paperback by Stephenie Meyer
€9.20 €7.99£6.07$9.75
TOP CHILDREN BESTSELLERS JUNE 2009
 
Eclipse
Paperback by Stephenie Meyer
€9.69£7.36$11.82
Disney Sleeping Beauty
€19.70 €12.99£9.87$15.85
Twilight
by Stephenie Meyer
€7.99£6.07$9.75
Molly Foxs Birthday
by Deirdre Madden
€10.40£7.90$12.69
Before You Sleep
by Benji Bennett
€9.99£7.59$12.19
Hank Zipzer: Niagara Falls – or Does It?
Paperback by Henry Winkler
€6.55 €6.50£4.94$7.93

Source : Easons Books Wholesellers Ireland

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Munster, Ireland Top Book Sales 18/6/09

Source Carrigdhoun Newspaper

Top Ten

1.Miles To Go by Miley Cyrus

2.D-Day by Antony Beevor

3.We Need To Talk About Ross by Paul Howard

4.Official Driving Test Theory by Ireland

5.Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

6.When Will There Be Good News by Kate Atkinson

7.Coast of Cork by Joleen Cronin

8.Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

9.Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child

10.If This Is Paradise by Claudia Carroll

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Earth Voices Whispering Anthology of Irish War Poetry 1914-1945 by Gerald Dawe

Earth Voices Whispering Anthology is edited by Gerald Dawe. The editor Gerald is Belfast born and a literary prize winner and poet. He has no less than 7 poetry collections in print. The book is published by Blackstaff Press and its ISBN is 0856408212. This is the first Irish war anthology to cover 5 wars from both points of view for over a 30 year period. It is simply a brilliant collection which fulfills a cultural need. There are over 250 poems from old poets and new. Many of my favourite poets have poems here: WB Yeats, Padraic Pearse, Francis Ledwidge, Patrick Kavanagh, Samuel Beckett, Thomas Kinsella, Brendan Keneally, Seamus Heaney and Paul Durcan. These poems have pathos, beauty and illumination and help us understand the period 1914-45. It should be essential reading for all historians and poets. This collection gives a poetic and literary view of Ireland’s role in the wars of the period. Reviewed by Annette Dunlea author of Always and Forever and The Honey Trap.

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The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly (Book Review)

The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly is now available in hardback. Its ISBN is 075287585X. The protagonist Jack Mc Evoy is losing his job on his paper due to recessionary cuts. Before he leaves he has two weeks to train in a fresh grad into his job. Jack decides he is going to go out with a blaze of glory and write the crime story of his career.He decides to write a story on a 16 year old boy Alonzo Winslow who raped and strangled a woman. Jack receives a phone call from the kids mum saying he is innocent. With a little bit of old fashioned detective work he discovers the kid did not murder the woman. Whats worst he connects this murder to an earlier one in Las Vegas. He soon realizes there is a murderer on the lose and people are in jail for his crimes.The murderer is nicknamed The Scarecrow. The Scarecrow is a criminal who works on tha computer farm securing top secret data that must remain secure and he is prepared to kill to keep his secrets. Jack and his trainee Rachael has let off a digital tripwire and the killer knows he is on to him and he is waiting for him. In this fast paced thriller Jack joins up with his ex lover Rachael an FBI agent to catch The Scarecrow. They rush to stay alive and find the murderer and convict him. Will Jack and Rachael keep their jobs? This is a fast paced murder thiller that is a real page turner. The message of the novel is there is a dark side to technology it can work for or against you. Connolly fans and crime thriller readers will love this novel. Reviewed by Annette Dunlea author of Always and Forever and The Honey Trap.

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The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey (Book Review)

The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey is now in paperback by Jonathan Cape. It has been short listed for the Orange Prize. It is the author’s debut novel. She has a masters degree in philosphy and has taught English, so I am now suprised it is  literary and truthfull. It has been brillantly researched. This is a psychological fiction novel about Jake a 60 year old architect who has short term memory loss but his long term memory is ok. The story is his reconciltion of life as he remembers it as he sits on a plane overlooking his country. It is written in a compassionate and literary style. Nothing is as it seems. The disease highlights loss and confusion in life.

“In amongst  a sea of events and names that have been forgotten, they are a number of episodes that float with striking buoyancy to the surface”.

As his  Alzheimers progresses  his memory and his identity goes. It is narrated in the third person and its prose is lyrical. This book is the wilderness of a confused mind attacked by Alzheimers Disease. The story moves back and forth as Jake goes through memories. Fact and fiction and past and present blur in his stories.

” I feel like all my wires are been unplugged one by one. Not even in order just one by one.”

This is heartwrenching and a thought provoking read. It reads like a family drama and we slowly gather the jigsaw pieces together to discover the true story. This book conveys the signifance of our memory and the cruelty of old age. We can outlive our bodies and minds. Anything is plausible and nothing is certain. The themes that run through the novel are: loss, conflict, marriage, love and religion.