Fiction - paperback; Picador; 304 pages; 2024. Long Island is the sequel to Colm Tóibín’s 2009 novel Brooklyn, which was the story of a young Irish émigré moving to the US in the 1950s, torn between two countries and two love interests. Long Island picks up Eilis Lacey’s life 20 years later. Married to Italian-American…

Reading Matters

27.01.2025

‘Girl on a Bicycle’ by Leland Bardwell – Reading Matters

Fiction - paperback; Liberties Press; 192 pages; 2009. What a great find this wonderful book turned out to be! I purchased it about 15 years ago in a bargain bin at Hodges Figgis in Dublin for €7.99, but it's been languishing in my TBR ever since. I plucked it off the shelf at random last…

Reading Matters

02.02.2025

‘Grant & I: Inside and Outside the Go-Betweens’ by Robert Forster – Reading Matters

Fiction - paperback; Penguin; 352 pages; 2017. We created the most romantic thing two heterosexual men can, a pop group. Between us it was always an exchange (page 126). Robert Forster co-founded the Australian indie band the Go-Betweens with Grant McLennan in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The Forster/McLennan songwriting partnership was one of the most…

Reading Matters

02.02.2025

‘The Adversary’ by Ronnie Scott – Reading Matters

Fiction - paperback; Penguin; 244 pages; 2020. I don’t know how I feel about Ronnie Scott’s debut novel The Adversary. It’s one of those books that is enjoyable to read, but so little of it sticks afterwards you wonder if you read it at all. But what does stick with me is the “vibe” —…

home›Reading Matters

Reading Matters

Books & Literature

‘Long Island’ by Colm Tóibín – Reading Matters

‘Girl on a Bicycle’ by Leland Bardwell – Reading Matters

‘Grant & I: Inside and Outside the Go-Betweens’ by Robert Forster – Reading Matters

‘The Adversary’ by Ronnie Scott – Reading Matters

home
›
Reading Matters