The Half Known Life: Finding Paradise in a Divided World by Pico Iyer
The Half Known Life by Pico Iyer is a soulful journey through some of the world’s most divided places — from Iran to Belfast — in search of meaning, stillness, and what paradise might look like in real life. With lyrical prose and quiet wisdom, Iyer invites us to see how peace often emerges not in perfection, but in contradiction
In This Body, In This Lifetime - Awakening Stories of Japanese Soto Zen Women - Edited by Esho Sudan, Translated by Kogen Czarnik
Inspiring and moving accounts of nuns and laywomen practicing under a female zen master in post war Japan.
The Northern Bank Job: The Heist and How They Got Away With It by Glenn Patterson
Glenn Patterson’s The Northern Bank Job is an account of Ireland’s most audacious heist. Blending investigative detail with cultural insight, Patterson explores the 2004 Belfast robbery that shook a post-conflict North of Ireland. A must-read for fans of true crime, Irish history, and political intrigue
Heart be at Peace by Donal Ryan
Donal Ryan’s Heart, Be At Peace is a quiet, lyrical follow-up to his award-winning novel The Spinning Heart. A tender portrait of rural Irish life, legacy, and quiet grace.
Eimear Ryan - The Grass Ceiling: On Being a Woman in Sport
Eimear Ryan’s The Grass Ceiling is a powerful blend of memoir, sports writing, and cultural commentary that asks what it means to be a woman in Irish sport.
The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia laing
Olivia Laing’s The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone is part memoir, part art criticism, and part meditation on what it means to be lonely in a world built for connection.
Butter by Asako Yuzuki
Japanese literary crime novel, Butter by Asako Yuzuki blends food, feminism, and mystery in a slow-burning exploration of desire and shame
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is a bestselling sci-fi novel that blends science, suspense, and surprising emotion. A lone astronaut wakes up on a spacecraft with no memory and slowly uncovers a mission that could save humanity. Smart, fast-paced, and unexpectedly moving, this gripping space thriller is perfect for fans of clever science fiction with heart.
Awareness by Anthony De Mello
Awareness by Anthony de Mello is a modern spiritual classic that invites readers to wake up from the illusions of ego, conditioning, and control. With a blend of sharp humour, deep insight, and grounded practicality, de Mello delivers a powerful guide to inner freedom and present-moment living.
Nightshade - Michael Connelly
Michael Connelly’s Nightshade kicks off a gripping new series set on Catalina Island — murder, secrets, and golf carts included. A smart, atmospheric crime thriller with a quietly compelling lead and classic Connelly tension.
A Beginners Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations by Pico Iyer
A reflective review of Pico Iyer’s A Beginner’s Guide to Japan — a poetic, thought-provoking travel book that explores Japanese culture through silence, stillness, humour, and contradiction. Ideal reading before your trip to Japan., or if you’re eager to return.
The City and its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami
A review of Haruki Murakami’s 2024 novel The City and Its Uncertain Walls — a slow-burning meditation on memory, love, and the walls we build inside ourselves.
Stench by Trish Bennett
‘Stench’ is the debut collection from Fermanagh based Poet Trish Bennett. Very much rooted in the border hinterlands, these poems are full of humour, vigour and poignancy.
Air - John Boyne
‘Air’ is the fourth novella in John Boyne’s ‘Elements’ series, and it’s somewhat apt that we find Aaron Umber and his son Emmett 30,000 feet above the ground on a long haul flight. Emmett is unaware they are going to meet someone from his fathers past, but can they bridge the gap that exists between them first?
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata - Book Review
Keiko is a 36 year old convenience store worker in Tokyo under pressure to conform - why isn’t she married with a career? Darkly humorous and thought provoking social critique on modern Japan.
Abroad in Japan by Chris Broad
‘Abroad in Japan’ is the informative and breezily entertaining account of Chris Broads life, first as a JET teacher then later as a successful youtuber.
Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner
‘Crying in H Mart: A memoir’ by Michelle Zauner is a an account of the Japanese Breakfast singer growing up mixed race in the US, experiencing the loss of her mother and the subsequent grief, then discovering her own identity and cultural heritage.
The Wager by David Grann
This is the engrossing story of The Wager, an a scarcely believable account of mutiny, shipwreck, murder, and survival against all the odds.
The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine
Wendy Erskine’s frenetic enthralling debut is a sharp, moving and thought provoking novel on real lives in the North of Ireland. It tackles gender and class inequality, what parents will do to protect their children, and is both dark and bloody funny.
A Freewheelin’ Time - A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties by Suze Rotolo
Finally time for me to read Suze Rotolo’s memoir of her time in Greenwich Village, especially after watching ‘A Complete Unknown’. One for the casual reader or strictly for the bob cats?
