The Kite Runner voted Reading Group Book of the Year 2008

For the third year in a row, Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, has been voted as the Reading Group Book of the Year. Hosseini’s popularity with reading groups continues as his second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, came in second. Votes were collected via the Penguin and Orange websites and from reading groups entering the 2008 Penguin/Orange Broadband Readers’ Group Prize.

The top 10 favourite reading group books are
1 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
2 A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
3 joint:
Old Filth by Jane Gardam
The Island by Victoria Hislop
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Small Island by Andrea Levy
7 Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
8 joint:
We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen by Paul Torday
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

The Carnegie Medal Award

What makes a truly great book? The Carnegie Medal was established in 1937 and is presented annually to an outstanding book published in the U.K. Since 1969 any book written in English and published first or concurrently in the U.K. has been eligible. The medal is now awarded by CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the UK in memory of the great Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) who set up more than 2800 libraries across the English speaking world, including Ireland. The 2008 winner is Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve and the other books on the shortlist were Gatty’s Tale by Kevin Crossley-Holland; Ruby Red by Linzi Glass; Crusade by Elizabeth Laird; Apache by Tanya Landman; What I Was by Meg Rosoff and Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine.

Hitch-Hiker named as best audiobook

The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has been voted favourite audiobook in the Book Marketing Society’s 10 Best Audiobooks promotion. Douglas Adams’ classic was chosen from a selection of 40 audiobooks. Members of the public were invited to vote for their favourite. Charlie Connolly’s "Attention All Shipping" was in second place followed by Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet", "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" and "I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue".

Chord - Ennis International Music Festival

Celebrating the cultural diversity of Ennis through a high-quality programme of musical events and an array of street events, Chord International Music Festival has a variety of musicians playing throughout the weekend of 5th-7th September including:

Sonia Esquivel- Bossa Nova/ Samba/ Latin
Together with her trio they are going to play a mixture of samba, bossa, nova, choro and other Brazilian rhythms creating an experience that is intimate and intense. Seating will be cabaret style so don't forget your dancing shoes.

Homegrown- Vertigo Smyth & Garthoga Sun
A Chance for the stars of Clare's indie firmament to twinkle. An evening of song, dance, fun, frolics, tears, laughter and happiness. Featuring Vertigo Smyth, he brings heart warming songs. Gargotha Sun on the other hand will focus on making a pleasant racket.

Saturday brings Aindrias de Staic- Around the World on 80 Quid. The Jimmy Cake are a spine tingling, shimmering, hypnotic, nine headed musical beast from Dublin. For the night owls, Festival Club is on from 11pm to 1.30am at Brogans Bar. On Sunday there is a Family Day with live music, face painting and more.
More information at http://www.chordfestival.com/

Traditional and New Music From Ireland and Brittany at Courthouse Gallery

The Courthouse Studios and Gallery, Parliament Street, Ennistymon, presents Traditional and New Music From Ireland and Brittany, with Jean-Michel Veillon (Flute), Donal Siggins (Guitar/Mandola), Emer Mayock (Flute/Fiddle/Uilleann Pipes) on Thursday, August 28th at 8pm.
Adm: €15, €10 unwaged and OAPs. Ph: 065-7071630.

Jean-Michel Veillon and Emer Mayock first crossed musical paths ten years ago while Emer was on a tour of the UK with Flook! performing a series of concerts which also included flute players from various parts of Europe. Though Jean-Michel and Emer were to meet and play music informally in the years to follow it was not until the Autumn of 2007 and a Music Network tour of Ireland joined by guitarist Donal Siggins that they got the opportunity to explore and perform Irish, Breton and newly composed repertoire. The success of this collaboration has led the trio to work together whenever their individual schedules are compatible. Most recently they have performed at St. George’s Hall, Liverpool (Liverpool Irish Festival) and An Chulturlan, Belfast. The trio are now embarking on a nationwide tour of Ireland from 27th August to 3rd September 2008.

Clare Museum exhibition of documents re businesses and trades in County Clare

Clare Museum is displaying an exhibition of documents relating to businesses and trades in County Clare for Heritage Week. These include receipts and dockets from Tylers, Morgan Mc Inerney Hardware Merchants in Ennis, and O’Dea’s drapers and fitters also in Ennis. Also included are bottles from Hassetts mineral water company which once existed in the Lifford area of Ennis and a medicine bottle from Coughlans Medical Hall, 27 O’Connell Street in Ennis. The exhibition will continue into September.

The Horse Collection online exhibition at Russell Gallery

'The Horse Collection', the new exhibition at the Russell Gallery is now online, with paintings by Debi O’Hehir, Susan Webb, Jim McKee, Christopher Banahan, Charles Harper, Gordon D’Arcy, Ken Hall, Joyce Shee, Mark Douglas-Smith and Margaret Kent, and sculptures by Andy Russell.

Quick Reads and Open Door

Quick Reads are short, exciting books by bestselling authors and celebrities for adults who are new to reading, have lost the reading habit, or who prefer a quick read. Quick Reads were launched on World Book Day 2006, with the aim of reaching out to adults with reading difficulties and those who never pick up a book. These well-written, fast-paced reads have introduced many people to an enjoyment of reading for the first time in their lives. Authors who have written Quick Reads to date include Ricky Tomlinson, Ruth Rendell, Maureen Lee and Kerry Katona.
The Open Door series is another adult literacy series that was launched in the mid-nineties by Irish publisher New Island, and author Patricia Scanlan. Scanlan had spent some time working in public libraries in Dublin before she became a full-time writer, and was acutely aware of the literacy problems facing a large segment of the adult population, and the dearth of appropriate reading material available to them. This series includes short books by many well known Irish writers such as Roddy Doyle, Cecelia Ahern, John Boyne and Marian Keyes. All royalties from sales of the books are donated to a charity of the author's choice.
The Quick Reads and Open Door series are stocked in Clare County Library branches at Ennis, Ennistymon, Killaloe, Kilrush, Scariff and Shannon. DeValera library in Ennis has a set of the Open Door series which includes a CD or tape so that the reader can listen as they read along. These sets would also be helpful to students learning English as a foreign language. Irish language versions of the Open Door series will shortly be available in libraries for those whose Irish might not be good enough to read a more advanced novel. So if you know someone who might enjoy being introduced to reading through these books, or if you yourself would like a short, quick read with a guaranteed good story, ask at the libraries mentioned above about their adult literacy series.
http://www.niace.org.uk/quickreads/user/index.php
http://www.quickreadsideas.org.uk/
http://www.newisland.ie/taxonomy/term/6

The Big Picture – Booktrust picture books campaign

The feeling that picture books were under-valued inspired Booktrust, an independent national charity in the UK that encourages people of all ages and cultures to discover and enjoy reading, to launch a campaign called The Big Picture to raise the profile of what they see as an important art form that mirrors changing society. The Big Picture’s nationwide campaign enlisted the help of art schools, teachers, libraries and literary festivals to choose ten ‘new’ picture book artists, all of whom were first published in or since the year 2000, to become the top ten illustrators in the field of Picture Book illustration today. The work of 250 artists was considered, from which a long list of 27 names was drawn up and then shortlisted to a group of ten. Anthony Browne, the creator of numerous unique picture books for children was one of the judges. The top ten “new” picture book artists chosen were Alexis Deacon for the book Beegu; Polly Dunbar for Flyaway Katie; Lisa Evans for The Flower; Emily Gravett for Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears; Mini Grey for The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon; Oliver Jeffers for Lost and Found; David Lucas for Halibut Jackson; Gwen Millward for The Bog Baby; Catherine Rayner for Augustus and his Smile; Joel Stewart for Addis Berner Bear Forgets and Vicky White for the book, Ape. All books are currently available or on order at Clare County Library branches.
http://www.bigpicture.org.uk/Home
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/Home

Potter

Booksellers are preparing themselves for an unexpected Harry Potter extravaganza after J K Rowling decided to publish spin-off title The Tales of Beedle the Bard – a collection of short stories - in time for Christmas. Available in three different editions, the standard edition tops Amazon’s Top 100 Pre-Releases list with the special collector’s edition, retailing at £50, in second place.