Raven Books

ICYMI, @irishtimes.com decided to #GetKeshed today, with this magnificent review in miniature from Andrew Gallix, a critic and writer I have the highest regard for. Hell of a thing, this. Props to him for having the chops to review a 400 page novel within this kind of word limit too 😀

Have mentioned this before, but I read "better to incur a mild rebuke than perform an onerous task" in Henry Sugar when I was 8, and I have a very strong, and pleasing, memory of looking up the words incur, rebuke and onerous, and feeling like the doors of language had opened up one crack further.

💙

Could we get this for Ireland too, please

💙Kate

I love when people on holiday visit us💗 I learned recently from Finnish visitors that apparently Raven Books is recommended online in Finland for people visiting Dublin! Makes my heart swell to hear such unexpectly praise for this wee bookshop🥰

Philip Reeve characters have the best names:

Dindy Wibs
Oddington Doom
Giotto Trubshawe
Tamzin Pook
Professor Pott-Walloper
Hilly Torpenhow
and my personal favourite, Skip Recap

Also an inn called The Short-sighted Mermaid

Dan Simmons, author of Hyperion and The Terror, dies aged 77 Award-winning science fiction and horror writer died in Colorado on 21 February with family at his side Dan Simmons, the author of more than 30 novels and short story collections spanning horror, political thrillers and science fiction such as Hyperion and The Terror, has died at age 77. Simmons died in Longmont, Colorado on 21 February, with his wife and daughter at his side, his obituary announced. Continue reading...

Dan Simmons, author of Hyperion and The Terror, dies aged 77

Philip Reeve characters have the best names:

Dindy Wibs
Oddington Doom
Giotto Trubshawe
Tamzin Pook
Professor Pott-Walloper
Hilly Torpenhow
and my personal favourite, Skip Recap

Also an inn called The Short-sighted Mermaid

20. Rumplestiltskin
Mac Barnett & Carson Ellis

A creative dream team retell this traditional tale - readers will not be disappointed.

16. The Galileo Heist
Sam Sedgman
@bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social

Really enjoying this series. This time, Isaac finds himself on the other side of the law as he begins to concoct a plan to steal a piece of jewellery. But who can he trust? Fast-paced, exciting storytelling.

14. Hekate
Nikita Gill

Greek mythology ✅
Underworlds and double-crossings ✅
Told in verse ✅

Woohoo!

13. The Lions’ Run
Sara Pennypacker

Set in Nazi-occupied France, Lucas is a boy who is trusted to pass messages for the resistance despite his apparent meekness. Soon he discovers he has more bravery than anyone ever imagined. A moving novel that celebrates the quiet ones.

12. Muckle Flugga
Michael Pedersen

A rich, thick soup of a novel set on a Scottish island, honing in on relationships between father and son, two friends, and the battle between desire and duty. Just lovely.

8. The Invisible Parade
Leigh Bardugo & John Picacio

A fantastical foray into grief, tradition and the afterlife in this homage to the Day of the Dead. Stunning artwork!

“In the first week of March the wind blows hard, swaying the reeds and bushes and bending the big trees beyond the lake to its cold breath.”

The first page of ‘What to Look for in Spring”
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Writer: EL Grant Watson

💙Kate

I loved the importance of words and stories in this world and the mischievous goat with a big personality.I laughed.I cried.I enjoyed every moment. Seriously,it's a book that needs to be read!Every middle schooler should have access,every upper elementary and every human alike!

Links below!

Reposting for EU techies , users and drones ( like me).

#EU
#Spéirghorm
#speirgorm

'Her Breath in Mine' | The Women of Seamus Heaney's Poetry In Celebration of International Women's Day

'Her Breath in Mine' | The Women of Seamus Heaney's Poetry

For International Women's Day at #SeamusHeaney: Listen Now Again, join us for an uplifting, thought‑provoking celebration of women.

📅 Sat, 7 March at 2pm:
https://www.nli.ie/exhibitions-events/her-breath-mine-women-seamus-heaneys-poetry

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) SYMPHONY IN WHITE, NO. III Around 1865-67 Oil paint on canvas Shown at the Royal Academy in 1867, this painting was the first in a series of works that Whistler exhibited under the title of 'symphony. By aligning his work with music, Whistler gave primary importance to form, tone and colour, opposing many of his contemporaries' emphasis on narrative. He took inspiration from Japanese art, which is evident here in his arrangement of the figures against a flattened space, framed by flowers to the right and accented by a patterned fan in the foreground. The Henry Barber Trust, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham. Purchased 1939 (no. 39.24)

The right-hand-side of the painting showing a girl in a long cream-coloured dress sitting on the floor next to a couch. An orange Japanese fan is lying on the floor near her legs.

The left-hand side of the painting shows another girl in a long cream-coloured dress lounging listlessly on the couch. Her hear is propped up on one arm while the other arm rests on the back of the couch.

If you’re going to the Courtauld’s SEURAT AND THE SEA exhibition, check out the selection of artworks on loan from Birmingham’s Barber Institute of Fine Arts, on display until August this year.

I love this painting by Whistler, which would look ideal on the covers of old Virago Modern Classics!

The Kate O'Brien Award 2026 winner is Gethan Dick with Water in the Desert, Fire in the night.
"Short story collection of excellence." The prize this year is €5000, very kindly sponsored by Bill and Denise Whelan

#LLF2026

Two scientists look at a monitor attached to a large apparatus consisting of pipes, tanks, vessels and hoses. The first scientist says "I don't get it. The reaction is running perfectly, but we can't account for 7% of the heat." The other says "Have you Asked the Professor?" The first replies "We're not supposed To disturb him when He's in his office." On the other side of the apparatus, one of the pipes goes through a wall into another room where it warms the water for a hot tub in which the professor relaxes.

My cartoon for this week’s @newscientist.com

Three panels showing a bench on a small hill in London on a grey drizzly day. A man in a fedora carrying a suitcase arrives, then he is joined by a woman carrying an umbrella and a man in dark glasses reading a newspaper. They all look shifty and hurriedly converse: "Good." "Very." "Agreed." Then they all walk off down the hill. Caption: Every month, the Espionage Book Club discuss a classic work of spy fiction at a clandestine meeting. To minimise the risk of exposure, infiltration or surveillance by hostile agents, conversation is restricted to the essentials.

My cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com books.

Across different cultures, crows are often seen as signs of change, as if they appear when something is shifting, carrying a sense of mystery and transformation.

Today in Kyiv.

Could we get this for Ireland too, please

Gorgeous, love to the see the city in that light

A brief reprieve from the US-Israel-Iran war news to share some photos from Lviv, because the western Ukrainian city was absolutely glorious today, on this first day of spring. Signs point to the long, horrible winter and freezing cold being over. The Russian attacks, however, are likely to continue

I love when people on holiday visit us💗 I learned recently from Finnish visitors that apparently Raven Books is recommended online in Finland for people visiting Dublin! Makes my heart swell to hear such unexpectly praise for this wee bookshop🥰

Evenings and Weekends is not over hyped, it really is that good.