Learn a new skill or take up a new hobby for free from the comfort of your own home

Register for one of the 400+ free online courses available through Clare County Library and learn at your own pace and in your own time. The areas of study covered range from accounting, through DIY and pet and animal care to writing skills. Courses on offer include cake decorating, landscaping, how to write a business plan, early childhood development and internet marketing basics. Follow the Universal Class link from the library homepage www.clarelibrary.ie. All first time users must register with Universal Class using their library card number and PIN number.

Booker shortlist 2017

Books by two debut novelists Fiona Mozley and Emily Fridlund have been shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker prize. They join Ali Smith who has made the shortlist for the fourth time while Mohsin Hamid previously made the list in 2007 with The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Irish writer Mike McCormack and Sebastian Barry failed to be shortlisted.

The shortlist covers a wide range of subjects, from the struggle of a family trying to retain its self-sufficiency in rural England to a love story between two refugees seeking to flee an unnamed city in the throes of civil war.

The titles are:

4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster
History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Elmet by Fiona Mozley
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Autumn by Ali Smith

The winner will be announced on October 17th. Visit http://themanbookerprize.com/ for more information.

25 greatest comedy films

The BBC have compiled a list of the 25 greatest comedy films based on recommendations from critics from around the world. The top 10 films are

1. Some like it hot
2. Dr Strangelove
3. Annie Hall
4. Groundhog day
5. Duck soup
6. Life of Brian
7. Airplane
8. Playtime
9. This is spinal tap
10. The general

To see the complete list and to read why these films deserved to make the list, see http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170820-the-25-greatest-comedies-of-all-time
These films and many more can be borrowed from Clare County Library.