“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.” – Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Tickets

John Banville (right) will be appearing at this coming weekend’s Mountains to Sea literary festival in Dun Laoghaire, presumably in his Benjamin Black incarnation, given the latest BB offering, ELEGY FOR APRIL, is currently appearing on shelves near you. In the ‘My Week’ feature in last weekend’s Sunday Times, JB / BB had this to say:
“I began the book - it irks me that I have not yet found a title - on May 4. I’m told that real crime novelists grind their teeth in fury when I speak of writing the BB books quickly, but the great Simenon used to knock off a Maigret in a couple of weeks, and would have considered me a slacker and a sloth.”
  Anyhoo, JB / BB will be appearing - alongside a host of non-crime fiction writers - on Saturday and Sunday. Among the notable crime writers will be Kate Atkinson, whose latest offering, STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG, is as brilliant as its title is quirky.
  What I’m looking forward to most, however, is the conversation between Stuart Neville and Eoin McNamee. Stuart published COLLUSION, the follow-up to THE TWELVE, earlier this year, and a terrific read it is too, while Eoin publishes the excellent ORCHID BLUE in November. Ensuring that there’ll be no eye-gouging and below-the-belt strokes between the pair will be Squire Declan Hughes, who will moderate the conversation in an appropriately (we hope) immoderate style.
  The good news is that there are a limited number of free tickets available for this particular gig. If you’re interested, contact Bert Wright on bwcc(at)eircom.net and let him know your details …
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1 comment:

janebbooks said...

Thanks, Declan Burke, for wetting my whistle. I immediately sent the MOUNTAINS TO SEA Literary Festival brochure to a retired professor of Irish Studies at UNF and a gal whose forte is Frank O'Connor's short stories. Both were on a literary tour to Ireland in 1986 with me! Pack you bags, I said, we're going back to Ireland!
Two of my favorite Irish mystery writers will be in Dun Laoghaire!
Except, I think, between you and me, I think John Banville will be playing John Banville and not the great Benjamin Black!

Have fun!

Jane
Jacksonville, Florida

September 8, 2010 at 2:00 PM

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