Manx Litfest 26th - 29th September

http://chrisewan.com/

The second Manx Litfest is now only 2 weeks away. 

You can book Manx Litfest tickets and view the full schedule for all the events taking place at different venues around the Island on Thursday 26th - Sun 29th September. Find out more about the latest news on their facebook page

www.flaviadeluce.com/

Isle of Man based authors Chris Ewan, Alan Bradley and Michele McGrath will join visiting writers for the festival. 

Authors Andrew Taylor, Matt Haig, Barbara Erskine, Adele Parks, and Victoria Lamb are all appearing this year. 

www.michelemcgrath.co.uk

Watch out for The Isle of Man Poetry Society's Poetry Trail around Douglas as part of Manx Litfest too ...

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Image from www.paulocoelho.com

The Alchemist is a fable about an Andalusian shepherd boy, Santiago, who literally follows his dreams. He starts off in Spain after dreaming of treasures waiting for him beneath the Pyramids of Egypt. 

Along the way, he meets various characters who help guide him to his destiny, and represent different ways of living. 

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian writer who has written 30 books, with ‘The Alchemist’ published in 1987 being one of the most successful.  

It's a short and simply written book that readers often describe as inspirational. We'll be talking about 'The Alchemist' at our next meeting on Thursday 3rd October at 6 p.m.

Wool by Hugh Howey

Image from www.hughhowey.com

Wool is a postapocalyptic thriller where the remaining few thousand humans are living in a sealed underground world. This world consists of a giant silo, created for protection from the hostile environment outside. Digital sensors transmit blurry images of the bleak landscape beyond, as a reminder of how deadly life outside would be. 

Society is safe inside the silo, but rigidly controlled. Those who don’t comply with society’s rules for survival are forced outside in the toxic air to clean the grime off the digital sensors. But some citizens wonder if their leaders are lying to them about the outside world, and how life in the silo really came about.

Hugh Howey originally self-published ‘Wool’ on Amazon as a short story, and was inundated with requests from readers for sequels. Five instalments were then combined in a single volume, and ‘Wool’ shot up the Amazon sci-fi charts and was released in print. The latest in the Silo Trilogy ‘Shift’ is already in print, and ‘Dust’ is due in October.

Dead Line by Chris Ewan Published Today

Image from Amazon

Looking forward to reading 'Dead Line' by local author Chris Ewan, which has just been published by Faber. 

Robert Goddard describes it as a '... compulsive against-the-clock thriller that cleverly turns the kidnap plot on its head. Great stuff!' 

Chris Ewan's 'Safe House' was short listed for 2013 Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award. 

Find out more about 'Dead Line' from chriswwan.com

Book of your own choice by Andrew Taylor

We'll be talking about a book of your own choice by Andrew Taylor at this week's meeting on Thursday 1st August at 6 p.m. Andrew Taylor is the author of crime and historical novels that have won a raft of awards. His novel 'American Boy' was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick, and one of The Times' best crime novels of the decade. 'The Scent of Death' has recently won the 2013 CWA Dagger Award. 

Image from www.killerreads.comwww.killerreads.com

Manx Litfest have secured Andrew Taylor as part of another brilliant literary line-up for this year's festival in September. There's a nice piece about Andrew Taylor on the Manx Litfest Blog. 

 Barbara Erskine, Matt Haig, Adele Parks, and Alan Bradley are just a few of the authors joining Andrew Taylor this September.

Find out all the latest news from Manx Litfest

The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

We're reading 'The Great Gatsby' for June ahead of seeing the lavish new film. It's a romantic but world weary novel that's still  relevant in many ways today. 

The wealthy and mysterious Jay Gatsby holds legendary parties in his Long Island Mansion, and seems to live the perfect life. But his new neighbour, Nick Carraway, discovers that appearances can be so deceptive ...

I couldn't resist this new art deco style copy and bookmark with the legendary last lines:

'So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.'

Pam

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

How to describe this book? A young Indian boy named Piscine Patel (Pi) is brought up

within a loving family who decide to move, along with their zoo animals, to Canada. A storm blows up during the voyage and their ship sinks, leaving Pi, a hyena, a zebra, a monkey and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker stranded in a lifeboat. A bloodlust ensues and the animals slaughter each other leaving only the tiger and Pi to wander the sea, finally learning to at least co-habit with each other. Throw in a cannibal island and you have a wonderfully unique and magical tale, sometimes unbearably savage, sometimes delightfully beautiful and always memorable.

It sounds mad, but it works and has become one of my favourite novels. I didn’t know how it could possibly be made into a film, but Ang Lee succeeded brilliantly and certainly did the book justice.

Read the book,  then see the film!

Cath