Ennis Book Club Festival Update

Hi girls,

Just to let you know that the Ennis Book Club Festival have launched a website: http://www.ennisbookclubfestival.com. It is worth checking out. The event will be held in Ennis, County Clare from March 2nd - 4th 2007. An impressive line-up of speakers have already confirmed.

To read more, click on their press release:
http://www.ennisbookclubfestival.com/press-images/ebcf-press-release.pdf

Or alternatively visit the website above.

Looking forward to Christmas Book Club.

Trish.

December Recommended Reads

Hi Everybody,

It was decided at last nights meeting that we would just recommend the three books suggested and everyone reads whatever takes their fancy! That way we'll have loads to discuss at the next meeting which will also be our Christmas bash (mulled wine and pressies). So happy choosing and get reading.....

1) Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is among the most influential works of psychiatric literature since Freud. The book begins with a lengthy, austere and deeply moving personal essay about Frankl's imprisonment in Auschwitz and other concentration camps for five years and his struggle during this time to find reasons to live.

The second part of the book, called "Logotherapy in a Nutshell" describes the psychotherapeutic method that Frankl pioneered as a result of his experiences in the concentration camps. Freud believed that sexual instincts and urges were the driving force of humanity's life; Frankl, by contrast, believes that man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. Therefore, Frankl's logotherapy is much more compatible with western religions than Freudian psychotherapy. This is a fascinating, sophisticated and very human book.

At times, Frankl's personal and professional discourses merge into a style of tremendous power. "Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is", Frankl writes. "After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips." --Christine Buttery

[Image and words taken from Amazon.co.uk]

2. Cradle & All by James Patterson

[Image taken from amazon.com]

CRADLE AND ALL takes the incidents at Fatima, just after the beginning of the last century, makes a couple of twists, and runs and runs for daylight. Mary, the Mother of Christ, appeared on at least three occasions to some shepherd children at Fatima. She gave one of the children a message to pass on to the Pope. The contents of this message have never been revealed, but supposedly it has been passed on to each Pope since that time. The message, or at least one version of it, is revealed in CRADLE AND ALL. There will be two virgin births; one will witness the birth of the Savior, the other the birth of the spawn of Satan. And, as events kick into gear, the Catholic Church finds two girls who are both virgins, yet pregnant.

One is a 14 year old Irish girl living in poverty; the other is a 16 year old girl living in Boston. There is one problem: there is no way to determine who is giving birth to whom. Naturally, the Church wants to protect the birth of the Savior. Satan, naturally, wants to thwart the birth of the Savior and preserve his (or her) own offspring. The Church is accordingly attempting to watch over both girls. Someone --- or something --- is after both of them. Anne Fitzgerald, ex-nun turned private investigator is initially retained by the Church to investigate the virgin pregnancies, but soon finds herself guarding one of them as well as her own virtue. But is she guarding the Savior, or protecting the Satan-spawn? Don't think for a minute that you'll be able to guess. Even if you're right, you'll be wrong. Patterson has demonstrated before that he is an absolute master of pacing and diversion, and he demonstrates it yet again with CRADLE AND ALL.

It begins with a bit of mystery, lets a little intrigue in along the way, throws in some unrequited romance, and mixes it all with an undercurrent of creeped-out thriller. The ending --- make that endings, enough for three or four books --- has more twists and turns to it than an 80 m.p.h. trip down the flower section of San Francisco's Lombard Street. You'll wish you could read with your eyes closed. And, if all of this were not enough, Patterson leaves the door of the possibility of a sequel open a crack or two. Whether he chooses to follow-up on CRADLE AND ALL or not, Patterson has given us a story that will have everyone reading and talking for some time to come. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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3. The Girl in Times Square by Paullina Simons

The Girl in Times Square is set in a time and a place of affluence and peace, New York City, 2001, and it begins with people who are unhappy and lonely despite everything. People who are afraid to care and so never do. Who carry secrets that contaminate their dreams. Who think they have a right to misery as well as to prosperity and opportunity.

Lily Quinn is 24. She enjoys life. She has friends. She has a beautiful relationship with her older brother, Andrew, a congressman, if not with the rest of her family. She’s just won the New York Lottery, $18 million. But she loves her quiet life and she will not collect the money; in fact, the idea scares her half to death. And when her best friend and roommate, Amy, goes missing she is even more determined not to cash in the ticket.

New York 2000: The city is thriving but Amy may be dead, Andrew faces ruin, or worse, and love and loyalty are at war. Then something really bad happens to Lily, so bad she does at last collect her money: $11 million after tax. Whether her new fortune can save her or protect the people she loves is a big question in this heart-wrenching story of a young girl’s fight for life, when past suffering and future dreams play havoc with the present.

[Image and words taken from www.harpercollins.com.au]