Yesterday, I booked my seat at Eason, for an Anne Enright event.
The current Man Booker prize winner will be reading from The Gathering, in O'Connell Street, Dublin, at November-end. From hindsight, tickets get snatched up pretty quickly.
Christmas is everywhere now. Hardly the slow hum of carols with which to entice the shopper but rather what I find charming are, the festive window displays, the tasteful (and not garish) decorations, twinkling Christmas trees and in bookshops, a vast array of Christmas reads for adults that have popped up from nowhere - and this to say nothing of childrens' - ranging from the classics to contemporary fiction and bestsellers.
I thought I might start a string of Christmas reads this month, just for the sheer enjoyment of it. I blame the child in me who refuses to grow up.
I picked up a very attractive new hardback by Maeve Binchy called This Year It Will Be Different. I have always loved a heartwarming Binchy. The copy which was going for a special Christmas offer at 12 euros (otherwise 22 euros) proved delightful with its assortment of delicous Christmas tales, focussing on fictitious Irish families in 2007. Already, I'm halfway through.
I'm looking forward to re-reading Dicken's A Christmas Carol and his shorter works like The Chimes and The Christmas Tree. Besides, one of my favourites, The People's Friend Magazine has come out with a Christmas fiction special and right now, I feel my world is a rollercoaster-library which never stops spinning.