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Beatlebone
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2015 He will spend three days alone on his island. That is all that he asks . . . John is so many miles from love now and home. This is the story of his strangest trip. John owns a tiny island off the west coast of Ireland. Maybe it is there that he can at last outrun the shadows of his past. The tale of a wild journey into the world and a wild journey within, Beatlebone is a mystery box of a novel. It's a portrait of an artist at a time of creative strife. It is most of all a sad and beautiful comedy from one of the most gifted stylists now at work.
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review
conorpunchbook
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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Pickpick

This
Wonderful
Book
🤗😱
Read it in one day, almost one sitting but me bum got numb 😂
Immediately goes on to all time list
5/5 from one of Ireland‘s best writers of the 21st century
Follow Kevin Barry closely

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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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Pickpick

John Lennon journeys to his island off the coast of Ireland in 1978 + magic.

How to read it:

- In big gulps. You can‘t dip in & out whenever (my usual reading style).

- It will take a while to hit the rhythm, but once you‘ve got it DON‘T SLOW DOWN. Keep your eyes moving. Slow down & all is lost.

- Keep a pen handy to mark the lines that sear into your soul.

- When you get to Part 6, pause to be in awe of what the author does.

- Enjoy.

betsyhaddox I don‘t know much at all about Lennon. Would it still be a good read for me? 4y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk @betsyhaddox I don‘t think you need to know a lot about Lennon, a trip to Wikipedia might help with the stuff about his poor mom. The style of this book might not be for everybody, though. It is written very disconnected and stream-of-consciousness, almost a novel in verse. 4y
73 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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“... it occurred to me that the 1970s is by now essentially an historical fiction. True memory of the era - as in sense memory, as in the precise tang on the air of a new morning back then, or the throb and rumble of a great city rising from its fumes in the early morning back then, or the way a lover‘s dark hair might splay just so on the sheets, and she stretches - has by now succumbed to time and distance...”

#SummerOfShort3

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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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#Starting this novel of magical realism about John Lennon on an adventure in Ireland where he, if I‘m understanding the synopsis correctly, meets a shape-shifter? Or something?

#SummerOfShort3

UPDATE: 43 pages in now and I am in LOVE with this freaking book.

vivastory I really loved this one & have never been able to listen to Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights the same since reading it 😂 4y
vivastory The first Barry I read, which is even better IMO is 4y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk @vivastory Noted! I was not prepared for the style, but it is truly fantastic. 4y
merelybookish I read this and liked it but now don't remember much except feeling confused. 4y
52 likes5 comments
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RhianJMartin
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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Today's color is red! And what a collection of books... have you read any of these? Most recently I read "Beatlebone" - what a challenging, intriguing read! ❤️??

#red #redbooks #books #bookshelf #kevinbarry #beatlebone #virginiawoolf #woolf #mrsdalloway #fever #marybethkeane #michellesacks #youweremadeforthis

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andrew61
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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#HeyJune #Cantbuymelove
Odd that the last post abt this book was mine for junetunz!
This book is an imagination of JL's visit in 1978 to visit the island in Ireland that he had bought - a troubled man at that point this book is funny and surreal at points as lennon tries to find some substance to his life- kevin barry is a brilliant writer and id also recommend City of Bohane.

36 likes2 stack adds
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andrew61
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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#junetunz #laislabonita
Im a bit out of sync with posts but this was a really good read about the imagining of john lennon's trip to his remote island off the west irish coast, im not sure how pretty it was (definition of bonita duly searched) but it's a good read & even made me laugh out loud as well at pointe.

merelybookish I read this! Beautiful language! The story kind of bonkers. 7y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk This one is on my TBR! 7y
Cinfhen Sounds like something you might like @TrishB @Reggie 7y
TrishB That sounds good 😀 think hubby would like this too. Loves reading The Beatles stuff. @Cinfhen 7y
19 likes2 stack adds4 comments
review
DocBrown
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
Pickpick

Only the flimsiest fiber of a plot thread. Can John Lennon make it to his island in the west of Ireland or will he be thwarted by the paparazzi? Half the book is trippy non sequiturs and minimalist dialogue between himself and his local handler, Cornelius. Certainly conjures a time and a place, and made me oh-so-curious about that decade post-Beatles.

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Bookchipmunk
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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Weekend TBR: We are off to the NorCal coast to unplug for a whole week! This is the stack I decided on plus the annual puzzle choice (1000 pieces and 524 things beginning with the B). Have a great holiday everyone! Aloha Friday🌺 #DogsofLitsy

britt_brooke OMG, what a cute pup! 7y
Tanzy13 🐶 7y
Kimzey It wouldn't be vacation for me without a 1,000 piece puzzle! Good choices! 😍 7y
LeahBergen Wonderful! 7y
41 likes4 comments
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Aaronlisa
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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It's four in the morning- the motor idles at a low hum - and the trees have voices, and the river has voices, and they are very old.

3 likes1 stack add
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Pen_Meets_Paper
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
Bailedbailed

Too ethereal. Shelved for now.

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Ais
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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Starting this one this evening. I absolutely love Kevin Barry, but hate stickers on books🙈

Lacythebookworm It drives me batty when the stickers won't come off! 7y
18 likes1 comment
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Rio_Youers
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry

My current read. Mesmerizing, entirely bizarre. Reads like "Strawberry Fields Forever" sounds. I'm loving it.

15 likes1 stack add
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Lettters
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
Mehso-so

Some of the structural experiments in this book didn't work for me, but despite that it was still a fascinatingly original pseudo-history of a great cultural icon. It doesn't hurt that Barry is a sentencesmith of the highest order.

Onioons Some parts better than others but one of the most quotable authors I've read 8y
27 likes1 comment
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Lettters
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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This book is so true to my feelings toward John Lennon: it's wild and original and presents a skewed vision of the world. That world is inviting and peculiar and full of the promises of our fullest potential, but ultimately unattainable.

Suzze Have that on my shelf. Ack! When will I ever get to all the books I've bought? 8y
willchance Barry said that to get John right, he needed to picture him as a 17 yr old. Think that's what made it work so well. 8y
45 likes5 stack adds2 comments
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Pen_Meets_Paper
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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Next up

1 like1 stack add
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Pen_Meets_Paper
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry

Next up

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Onioons
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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"An old farmhouse rises up from the hill-ramshackle, ill-kept, a growth on the hill. The van eases to a stop and a slow, deep-breathing silence. The house sits in complete agreement with its sad hill" True story: in the 70s John Lennon bought a tiny island off the Irish coast. He never visited, but (untrue story) Barry tells what an odyssey that journey might have been. Weird and wonderful! Day21 of #augustofpages Image borrowed from www.slate.com

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mamasanace
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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Pickpick

Utterly bonkers in the best way. It took me a moment to get into the swing of the book and the mad Irish lilt, but a highly enjoyable way to spend some time with John Lennon.

RealLifeReading Love your photo! 8y
mamasanace Thanks @RealLifeReading ! I'm on holidays in Phuket and wanted to capture my gin soaked day with John Lennon! 😊 8y
MrBook Nice review! Great pic!! 😊👍🏻 8y
4 likes3 comments
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Onioons
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry

He read once that the hare augurs darkly in Irish mythology. From what he can remember there is f**k all that augurs brightly in the Irish mythology.

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lizzieshouv
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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"He sets out for the place as an animal might, as though on some fated migration. There is nothing rational about it nor even entirely sane and this is the great attraction." Some of most gorgeous writing I've ever seen between the covers of a book.

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fmcgeough
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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He sits all day until the sun has gone around the building and the room is almost dark again. A day that feels slow as a century - he might be out there still.

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strandbookstore
Beatlebone | Kevin Barry
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Looking for an off-the-beaten-path Irish-themed read? Try Kevin Barry's fantastic, fictional biography of John Lennon escaping to a west Ireland island he bought to counteract a debilitating mid-life crisis. Lyrical, mystical, affecting. ☘

case_face Kevin Barry is so good! 8y
25 likes17 stack adds1 comment