books by John Banville

books by John Banville

books:

John Banville

Troubles (New York Review Books Classics)

J.G. Farrell

NYRB Classics, 2002

"Deep in the grounds of a burnt-out hotel
Among the bathtubs and the washbasins A thousand mushrooms crowd to a keyhole." "A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford". Derek Mahon. Irish poet Derek Mahon dedicated the haunting poem quoted above to J.G. Farrell, author of "Troubles". It is a marvelous poem that ...

The Sea (Man Booker Prize)

John Banville

Knopf, 2005

The Sea will make readers cry and cheer for the love of it.
John Banville is a crying out loud genius. I am a writer, and this book will carry me through several of my own books on inspiration alone. I have read it four times friom front to back. Only a consummate genius of spirit, language, and craft could possibly have ...

The Book of Evidence

John Banville

Vintage, 2001

Literary Seduction-At Its Best
Why have I put off reviewing this book, which is rightly regarded as Banville's breakthrough novel, while reviewing (almost) all his other books? Perhaps, as Freddie would say, because I could. - Some of it has to do with the fact that certain other reviewers and ...

Laughter in the Dark

Vladimir Nabokov

New Directions, 2006

"...he loved; was not loved; and his life ended in disaster."
Just when one has reached the age of relative comfort and has accepted life's compromises with one's youthful and unearthly dreams and yearnings, along comes a great big delusion. In the case of Albinus, the struggle to resist this phantom called beauty didn't last ...

The Untouchable

John Banville

Vintage, 1998

Old people rock!
I've only read the first 20 pages of this book but I feel I am now an expert on Banville's work. I checked this book out at the library as a substitute for buying "The Sea" because I just can't buy hardcovers, but still want to be hip and up to date on the latest ...

The Sea

John Banville

Vintage, 2006

Much ado about nothing!
Only this month have I had a chance to read John Banville's The Sea. I had been waiting for the proper moment to read it, something like a quiet, rainy weekend, for I have been acquainted with some of his earlier works -- which I truly enjoyed - and I knew how ...

Kepler: A novel

John Banville

Vintage, 1993

Excellent Biographical Novel
Close on the heels of finishing Banville's novel Doctor Copernicus, a story based on the life of Nicholas Copernicus, I started reading this novel on the life of Johannes Kepler. I had enjoyed Mr. Banville's book on Copernicus but I found that I enjoyed this book on ...

Athena

John Banville

Vintage, 1996

Open To Interpretation
This is the 4th work by Mr. John Banville that I have read, and I am nearly finished with his fifth. There is much that is factual about this writer, amongst these would be, his intellect, his range as a writer, and the competency he writes with while ranging through ...

Christine Falls: A Novel

Benjamin Black, John Banville

Henry Holt and Co., 2007

Enjoyed Audio Book
Christine Falls was a really enjoyable book to listen to on two accounts--first the author has a great writing style--the book held your attention, made you wonder what was going to happen next and had enough surprises to make you want to drive around the block so the ...

Ghosts

John Banville

Vintage, 1994

Tempestuous
While reading this rum piece of poetic prose, I was time and again reminded of Thomas Carlyle's remark in Sartor Resartus on Samuel Johnson's famed desire to see a ghost. All that the great lexicographer had to do, Carlyle averred, was to look in the mirror. We are ...

The Sea

John Banville

Random House Audio, 2006

Read the Book; Wanted to Hear the Voice
I liked the lyrical quality of the book so much, I also bought it in audio form so I could actually hear an Irish voice tell the story. I found that, when I read the book, there were passages that Banville wrote that were so beuatifully written that I had to close the ...

Eclipse: A Novel

John Banville

Vintage, 2002

Portrait of a Liar
John Banville has an almost scary insight into the psychology of the lie. Word by painstaking word, he creates a subtle and nuanced portrait of characters who, despite all evidence to the contrary, cannot or will not see the immense flaws in their souls which wreak ...

Magnum Ireland

Thames & Hudson, 2005

No rolling hills and green pastures here, this is Ireland -- Magnum style.
Magnum, a name synonymous with upper echelon of documentary photography. Just a mention of the name brings instant thoughts of Capa, Parr, and Bresson. The most recognized name in the photo world brings their take on a very photographic country: Ireland. If you ...

Doctor Copernicus

John Banville

Vintage, 1993

Could Life Really Have Been So Difficult?
Perhaps, the most salient quality of Mr. Baneville's novel is the medieval context in which it placed. This is a world where syphilis is a terminal and disfiguring disease, where bandits and brigands roam the countryside raping and looting at will. It is a world ...

The Lord Chandos Letter

Hugo von Hofmannsthal

NYRB Classics, 2005

The Epistle of Modernism
In the supreme example of High Modernist irony, Hofmannsthal eloquently explains why he can no longer communicate. He is an exemplar for Kafka, Borges, Joyce, everyone.