Faeries of the Celtic Lands

by Nigel Suckling

This excellent and well thought out book chronicles the legends of faeries in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and France beginning with the arrival of the Tuatha de Danann through to the Victorian era and ending with the most recent sightings, including the famous controversial photos taken in 1917.

The book mainly focuses on the Irish tales as early Christianity did the least amount of damage to the traditions of Ireland, and many more of their tales survived into present day, but the book also draws on the welsh Mabinogion and other ballads revived during the renaissance.

Suckling presents each of the Tuatha, and the different fairies, such as pookas and leprechauns to the reader giving a central overview, and tales where they are prominent. Before walking us through history as the fairies leave and go “underhill” but their presence, gifts and influence still remain up until Victorian times.

Anyone with a genuine interest in the subject would be pleased to add this to their bookshelves.

Part of my 100+ reading challenge

Book Club Book (BCB) September - All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg

Product description from Hardback edition:

This haunting, harrowing, gloriously moving recollection of a life on the American margin is the story of Rick Bragg, who grew up dirt-poor in northeastern Alabama, seemingly destined for either the cotton mills or the penitentiary, and instead became a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. It is the story of Bragg's father, a hard-drinking man with a murderous temper and the habit of running out on the people who needed him most. But at the center of this soaring memoir is Bragg's mother, who went eighteen years without a new dress so that her sons could have school clothes and picked other people's cotton so that her children wouldn't have to live on welfare alone. Evoking these lives--and the country that shaped and nourished them--with artistry, honesty, and compassion, Rick Bragg brings home the love and suffering that lie at the heart of every family. The result is unforgettable.

the Edge Chronicles : Beyond the Deepwoods

by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

Twig has always known he was different from the other wood trolls, so when his  mother tells him she found him as a baby he begins a journey that will put aside everything that he has ever been taught about the Deepwoods where he lives.  Straying from the path Twig encounters many weird and wonderful creatures, (some of which are even friendly) in his perilious journey of self discovery and soon learns that even the rocks and trees can be dangerous.  Pursued by the fearsome Gloamglozer who haunts the wood,Twig perseveres in his quest to find where he fits in and a place he can call home.

Riddell’s wonderful drawings bring to life the strange characters from this first book in a series. A fantastic book that young readers will love and they will laugh aloud at the terrible, comic and inventive adventures that Twig falls into one right after the other - from being enslaved as a pet to falling in a huge pot full of honey being cooked for the goblin’s meal, just to name a few!   

Part of my 100 + reading challenge

Library improvements

Gardendale library is currently closed for improvements and renovations. We hope to re-open on the 17th August. The staff are not on holiday, but doing the manual labour and here are the pictures from this past week to prove it!

Created with flickr slideshow.