The Grateful Book Dragon

This is my first sojourn into the world of Agatha Christie and I wasn't disappointed. I have never read any of her books or watched any of the countless movie or TV adaptions.  Of course I've heard of Miss Marple and Poirot. I have seen countless advertisements for them since my childhood but I have never really felt compelled enough to watch any of them. Crime/ murder mysteries not being one of my go to genre.  Although I do admit I am very tempted by Murder On The Orient Express. My only real knowledge of Christie comes from Doctor Who which was fun but by no means a good stick with which to measure her by.  I absolutely love all things supernatural so when I came across this collection on my libraries Borrowbox app i decided now was the time to finally see what all the fuss is about.  I absolutely adored the premise of most of the stories in this collection. I think she strikes a good balance between science and the occult. I also really liked the glim...

I don't like comparing authors but the style of Snowflake by Louise Nealon did remind me a bit of Sally Rooney's Normal People. If anything it was better and I say this without wanting to be crappy to Sally Rooney who is amazing in her own right. Snowflake has a wit and a very down to earth relatable feel about it that helps lighten the heavy subject matter for the reader somewhat. The varying depictions of mental illness are very well done and I really have to commend Louise Nealon for this. Pretty much everyone in it has or has had some sort of struggle with thier mental health. It is also lovely to read books like this that come from an Irish perspective and give an honest account of what it's like to come of age in the Ireland of today. I also really liked her perspective on Trinity. "You don't need to be smart to get in to Trinity. You just have to be stubborn". Trinity is like the holy grail of colleges in Ireland and often people don't f...

Nevermind Penney's ( No disrespect to people who love it, no judgement here) I'm more excited that Libraries and Bookshops get to reopen thier doors again. I won't get to visit them because I'm still housebound at present due to chronic illness but I am absolutely thrilled they get to re-open and my family will be able to pop in for me so I can continue to support them at a distance.  Is a town really complete without a bookshop.  Throughout the pandemic I've tried to support irish book shops as much as possible by buying from them online. Secret Book & Record, Dubray, Kenny's, Vibes & Scribes have all had the pleasure of my business this year. Smaller operations didn't have the advantage of a website for online orders that the larger booksellers all have, which made things tricky especially when your introverted so I'm hoping to support my local independent bookshop more now that it's back up and running. ...

I fully expected a good old fashioned gothic thriller and while Girl In The Walls by AJ Gnuse  is that, it's also so much more. After Elise loses her parents in a car accident she is sent to a foster home for the night so the adults can figure out where to send her. In her grief she decides to take things into her own hands and sneaks off in the night walking miles to an old house her family once lived in. She secretly takes up residency in the hollows of the old house coming out when the new occupants the Mason family are at work or at school or on occassion when they are asleep. She uses this time to eat, watch tv or search for remnants of her families past life in the house, things her parents accidentally left behind or lost. When they are home she stays in the walls or attic and reads books she's borrowed from the house.  Can a person really hide in another families house without said family eventually getting wise that something isn't quiet right. What wou...

I've decided I'm not going to do the my week in books posts anymore because I read way too many and all the info and ratings can just be found on Goodreads anyway. So instead I'm going to write about the books and bookish things that interest me the most and maybe the odd thing from my life I feel worth sharing. I think it will be worthwhile and way more entertaining to read than a list of descriptions of my reading habits for the week. I may do my favourite books of the month post going forward but I shall see how things go. 

This week I read more novels than graphics. I also found myself feeling very uncomfortable with a knowing pain in my gut because the book I'm about to give my thoughts on hits a nerve with me. I have since getting married in 2012 really explored my relationship with the church and if I wanted to still be a part of it so I'm probably way ahead in terms of knowing how I feel about the church than maybe the author was at the time of writing her book. The book in question is Are You There God? It's Me, Ellen by Ellen Coyne One of the things about me you need to understand is that I tend to be very understanding. I listen to people and try to see things from thier perspective. I see the merits in most things. This book is about journalist Ellen Coyne and her journey back to Catholicism. She doesn't agree with thier policies or the source material on which the religion is based but yet still feels she needs Catholicism. To me from reading my reading of the book sh...