Most Requested #4 – November 2016

An occasional monthly series of blog posts where I discuss the most requested books in Irish Libraries. Our library management system now caters for 17 authorities across the country and these are the most requested books across that system.

Today, I decided to do the top ten Most Requested, instead of the top five, as there’s a few new releases that are very popular in numbers 6-10.

#10

Libraries’ recurring favourite thriller is still going strong with 81 holds.

#9

Jeffrey Archer has always been a popular author, but with his Clifton Chronicles his popularity has shot through the roof, and this, the seventh and final volume which is out tomorrow is going to be huge! As soon as more people realise this book has been released, its holds will shoot up! Currently, it stands at 87 holds but not for long!

#7

 

In joint seven place, two new biographies. The first of popular Irish rugby player Paul O’Connell has been flying off the shelves, as has the long-awaited Springsteen biography. Both current have 108 holds.

#6

Connelly’s character, Harry Bosch, is a bona fide thriller phenomenon and this new volume is hotly anticipated with 121 holds.

#5 and #4

Two regulars on our Most Requested posts, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is keeping up the interest with 169 holds, as is Unravelling Oliver with 200 holds.

#3

A new release that’s shooting up the charts, Harris’ (Fatherland, Enigma, The Ghost) new book is set in the Vatican, as the conclave in question try and decide who should be the next pope that’s been getting great reviews (The Guardian called it ‘unputdownable’). It currently has 287 holds.

#2

A hundred holds? Two hundred holds? PAH! With 439 holds, this new release has climbed to (almost) the top of the chart. Graham Norton (yes, that Graham Norton – one of TV’s most popular chatshow hosts, Eurovision commentator and best cameo in Father Ted ever) has written his first novel, and its getting great reviews! Two from The Guardian call it ‘surprisingly sweet‘ and ‘a solid debut’ and John Boyne writing in The Irish Times says that writing is wasted on tv and writing looks like Norton’s true vocation.

#1

This will be no surprise to regular readers of the blog. With 503 holds, Liz Nugent’s reign continues to grow! It’s like that year where Bryan Adams’ (Everything I Do) I Do It For You spent the entire summer at number one, except, I think Lying in Wait is probably much better (What? I’m not a Bryan Adams fan. #sorrynotsorry).

Anyway, that rounds up this double-sized edition of Most Requested. Until next month: same library time, same library channel.

Most Requested #3 – October 2016

An occasional (seemingly now monthly!) series of blog posts where I discuss the most requested books in Irish Libraries. Our library managment system now caters for 17 authorities and these are the most requested books across that system.

#5

Since its publication in 2014, this Irish novelist’s debut has been almost constantly on reserve! The thriller has been dubbed ‘a swift and mesmerising read by an exciting new Irish voice’ (The Irish Times) and ‘a startlingly good debut’ (The Irish Examiner) and has proven pernially popular, currently having 206 holds, leaving many eagerly awaiting the follow-up (which appears elsewhere on this list….)

#4

Another debut novel, this time from this year, that’s made quite the splash. The Irish Times succinctly described it as a ‘provocative coming-of-age tale inspired by the Manson murders deserves all the hype’ whilst The Guardian only agrees to an extent, saying that whilst its has its strengths that ‘The Girls is far from a perfect novel’. Who’s right? Ultimately, that’s for you to decide. Although you may be waiting a while, since it currently has 213 holds. 

#3

A brand new release has flown into the top five. Donal Ryan, author of the massive bestseller The Spinning Heart is back with his third novel. The Irish Times says that the ‘novel reads compulsively and is delivered with an impressively disciplined power’ whilst again, the dissenting Guardian disagrees stating that the novel is ‘a departure for Ryan, All We Shall Know is a brave attempt at extending his oeuvre. It might just be an extension too far’. Still, despite that, others are responding well, and RTÉ calls it ‘ a curious, brave novel will have you reflecting on its topical concerns, and its challenging version of contemporary Ireland, for days afterwards’. High praise indeed, and with 227 holds, the public it seems wants to know what all the fuss is about All We Shall Know (sorry, I had to).

#2 and #1

If you read our previous two Most Requested posts, you won’t be surprised to see these two books at the top of our charts. And yes, they’re both still there, in fact, they’re more popular. Well, one of them is.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has slipped from 316 holds in September to a still respectable 246 holds. One thing that I am noticing about this book though is that there seems to be very little buzz around it. Will there still be as many holds next month, or will it have slipped even further?

Lying in Wait continues it complete domination of the charts , increasing from 494 holds in September to 554 holds this month! It’s taking the country by storm, with The Irish Independent stating that ‘since its release, Lying In Wait has become a presence in the Irish fiction charts, and is a dead cert to be remembered in end-of-year lists as “the feel-bad hit of the summer’. And one doesn’t get higher praise than that!

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Will I am Pilgrim claw its way back into our chart? Will Unravelling Oliver …unravel? (What? I’m no Ann Robinson!). Is something Lying in Wait to take the top spot from Liz Nugent? Find out next time on Most Requested. Same blog time, same blog channel!

Most Requested #2 – September 2016

An occasional series of blog posts where I discuss the most requested books in Irish Libraries. Our new library managment system now caters for 17 authorities and these are the most requested books across that system.

This month, I’ll be discussing the Top 5 Most Requested Books at the moment

#5

Coming in at number 5, with 125 holds, is Maggie O’Farrell’s most recent novel, This Must Be The Place. It’s been getting fantastic reviews with The Guardian (“audacious”) and The Irish Times (“In this tender, thoughtful novel, the lyrical writing is full of grace but never feels forced or affected. O’Farrell also has a gift for creating whole characters in just a few pages”).

#4

Beating out number five by just three holds, Terry Hayes’ I am Pilgrim with 128 holds. This thriller has been perennially popular since its publication in 2013 – and is seemingly always on hold (which is a very good sign of its popularity). It’s Hayes’ debut novel and people are now chomping at the bit for a follow-up, but Mr. Hayes seems to be taking his time (another good sign).

#3

Elena Ferrante’s four Neopolitan Novels have been hugely successful. It seems that everyone who is reading the series has read the first book, My Brilliant Friend, and have moved onto the second, The Story of a New Name, which has 137 holds (interestingly, My Brilliant Friend is not on the top 25 most requested at all at the moment). The books tell the story of two best friends, Elena and Raffaella, from childhood to adulthood, and have been a huge success, leading to a massive boost in all of Ferrante’s other novels, which have been subsequently reprinted, and a proposed 32-part television series of The Neopolitan Novels.

What I find fascinating about Ferrante, who was named this year as one of the 100 Most Influential People in 2016 by TIME Magazine, is that the name is a pseudonym and her true identity is a closely guarded secret – something that’s fascinating in this day and age where everyone knows everything about everyone!

#2 and #1

If you read, our previous installment of Most Requested, you will have read how Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Lying in Wait were the two most popular books in libraries.

When I wrote the last post, our number #2, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, had just been released and had 90 holds. A few weeks later, and more people have heard about it, and there is now a WHOPPING 316 holds. What a difference a (few) day(s) makes!

It’s a similar story with Lying in Wait. Liz Nugent’s eagerly awaited follow-up to Unravelling Oliver had 280 holds and now has a frankly jaw-dropping 494 holds. This book is clearly the hit of the summer!

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That’s all from Most Requested for this month! Will Maggie O’Farrell take down Terry Hayes? Will Elena Ferrante’s third Neopolitan novel hit the top five? Will everyone have read Lying in Wait by October? Find out next month, same book time, same book channel!

Most Requested #1 – August 2016

A new, occasional series about the most-reserved books in the library. Today, we look at the two most-reserved books at the moment.

Firstly,

Liz Nugent stormed onto the thriller scene with Unravelling Oliver in 2013, and it was still being heavily reserved a couple of years later (which is practically unheard of in library circles; normally a book is popular for three to six months, and can come and go in waves as word of mouth spreads).

Her new book, Lying in Wait, was released on the 14th of July and there is over 280 reserves. It is pretty safe to say that the people have spoken and this book is officially The Next Big Thing.

You can reserve Unravelling Oliver here and you can reserve Lying in Wait here (although be prepared to wait a while, but perhaps not as long as you might think – we try and work our library magic as much as we can!)

LYING IN WAIT

‘Gone Girl fans will love Liz Nugent’s Lying in Wait … it twists, it turns, its characters are utterly despicable and it is a compulsive triumph’ Stylist

‘A stunningly talented writer’ Sophie Hannah

‘The intricate plotting and jolting suspense hold you in a vice till the last page’ Sunday Times

‘Clear your diary if you pick up this seductively sinister story. The twists come together in a superbly scary denouncement which delivers a final sting in the tail. Brilliantly macabre’ Sunday Mirror

‘Brilliant plotting ratchets up the tension in this chilling tale of obsessive love, madness and motherhood’ Woman & Home

‘The wit is sharp and the plot full of punishing twists’ The Times Crime Club

‘An unputdownable psychological thriller with an ending that lingers long after turning the final page’ Irish Times

From the award-winning author of the No 1 bestseller,Unravelling Oliver

‘My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it.’

Lydia Fitzsimons lives in the perfect house with her adoring husband and beloved son. There is just one thing Lydia yearns for to make her perfect life complete, though the last thing she expects is that pursuing it will lead to murder. However, needs must – because nothing can stop this mother from getting what she wants …

This is a dark, twisty and utterly gripping domestic noir that you won’t be able to put down from the author hailed as Ireland’s answer to Gillian Flynn.

‘A tense, taut, almost gothic thriller where the tension tightens to near unbearable proportions … impossible to stop reading. A brilliantly written, stand-out novel.’ Marian Keyes

‘Taut, crisp, clear, a storm-warning of a book. It has the eeriness ofThe Turn of the Screw; but as these screws turn, a mighty tension takes hold. Masterly’ Sebastian Barry

‘Deliciously twisted, shot through with dark and acid humour and the denouement is truly chilling.’ Sarah Hilary

‘Lying in Wait is a gradual descent to the very heart of darkness. Liz Nugent’s characters are as unforgettably monstrous as they are believable. A superbly crafted novel and an absorbing portrait of the purest kind of evil.’ Jane Casey

‘I thought it impossible to match the brilliant Unravelling Oliver, but this Liz has done. Not only is her style beautiful, but she keeps the reader on the edge of their seat from page one until the completely unexpected ending. I read Lying in Wait in one sitting. I just couldn’t bear the suspense. I absolutely loved it.’ Amanda Redman

‘As I finished the last page I actually stood up and gave a round of applause to my empty sitting room. Seriously … She writes compellingly, creates posh sociopaths like no-one else and she doesn’t flinch when the end demands what it demands. Lying In Wait is a story you genuinely should not miss’ Rick O’Shea, RTÉ

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Secondly,

Unless you’ve been living under a very large rock, you’ll have heard that on Sunday the 8th Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, was published in script format, as it is a two-part play that has just opened in London and has been getting rave reviews from everyone (The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, Variety).

Before I left for the weekend, there was about twenty reserves, but since its release (and due to being able to reserve online 24/7), there’s now close to 90. I’d be very suprised if that didn’t double in number by the end of the week.  A note about the fact that it’s dubbed “special rehearsal edition” – playscripts that are published in conjunction with the premiere are often tweaked/modified in light of seeing how it plays, night in, night out, with a real live audience, and they have followed suit by announcing that a definitive edition of the script will be published next year.

I caved in, bought and read the book yesterday and I shall try and post a review of it sooner, rather than later, on here. For now, here’s the cover and the blurb for the book, and of course, you can add to the growing list of reserves by reserving yourself a copy online at our catalogue here.

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD: PARTS ONE AND TWO (SPECIAL REHEARSAL EDITION: THE OFFICIAL SCRIPT BOOK OF THE WEST END PRODUCTION)

Blurb:
Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Childis the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London’s West End on 30th July 2016.

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children.

While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

This Special Rehearsal Edition will be available to purchase until early 2017, after which a Definitive Edition of the script will go on sale.