Rory & Ita

Rory & Ita PDF Author: Roddy Doyle
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 030736898X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
From the internationally acclaimed, bestselling novelist -- his first ever non-fiction book: a poignant, illuminating journey through a century of modern Ireland as told through the eyes of his parents. Ita Doyle: “In all my life I have lived in two houses, had two jobs, and one husband. I’m a very interesting person.” Rory and Ita tells -- largely in their own words -- the story of Roddy Doyle’s parents’ lives from their first memories to the present. Born in 1923 and 1925 respectively, they met at a New Year’s Eve dance in 1947 and married in 1951. Marvellous talkers, with excellent memories, they draw upon their own family experiences (Ita’s mother died when she was three -- “the only memory I have is of her hands, doing things”; Rory was the oldest of nine children, five of them girls); and recall every detail of their Dublin childhoods -- the people (aunts, cousins, shopkeepers, friends, teachers), the politics (both came from Republican families), Ita’s idyllic times in the Wexford countryside, and Rory’s apprenticeship as a printer. When Roddy’s parents put down a deposit of two hundred pounds for a house in rural Kilbarrack, on the edge of Dublin, Rory was working as a compositor at the Irish Independent. By the time the first of their four children was born, he had become a teacher at the School of Printing in Dublin. Then, their home began to change (“Kilbarrack wasn’t a rural place any more”) along with the rest of the country, as the intensely Catholic society of their youth was transformed into the vibrant, complex Ireland of today. Rory and Ita’s captivating accounts of the last century, combined with Roddy Doyle’s legendary skill in illuminating ordinary experience, make a story of tremendous warmth and humanity. This magnificent book is not only a biography of, but also a love letter to Roddy’s parents, Rory and Ita.

Rory & Ita

Rory & Ita PDF Author: Roddy Doyle
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 030736898X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 339

Get Book Here

Book Description
From the internationally acclaimed, bestselling novelist -- his first ever non-fiction book: a poignant, illuminating journey through a century of modern Ireland as told through the eyes of his parents. Ita Doyle: “In all my life I have lived in two houses, had two jobs, and one husband. I’m a very interesting person.” Rory and Ita tells -- largely in their own words -- the story of Roddy Doyle’s parents’ lives from their first memories to the present. Born in 1923 and 1925 respectively, they met at a New Year’s Eve dance in 1947 and married in 1951. Marvellous talkers, with excellent memories, they draw upon their own family experiences (Ita’s mother died when she was three -- “the only memory I have is of her hands, doing things”; Rory was the oldest of nine children, five of them girls); and recall every detail of their Dublin childhoods -- the people (aunts, cousins, shopkeepers, friends, teachers), the politics (both came from Republican families), Ita’s idyllic times in the Wexford countryside, and Rory’s apprenticeship as a printer. When Roddy’s parents put down a deposit of two hundred pounds for a house in rural Kilbarrack, on the edge of Dublin, Rory was working as a compositor at the Irish Independent. By the time the first of their four children was born, he had become a teacher at the School of Printing in Dublin. Then, their home began to change (“Kilbarrack wasn’t a rural place any more”) along with the rest of the country, as the intensely Catholic society of their youth was transformed into the vibrant, complex Ireland of today. Rory and Ita’s captivating accounts of the last century, combined with Roddy Doyle’s legendary skill in illuminating ordinary experience, make a story of tremendous warmth and humanity. This magnificent book is not only a biography of, but also a love letter to Roddy’s parents, Rory and Ita.

Alchemy

Alchemy PDF Author: Rory Sutherland
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0753551373
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
‘A breakthrough book. Wonderfully applicable to everything in life, and funny as hell.’ Nassim Nicholas Taleb Why is Red Bull so popular – even though everyone hates the taste? Why do countdown boards on platforms take away the pain of train delays? And why do we prefer stripy toothpaste? Discover the alchemy behind original thinking, as TED Talk superstar and Ogilvy advertising legend Rory Sutherland reveals why abandoning logic and casting aside rationality is the best way to solve any problem. In his first book he blends cutting-edge behavioural science, jaw-dropping stories and a touch of branding magic on his mission to turn us all into idea alchemists. He shows how economists, businesses and governments have got it all wrong: we are not rational creatures who make logical decisions based on evidence. Instead, the big problems we face every day, whether as an individual or in society, could very well be solved by thinking less logically. To be brilliant, you have to be irrational.

Two Pints

Two Pints PDF Author: Roddy Doyle
Publisher: Knopf Canada
ISBN: 0345807685
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 73

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Book Description
Two men meet for a pint in a Dublin pub. They chew the fat, set the world to rights, take the piss… They talk about their wives, their kids, their kids’ pets, their football teams and – this being Ireland in 2011–12 –about the euro, the crash, the presidential election, the Queen’s visit. But these men are not parochial or small-minded; one of them knows where to find the missing Colonel Gaddafi (he’s working as a cleaner at Dublin Airport); they worry about Greek debt, the IMF and the bondholders ( whatever they might be); in their fashion, they mourn the deaths of Whitney Houston, Donna Summer, Davy Jones and Robin Gibb; and they ask each other the really important questions like ‘Would you ever let yourself be digitally enhanced?’ Inspired by a year’s worth of news, Two Pints distils the essence of Roddy Doyle’s comic genius. This book shares the concision of a collection of poems, and the timing of a virtuoso comedian.

New Ways to Kill Your Mother

New Ways to Kill Your Mother PDF Author: Colm Toibin
Publisher: Emblem Editions
ISBN: 0771084420
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
In this fascinating, informative, and entertaining collection, internationally acclaimed, award-winning author Colm Tóibín turns his attention to the intricacies of family relationships in literature and writing. In pieces that range from the importance of aunts (and the death of parents) in the English nineteenth-century novel to the relationship between fathers and sons in the writing of James Baldwin and Barack Obama, Colm Tóibín illuminates not only the intimate connections between writers and their families but also, with wit and rare tenderness, articulates the great joy of reading their work. In the piece on the Notebooks of Tennessee Williams, Tóibín reveals an artist "alone and deeply fearful and unusually selfish" and one profoundly tormented by his sister's mental illness. Through the relationship between W.B. Yeats and his father, or Thomas Mann and his children, or J.M. Synge and his mother, Tóibín examines a world of family relations, richly comic or savage in its implications. In Roddy Doyle's writing on his parents we see an Ireland reinvented. From the dreams and nightmares of John Cheever's journals Tóibín makes flesh this darkly comic misanthrope and his relationship to his wife and his children.The majority of these pieces were previously published in the Londron Review of Books, the New York Review Review of Books, and the Dublin Review. Three of the thirteen pieces have never appeared before.

Oh, Play That Thing

Oh, Play That Thing PDF Author: Roddy Doyle
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307368971
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
It's 1924, and New York is the centre of the universe. Henry Smart, on the run from Dublin, lands on his feet. After the 1916 Rebellion, Henry Smart is running from the Republicans for whom he committed murder and mayhem. Lying to the immigration officer, avoiding Irish eyes that might recognise him, hiding the photograph of himself with his wife because it shows a gun across his lap, he throws his passport into the river and forges a new identity. He's a handsome man with a sandwich board, behind which he stashes hooch for the speakeasies of the Lower East Side. He catches the attention of the mobsters who run the district and soon there are eyes on his back and men in the shadows. It is time to leave, for another America... The Depression is sending folks to ride the rails in search of a new life and new hope, and all trains lead to Chicago. As Henry’s past tries to catch up with him, he takes off on a journey to the great port, where music is everywhere. Chicago is wild and new, and newest of all is the music. Furious, wild, happy music played by a man with a trumpet and bleeding lips called Louis Armstrong. His music is everywhere, coming from every open door, every phonograph. But Armstrong is a prisoner of his colour; there are places a black man cannot go, things he cannot do. Armstrong needs a man, a white man, and the man he chooses is Henry Smart.

The Van

The Van PDF Author: Roddy Doyle
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0749399902
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 41

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Book Description
Shortlisted for the 1991 Booker Prize, and set in a Dublin suburb during the 1990 World Cup, this completes a trilogy which began with The Commitments and The Snapper . Jimmy Rabitte Sr seeks refuge from the vicissitudes of unemployment by joining a friend in running a fish-and-chip van.

A Greyhound of a Girl

A Greyhound of a Girl PDF Author: Roddy Doyle
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 161312418X
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Mary O’Hara is a sharp and cheeky 12-year-old Dublin schoolgirl who is bravely facing the fact that her beloved Granny is dying. But Granny can’t let go of life, and when a mysterious young woman turns up in Mary’s street with a message for her Granny, Mary gets pulled into an unlikely adventure. The woman is the ghost of Granny’s own mother, who has come to help her daughter say good-bye to her loved ones and guide her safely out of this world. She needs the help of Mary and her mother, Scarlett, who embark on a road trip to the past. Four generations of women travel on a midnight car journey. One of them is dead, one of them is dying, one of them is driving, and one of them is just starting out. Praise for A Greyhound of a Girl STARRED REVIEW “A warm, witty, exquisitely nuanced multigenerational story.” –Kirkus Reviews, starred review STARRED REVIEW “This elegantly constructed yet beautifully simple story, set in Ireland and spun with affection by Booker Prize–winner Doyle, will be something different for YA readers. These four lilting voices will linger long after the book is closed.” –Booklist, starred review STARRED REVIEW "Written mostly in dialogue, at which Doyle excels, and populated with a charming foursome of Irish women, this lovely tale is as much about overcoming the fear of death as it is about death itself." –Publishers Weekly, starred review "In this moving and artfully structured ghost tale, four generations of Irish women come together. A big part of the pleasure here is the rhythm of the language and the contrasting voices of the generations. Any opportunity to read it aloud would be a treat." –Horn Book "For children grieving the death of a parent or grandparent, this book provides comfort." –Library Media Connection Award: Capitol Choices 2013 - Noteworthy Titles for Children and Teens Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) Choices 2013 list - Young Adult Fiction USBBY Outstanding International Books List 2013

The Places in Between

The Places in Between PDF Author: Rory Stewart
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0156031566
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Rory Stewart recounts the experiences he had walking across Afghanistan in 2002, describing how the country and its people have been impacted by the Taliban and the American military's involvement in the region.

Rory and Ita

Rory and Ita PDF Author: Roddy Doyle
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781407017907
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Ita Doyle: 'In all my life I have lived in two houses, had two jobs, and one husband. I'm a very interesting person' Rory & Ita, Roddy Doyle's first non-fiction book, tells - largely in their own words - the story of his parents' lives. They remember every detail of their Dublin childhoods - the people, the politics, idyllic times in the Wexford countryside for Ita, Rory's apprenticeship as a printer. By the time they put down a deposit of two hundred pounds for a house in Kilbarrack, Rory was working as a compositor at the Irish Independent. By the time the first of their four children was born he'd become a teacher, at the School of Printing in Dublin. Kilbarrack began to change, and Ireland too. Through their eyes we see the intensely Catholic society of their youth being transformed into the vibrant, modern Ireland of today. Both are marvellous talkers, so combined with Roddy Doyle's legendary skill in illuminating ordinary experience, Rory & Ita makes for a book of tremendous warmth and humanity.

A Star Called Henry

A Star Called Henry PDF Author: Roddy Doyle
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307375382
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
An historical novel like none before it, A Star Called Henry has marked a new chapter in Booker Prize-winner Roddy Doyle's writing. A subversive look behind the legends of Irish republicanism, at its centre a passionate and unforgettable love story, this novel is a triumphant work of fiction. Born in the slums of Dublin in 1902, his father a one-legged whorehouse bouncer and settler of scores, Henry Smart has to grow up fast. By the time he can walk he's out robbing, begging, charming, often cold, always hungry, but a prince of the streets. At fourteen, already six foot two, Henry's in the General Post Office on Easter Monday 1916, a soldier in the Irish Citizen Army, fighting for freedom. A year later he's ready to die for Ireland again, a rebel, a Fenian, and, soon, a killer. With his father's wooden leg as his weapon, Henry becomes a republican legend - one of Michael Collins' boys, a cop killer, an assassin on a stolen bike, a lover.