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Photograph: Doubleday Code read: when Dan met Dante Keith Duggan - Chief Sports Writer Keith Duggan Chief Sports Writer

Dan Brown’s new novel sets his indestructible hero against the problem of overpopulation – which is funny, given that most of the world seems to have read his books

Reviews

All That Is, by James Salter

Sex is a battlefield in the octogenarian American writer’s new novel

Love Is the Easy Bit, by Mary Grehan

Paperback review

Is That All There Is?, by William King

Paperback review

Love Sex Travel Musik: Stories for the EasyJet Generation, by Rodge Glass

Paperback review

Cold Spring, by Patrick McGinley

Things are not what they seem in the fictional world of a Donegal writer whose intriguing novels have received less than their due

The Rotten Heart of Europe, by Bernard Connolly

An anti-EU polemic by a former Eurocrat is flawed by its shrillness of tone

Irish Women in Medicine, c1880s-1920s: Origins, Education and Careers, by Laura Kelly

A century ago only one in 100 medical students was female. Now most are. This new study focuses on the profession’s pioneers

Everest Calling: The Irish Journey, by Lorna Siggins

It’s 20 years since Dawson Stelfox became the first Irishman to reach the summit of Everest – this is the story of how it happened

The Bankers’ New Clothes: What’s Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It , by Anat Admati and Martin Hellwig

How institutions must change to prevent future financial meltdowns

Paid For: My Journey Through Prostitution, by Rachel Moran

A brave account of seven years as a prostitute makes harrowing reading, but it also shines with compassion and humanity

Photograph: Doubleday Code read: when Dan met Dante

Dan Brown’s new novel sets his indestructible hero against the problem of overpopulation – which is funny, given that most of the world seems to have read his books

Photograph: Julien Chatelin/Rex Features James Salter: a long career, a late flourishing
  • Books
  • Belinda McKeon
  • May 18, 2013, 01:00

For too long, perhaps, he was a writer’s writer – but James Salter’s reputation has matured with age

Past master: Eoin Colfer. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons Variations on a theme that stand the test of time
  • Books
  • Robert Dunbar
  • May 18, 2013, 01:00

The latest children’s books

‘Storytelling done better’?: the icon for Faber’s app of John Buchan’s The Thirty-Nine Steps Word for Word: telling stories beyond the printed page
  • Books
  • Eoin Purcell
  • May 18, 2013, 01:00

Mary Lavin’s daughters (from left) Valdi MacMahon, Liz Peavoy and Caroline Walsh at a mews in Lad Lane that was once their home. Photograph: David Sleator From the bohemia of Baggot Street, to a New York point of view
  • Culture
  • Belina McKeon
  • May 16, 2013, 02:00

Mary Lavin had a curiosity, wit and wisdom that made her essential reading , whether on the pages of the ‘New Yorker’ or in her many collections and novels

Inferno by author Dan Brown went on sale yesterday. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Run, Robert, run: Dan Brown’s ‘Inferno’

‘The Da Vinci Code’ author’s breathless new book is out now. But is it any good?

‘It was the great Count John McCormack who encouraged Joyce to enter the competition (McCormack himself had won the gold medal in 1903) and Joyce, who had yet to publish anything, perhaps saw in this event an opportunity for fame – and monetary advantage.’ Above, bust of James Joyce in St Stephen’s Green, Dublin. Photograph: Frank Miller Joyce’s winning ‘Farewell’
  • Books
  • Mark Lawler
  • May 15, 2013, 01:01

An Irishman’s Diary: A medal for the music

Night and life: New York through the lens of Baz Luhrmann in the director’s new version of ‘The Great Gatsby’ Gatsby’s city still lives

Since F Scott FitzGerald immortalised Roaring Twenties New York in ‘The Great Gatsby’, the city has changed many times without losing the atmosphere that captivates millions

Tributes and tributaries

An Irishman’s Diary: Remembering Con Houlihan in his home town

Photograph: Nancy Crampton ‘The images that I see – that all of us see – don’t represent the Africa that I know’

Her strong sense of identity reaches deep into the fiction of Taiye Selasi, one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists

Time for the reader: Maeve Binchy signs books in 1991. Photograph: Frank Miller Word for Word: when writers meet readers
  • Books
  • Doireann Ní Bhriain
  • May 11, 2013, 06:00

Putting Masters of the Universe under pressure: Alan Glynn. Photograph: Frank Miller Vigilante vengeance on the great, the good and the grotesque
  • Books
  • Declan Burke
  • May 11, 2013, 06:00

The latest crime fiction

Paul Lynch whose new book Red Sky in Morning has just been published. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien ‘I have to keep pushing at the edges of what I can do’

Debut novelist Paul Lynch is frank about his influences, admits he’s ‘not good’ at research, and writes in ‘a bit of a trance’ – but there’s no doubting his intent

Life stories: ‘I want to be a popular novelist who’s also serious, or a serious novelist who’s also very accessible,’ says Douglas Kennedy. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien Douglas Kennedy: a storyteller grappling with the larger things in life

Six million books sold – and still the author of ‘The Big Picture’ is always fretting about the next one

Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid. Photograph: David Sleator Mohsin Hamid: ‘Writing a novel is more like digging a well than climbing a mountain’

Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist was an international bestseller and is about to hit the big screen, starring Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland and Riz Ahmed. His new novel is called How To Get Rich In Rising Asia. Is it really a self-help book? Or is it a 21st-century Great Gatsby?

Impac shortlisted: Kevin Barry. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien Word for word: a year of Irish debuts
  • Books
  • Sinéad Gleeson
  • May 4, 2013, 05:00

Swipe first: with just one glance a child becomes master of the touch-screen universe, but what impact does that have on reading? Photograph: Joakim Leroy/E+/Getty For toddlers, taking a swipe is no substitute for traditional skills

Sara Keating looks at the latest ebooks for children

Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley at Cúirt. Photograph: Boyd Challenger A meeting of the sharpest literary minds at Cúirt

The key to the success of the Cúirt literary festival is putting contrasting writers in the same room and letting them at it – this year was no exception

Irish Times Culture


Latest Books

Sarah Merriman A Long Time Coming
Kindle users receive their pre-ordered copy of the new Dan Brown novel Inferno on their Kindle devices as the clock on Big Ben in London’s Westminster strikes midnight, ahead of the book’s release in shops today. Photograph: Geoff Caddick/PA Robert Langdon is back in Dan Brown’s latest thriller Inferno
The Linenhall Library in Belfast celebrated its 225th birthday on Monday. Pictured are Julie Andrews, Linen Hall Library Director, and Deputy Director Patricia Saunders. Photograph: Arthur Allison Linen Hall Library celebrates its 225th anniversary
From left: Lucy McWilliams, Molly Pugh-Molloy, Dalkey Book Festival director Sian Smyth and Tadhg Murnane. The festival begins on June 14th. Photograph: Maxwells Children’s writing competition in Dalkey opens for entries
Book Club The Irish Times & Eason Book Club The Irish Times & Eason

This week's book: The Cleaner of Chartres by Sally Vickers - Available from Saturday, 18th May to Friday, 24th May

Book Offers Book Offers

From The Irish Times Book of the Year to Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, you'll find books for all tastes and ages.