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Writer Mike McCormack recalls his childhood while growing up in Mayo. Here he describes a long car journey across the county. Mike is the author of several books including 'This Plague of Souls' (2023), 'Solar Bones' (2016), 'Forensic Songs' (2012), & 'Notes from a Coma' (2005).
Irish author Mike McCormack joins Sam and Lori to talk about his latest novel, This Plague of Souls, the second novel of a triptych following his award-winning Solar Bones.
The December Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Mike McCormack about his novel 'The Plague of Souls'. Mike McCormack comes from the west of Ireland and is the author of two collections of short stories Getting it in the Head and Forensic Songs, and three novels Crowe's Requiem, Notes from a Coma and Solar Bones. In 1996 he was awarded the Rooney Prize for Literature and Getting it in the Head was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. In 2006 Notes from a Coma was shortlisted for the Irish Book of the Year Award. In 2016 Solar Bones was awarded the Goldsmiths Prize and the Bord Gais Energy Irish Novel of the Year and Book of the Year; it was also long-listed for the 2017 Man Booker Prize. In 2018 it was awarded the International Dublin Literary Award. He is a member of Aosdána.
Mike McCormack's multi-award-winning novel Solar Bones is brought to life by Stanley Townsend in a performance directed by Lynne Parker in an adaption by Michael West. Marcus Conway has come home to his kitchen in Louisburgh Co. Mayo. Everything seems normal, yet he is haunted by the feeling that nothing is quite right. Poring obsessively over the details of his relationships, his world and his work as an engineer brings him closer to an understanding of how the things and people he loves have come together, and how they have and must inevitably come apart.This production has been showered in awards and praise, and Conor Tallon chatted to Stanley Townsend for The Arts House. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We're back with more tips on what to watch, read and listen to in November and December... TV: Small Axe, The Queen’s Gambit, The Twelve, Save Me * Film: Rebecca, Saint Frances, On The Rocks * Books: Solar Bones, -Summerwater * Album: Serpentine Prison – Matt Berninger; I Can Go With You - Sam Burton
Lynn Parker and Stanley Townsend chat about bringing "Solar Bones" to the stage at the Watergate Theatre. Singer Fehdah talks about being chosen as one of Culture Night's trailblazers and Ruth Ennis and Molly McDonagh talk "Paper Lanterns" a brand new literary journal for Teens and Young Adults.
Jenny welcomes Andrew to discuss books, and we discuss myth and folk tale retellings, classics, and reading around the world. Andrew finishes every book he starts and has been in the same book group for 20 years. Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 194: Squirreling Books Away Subscribe to the podcast via this link: FeedburnerOr subscribe via Apple Podcasts by clicking: SubscribeOr listen through TuneIn Or listen on Google Play Or listen via StitcherOr listen through Spotify New! Listen through Google Podcasts Books discussed: Middlemarch by George EliotThese Ghosts are Family by Maisy CardOld School by Tobias WolffThe Book of Longings by Sue Monk KiddSwansong by Kerry Andrew Other mentions:The Corpse Washer by Sinan AntoonThomas HardyD.H. LawrenceThe Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne BrontëShirley by Charlotte BronteJane AustenBBC Radio 4 - In Our Time podcastLiterary Disco PodcastSilas Marner by George EliotThe Mill on the Floss by George EliotThe Sound and the Fury by William FaulknerAs I Lay Dying by William FaulknerUlysses by James JoyceUlysses dramatisationWar and Peace by Leo TolstoyThe Eighth Life by Nino HarataschwiliSolar Bones by Mike McCormackMilkman by Anna BurnsThe Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Age 13 3/4 by Sue TownsendPatsy by Nicole Dennis-BennThe Shadow King by Maaza MengisteAn Untamed State by Roxane GayThe Secret History by Donna TarttRobert FrostAyn RandErnest HemingwayNew Yorker Podcast - Tobias WolffThe other Tobias WolfeMarian KeyesThe Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk KiddThe Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk KiddThe Gnostic Gospels by Elaine PagelsThe Da Vinci Code by Dan BrownMolly BrownFolk on Foot PodcastEverything Under by Daisy Johnson (and it's Oedipus, not Hansel and Gretel!)Country by Michael HughesThe Silence of the Girls by Pat BarkerA Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes The Prince of West End Avenue by Alan Isler (not available in USA)IraqiGirl: the Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq Related episodes:Episode 099 - Readalong: The Secret HistoryEpisode 176 - Best of 2019Episode 182 - Reading Slump with Eleanor Thoele Episode 192 - Sly Milieu with Thomas Stalk us online:Jenny at GoodreadsJenny on TwitterJenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and LitsyAndrew at GoodreadsAndrew is @andrew61 on Litsy
Rick talks to Naoise Dolan about her debut novel ‘Exciting Times’ which is set in Hong Kong and is one of the reasons she has been able to beat the ‘reader’s block’ which had been plaguing him of late. Stefanie Preissner has the week’s book news and Mike McCormack answers questions from the Roundwood Book Club about his work ‘Solar Bones’.
From the little island with the big reach: Hear from Mike McCormack with his acclaimed third novel “Solar Bones,” Catherine Ryan Howard and her debut propulsive thriller “Distress Signals” and Emilie Pine with her searching “Notes to Self.” With the support of Culture Ireland.
Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon star in The Current War, as Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. It's the electrifying story about the race to supply people with electricity and power. The film has had a turbulent production, plagued with unfavourable reviews at 2017 Toronto Film festival premier and then caught up in the scandal surrounding the Harvey Weinstein allegations. Film Critic Tim Robey discusses the changes made to the film since its initial release and the impact of events behind the scenes. Love Island 2019 is in its final week, so we wondered whether or not we can make assessments about the state of modern relationships by how they are presented on the screen? Cultural commentator Louis Wise and YouTube relationship expert Hannah Witton discuss this and ponder which programmes best hold up a mirror to reality, or actually start to shape it? Lucy Ellmann’s new novel Ducks, Newburyport has been attracting headlines and admiration; but not just for its literary qualities. It's 1,000 pages long, most of which is one sentence. And there are other contemporary authors also playing with conventional storytelling form at the moment, including Bernardine Evaristo, Ali Smith, Nicola Barker, Eimear McBride and Mike McCormack. McCormack’s novel Solar Bones, also a single sentence, won the 2016 Goldsmiths Prize, and Evaristo’s latest novel Girl, Woman, Other plays with voice, grammar and text on the page. They talk to Front Row about the freedom of not following the rules. And Cool Culture: as the temperature in much of the UK look set to soar, we wonder about the best places to enjoy culture without melting Presenter: Stig Abell. Producer: Oliver Jones
In this episode, Kim Stanley Robinson discusses Solar Bones by Mike McCormack and Sonia Faruqi picks Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. This episode of Recommended is sponsored by Duchess by Design by Maya Rodale andRuth Bader Ginsburgby Jane Sherron De Hart. You can subscribe to Recommended in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or in your podcast player of choice. The show can also be found on Stitcher here.
East West Street is a memoir by prominent British barrister Philippe Sands. It's a history of atrocity combined with a relentless search for the truth, with Sands digging deep, into both his own family history and the legal framework that eventually brought Nazi war criminals to justice. Powerful stuff, but what did Kate's book club make of it? Did it make for a good book club read? Plus we talk to an all-male book club on the value of friendship and shared conversations about books, and lightly delve into the mystery of what makes a book 'manly'. We end with some recommendations for your next book club read. Get in touch with us at thebookclubreview@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram @thebookclubreviewpod, on Twitter @bookclubrvwpod, or leave us a comment on iTunes. We'd love to hear from you. Subscribe and never miss an episode. Books mentioned on this episode were: The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal, In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson, The Tobacconist and A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler, Under the Glacier by Halldor Laxness, Blindness by José Saramago, A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul and Life, A User's Manual by Georges Perec. Henry from The Book Hive in Norwich recommended Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates and Heather, A Totality, by Matthew Weiner. For our next book we will be reading and discussing Swing Time by Zadie Smith. Keep listening for our extra bit at the end in which we discuss My Family and Other Animals by Lawrence Durrell, A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility by Amor Towles and Solar Bones by Mike McCormack. We also take a quick look at Bailie Gifford (Samuel Johnson) prizewinners.
Welcome to the Irish Times Book Club podcast, recorded earlier this month in association with the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin's Parnell Square. This month's title is Solar Bones by Mike McCormack, currently shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize. It is 20 years since McCormack's debut collection of stories, Getting it in the Head, won him the prestigious Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Two years later came his fist novel, Crowe's Requiem, then a seven-year gap to its follow up, Notes from A Coma, described by John Waters as the best Irish novel of the decade, then another seven-year gap before his second collection, Forensic Songs in 2012.
Advertiser Arts Editor Kernan Andrews sat down and spoke with Mayo native, but now Galway based author Mike McCormack about his new novel Solar Bones this week. (Music: www.bensound.com) (Mixed and produced by @colmgannon)