17 Books Read in May (and 1 DNF) 🤓📚 4 and 5 star reads include: 🧡Really good, actually by Monica Heisey 4⭐️) 🤍Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman (4⭐️) 💛The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (4⭐️) 🩶Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger (4⭐️) 🧡The Martian by Andy Weir (5⭐️) 🤍The Strangers by Katherena Vermette (4⭐️) 💛The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer (4⭐️) 💙The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (4⭐️) All other books read this month: ➡️The Animals in that Country by Laura Jean McKay ➡️The Ice Coven by Max Seeck ➡️Sunbirds by Mirandi Riwoe ➡️A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost ➡️The Third Girl by Nell Goddin ➡️Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett ➡️Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal ➡️ Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid ➡️Glenrock by Lee Christine A special mention also to a particularly terrible book which I just could not finish: 🚫Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld which is such a shame as I loved Rodham by the same author. Wonder what beauties I’ll read in June??! 🤔 Any recommendations?! #BooksReadInMay #ReallyGoodActually #MonicaHeisey #FourThousandWeeks #OliverBurkeman #TheBeeSting #PaulMurray #BeUseful #ArnoldSchwarzenegger #TheMartian #AndyWeir #TheStrangers #KatherenaVermette #TheCollectedRegretsOfClover #MikkiBrammer #TheVerySecretSocietyOfIrregularWitches #SanguMandanna
17 Books Read in May (and 1 DNF) 🤓📚 4 and 5 star reads include: 🧡Really good, actually by Monica Heisey 4⭐️) 🤍Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman (4⭐️) 💛The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (4⭐️) 🩶Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger (4⭐️) 🧡The Martian by Andy Weir (5⭐️) 🤍The Strangers by Katherena Vermette (4⭐️) 💛The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer (4⭐️) 💙The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (4⭐️) All other books read this month: ➡️The Animals in that Country by Laura Jean McKay ➡️The Ice Coven by Max Seeck ➡️Sunbirds by Mirandi Riwoe ➡️A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost ➡️The Third Girl by Nell Goddin ➡️Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett ➡️Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal ➡️ Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid ➡️Glenrock by Lee Christine A special mention also to a particularly terrible book which I just could not finish: 🚫Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld which is such a shame as I loved Rodham by the same author. Wonder what beauties I’ll read in June??! 🤔 Any recommendations?! #BooksReadInMay #ReallyGoodActually #MonicaHeisey #FourThousandWeeks #OliverBurkeman #TheBeeSting #PaulMurray #BeUseful #ArnoldSchwarzenegger #TheMartian #AndyWeir #TheStrangers #KatherenaVermette #TheCollectedRegretsOfClover #MikkiBrammer #TheVerySecretSocietyOfIrregularWitches #SanguMandanna
What I read in May 📚: I’ve had a weird month and I’ve kind of struggled to concentrate on reading (although I know it doesn’t look like it from this stack!). I picked up a few biographies from the library as I’ve always found non fiction easier to dip in and out of when I’m struggling to focus on a book. Faves this month were Caledonian Road (an absolute masterpiece that deserves all of the praise), The Bee Sting (same as above) and Earthly Possessions because I love Anne Tyler, her books always feel like coming home after a long journey. Also definitely recommend Nuclear War, a step by step account of what would happen if nuclear war broke out. Horrifying and fascinating in equal measure, read it if you want to give yourself anxiety about the state of the world 🫠 •Earthly Possessions- Anne Tyler •The Bee Sting- Paul Murray •Notes to Self- Emilie Pine •How Was It For You- Eve Smith •Nuclear War- Annie Jacobsen •Caledonian Road- Andrew O’Hagan •The House of Hidden Meanings- RuPaul •Glutton- Ed Gamble #monthlywrapup #monthlyreading #monthlyreads #whatireadthismonth #mayreads #maybooks #readingwrapup #bookwrapup #whatiread #books #caledonianroad #thebeesting #nuclearwar #notestoself #annetyler #glutton #edgamble #houseofhiddenmeanings #rupaul #bookstack #bookpile #bookstagram #bookstagramuk #booksofig
May 📚 Less in quantity this month but the quality?👌🏼 • The Bee Sting - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Bluebird, Bluebird - ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Real Americans - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Wolf At The Table - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Memory Piece - ⭐️⭐️ Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Karma - ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Blue Sisters - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ James - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Kind Worth Killing - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 • • • #Reading #Library #InstaBook #May #InstaReads #BookWorm #Bookstagram #Books #GoodReads #Bibliophile #TheBeeSting #BluebirdBluebird #RealAmericans #WolfAtTheTable #MemoryPiece #EveryoneOnThisTrainIsASuspect #Karma #BlueSisters #James #TheKindWorthKilling
📚 May Wrap Up 🙌 This month I... ate doughnuts with my college rival, pretended to be dating my ex, surfed with my siblings, built a bunker in the woods, befriended ghosts, solved the lighthouse mystery, remembered everything, counted the bridge scores, and infiltrated a vampire club. The books of May: 🏖️ Beach Read by Emily Henry ⭐⭐⭐ 🦞 Happy Place by Emily Henry ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ 🌊 Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🐝 The Bee Sting by Paul Murray ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ 👻 Ghost Tamer by Meredith R. Lyons ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🥂 The Murder Game by Tom Hindle ⭐⭐ 🍄 The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ 🃏 Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🫖 A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal ⭐⭐✨ A mixed bag this month. I gave a lot of high ratings and a lot of low ones... But overall I had a great reading month. 📊 Stats: 3 physical books 1 ebook 5 audiobooks 3 books from 24 in 2024 challenge Average rating: 3.78 #bookwrapup #bookstacks #bookpile #mayreads #beachread #happyplace #maliburising #thebeesting #ghosttamer #themurdergame #thetaintedcup #cardsonthetable #atempestoftea #booksta #bookstagram #reader #readersofig #bookcommunity #bookreviewer #alwaysreading #booksbooksandmorebooks
✨🎒 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗮𝗴?? 🐙✨ A lil bookish what's in my bag on this drizzly grey Friday; featuring all of the random detritus of being a book girly. *Contrary to the pics, I don't have an obsession with bad breath 😅 I just absent mindedly accumulate gum & mints on a regular basis). **The Bee Sting is getting really good btw! 🐝💛 What random shite's in your bag?? 💭
Dogs of bookstagram 💕 photo taken post night terror during some 3am cuddles and reading ❤️ #ptsd #ptsdrecovery #bookrecommendations #bookreview #labradoodle #poodle #bookrecommendations #bookreview #thebeesting #mentalhealth #dog #dogs #thebeesting #bookstagram #bookstagrams #nightmarket #nightterror
🐝 There's a BUZZ in the air... our chilli honey is here! Introducing The Bee Sting and The Bee's Knees. The Bee Sting - Featuring Mrs C’s The OG chilli oil and Collins Honey, it’s a glorious juxtaposition of sweetness and heat. A gentle caress with a fiery kick. The Bee's Knees - Combining Mrs C’s Apprentice chilli oil and Collins Honey, the Bee’s Knees is a blend of subtle spice and natural sweetness. Be one of the first to try our latest flavour sensations at the Melbourne Good Food & Wine Show, starting today. Find us at GFV1 in the Good Food Village. Melbourne Good Food & Wine Show 31st May - 2nd June Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre Friday: 10:00am - 5:00pm Saturday: 10:00am - 6:00pm Sunday: 10:00am - 5:00pm . . . #chillioil #chilli #australianmade #australianowned #australianfood #aussiefoodie #smallbusinessaustralia #madeinmelbourne #melbournefoodie #whatsonmelbourne #visitvictoria #gfws #goodfood #goodfoodshow #foodfestival #foodlover #condiments #spicelover #chillilover #spiceitup #spicy #cooking #sweet #honey #australianhoney #thebeesting #thebeesknees #mrscs #properlyhotseriouslytasty #holyshallot
Nearly 650 pages yet I sped through this book and when I finished it I found myself wanting to go back and read it again, annoyed at myself for all the hints and intricacies I realised I’d missed. Highly, highly recommend. #book #bookstagram #paulmurrayauthor #dublin #secretsandlies #bookworm #currentlyreading #thebeesting #thebeestingpaulmurray #loveislove
Irish literature has- not for the first time- been at the top of our charts lately. I adored Colm Toibin’s Long Island and Anne Enright’s The Wren, The Wren - one of our Hunting 🐦⬛ Raven Book Club choices. Claire Keegan, has of course been the most beautiful and tender reading experience both sweet and cruel in equal measures.Not to mention the glorious Marion Keyes and My Favourite Mistake. I was just wondering if you have read any of the titles in the picture? Which should I read next? Which have you read and which have you loved? Tell us please! #myfavouritemistake #smallthingslikethese #prophetsong #thewrenthewren #thebeesting #oldgodstime #antarctica #irishlit #booktok #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram #booklovers #bookreview #literaryfiction #irishwriters #irishwritersofinstagram #indiebookstore #independent bookshop #lovereading #bookerprize
In Store - The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under―but rather than face the music, he’s spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife Imelda is selling off her jewelry on eBay, while their teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way through her final exams. And twelve-year-old PJ is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away from home. Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favor to a charming stranger, a bee caught beneath a bridal veil―can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life? And if the story has already been written―is there still time to find a happy ending? Available at KES 2990/- Pick up in-store at the Greenhouse Mall, Ngong Rd, Text/WhatsApp/Call 0705548052, DM to order. #thebeesting #paulmurray #fiction #somanamibooks #panafricanbookstore
here are my favourite books from each month in 2024 so far! ✨📖 January - The Rachel Incident February - The Seven Year Slip March - Greta & Valdin April - Demon Copperhead May - The Bee Sting It’s been a really strong reading year so far, all of these were 4-5 star reads for me!! Favourite has to go to Demon Copperhead though as I’m still thinking about it. What’s your favourite book of the year so far? I’d love to know!! ✨💛
@waterstonesmaidstone's Fiction Book of the Month: The Bee Sting!🐝📚 One of the greatest living comic novelists follows up Skippy Dies and The Mark and the Void with a beautifully crafted bittersweet delight about one family desperately attempting to get through the most trying of times. #fremlinwalk #maidstone #kent #waterstones #thebeesting
✨Beautiful lines from The Bee Sting 🐝✨ #bookstagram #fiction #drama #tragedy #paulmurray #thebeesting #kahaanisandbeyond
Paul Murray’s 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 is an irresistibly funny, wise, and thought-provoking tour de force about family, fortune, and the struggle to be a good person when the world is falling apart. The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under―but Dickie is spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife, Imelda, is selling off her jewelry on eBay and half-heartedly dodging the attention of fast-talking cattle farmer Big Mike, while their teenage daughter, Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge drink her way through her final exams. As for twelve-year-old PJ, he’s on the brink of running away. If you wanted to change this story, how far back would you have to go? To the infamous bee sting that ruined Imelda’s wedding day? To the car crash one year before Cass was born? All the way back to Dickie at ten years old, standing in the summer garden with his father, learning how to be a real man? 🐝 “Stylistically it’s outstanding, defined by supple, engaging prose and a preternatural sense for storytelling . . . Mr. Murray has always been able to dazzle and entertain, but he has never before developed characters with this much depth or capacity for tragedy . . . In the faltering mixture of candor and deception, helplessness and desperate prevention, Mr. Murray creates a heightened but truthful portrait of family love.” (Sam Sacks) #TheBeeSting #PaulMurray #BookerPrize #finestfiction #thebookerprize #literaryfiction #contemporaryfiction #irishliterature
#thebeesting #paulmurray … ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... #bookquotes #bookstagram #books #booksofinstagram #reading #readingisfun #greatquoquotesofinstagramtes #book #wordstoyourmother #words #novels #novelquotes #read # #readingandwriting #ilovethispart #funquotes #funbooks #funbookquotes #greatquotes #sogood
Listen. #thebeesting is well worth the time if heavy, Irish trauma and 600+ pages doesn’t scare you off. But. The ending is terribly-wonderfully ambiguous. I hate it. I love it.
If a @waterstones DOUBLE STAMPS weekend is calling your names, it would be rude to ignore it wouldn’t it? Some really great new books to add to our overflowing bookcases including some new titles I’m excited to get to - have you read any of these?? Can you guess which ones are mine and which ones are Mr Cosycornerofjoy’s? 👀
THE BEE STING... . . . #TheBeeSting #TheBeeStingPaulMurray #Book #BookerPrize #Literature
Bank hol excursion to York 🌷✨ (Obvs had to mooch around @waterstonesyork and buy some new books 😏) What did everyone get up to this bank holiday?? 💭 🔖 . . . . #bookshopping #bookstagram #waterstones #newbooks #thebeesting #paulmurray #penance #elizaclark #york #bankhols #cleopatraandfrankenstein #donnatartt #bookstack #summerreads #tbr
I don’t often listen to audiobooks but this was hands down the best one I have listened to. Absolutely brilliant. @penguinaudio #TheBeeSting #PaulMurray
#newarrivals #newfiction #thebeesting
“We’re all different, but we all think everyone else is the same, he said. If they taught us that in school, I feel like the world would be a much happier place.”✨✨ “That’s the past, isn’t it. You think it’s behind you, then one day you walk into a room and it’s there waiting for you.”✨✨ It has taken me ages to write this review, but I think this is a book that takes time to read and process. As much as I love short and sharp reads you can digest in a day, there is also something incredible about sinking your way into characters and setting that sometimes really does need over 600 pages to unfold.🐝 In this novel, you follow the Barnes family who are struggling financially and emotionally as the economy devastates Ireland. Dickie is the owner of the family car business that is on the verge of closing. Imelda, his beautiful wife is becoming even more distant as the crash takes hold. Cassie, their teenage daughter, is drinking herself into oblivion instead of studying for her finals, and their twelve year old son, PJ, is considering running away from home. This is a story that reveals something more to you in every chapter. Just as you think you’re grasping the complexities of these characters, you learn something else about their past that surprises you. Murray shows us the many ways in which a family living together can misunderstand one another, or even, never fully see each other - especially the relationship between children and parents. The absurdity of life and the irreversible consequences of seemingly tiny decisions runs as a theme throughout. The ending completely caught me off guard and was quietly devastating. I do see its merit and how it links to the opening, and I suppose, just as in life, a neatly drawn closing page does not reflect reality. Overall, just a really good read. Well done Booker judges. What did you think of this?💛💛💛💛 #thebeesting #thebeestingpaulmurray #bookerprize #bookerprize2023 #bookershortlist #irishlit #modernlit #fiction #familysaga #bookrecommendations #bookreview #justread #bookishquestions #booksbooksbooks #sabookstagrammers #sabookstagram #contemporaryfiction #bookprize
Some new books😍 Couldn’t hold myself back with @waterstones double stamps! Been waiting patiently for The Bee Sting to come out in paperback! #thebeesting #paulmurray #bookstagram #igreads #tbr #newbooks #ilovebooks #lugemineonmõnus #lugemine #clarareadsproust #ruthreichl #booklover #bookworm
Not long got home and decided to delve back into my new book whilst my husband watches the football. Its perfect with the backdrop of rain and thunder 😊🩷
It’s a long read at close to 650 pages and engaging throughout. An Irish family saga that is at times dramatic, funny, tense, sad and hopeful. A great book that you can put down and return to without missing a beat because the characters and story are memorable. #paulmurray #thebeesting #irishfiction
Gelbe Buchcover 💛📚 so schööön! 🤩 #yellowface #rebeccafkuang #rfkuang #threewomen #threewomenbook #dreifrauen #lisataddeo #thebeesting #derbienenstich #paulmurray #gespenster #gespensterbuch #dollyalderton #eichborn #eichbornverlag #atlantikverlag #piperverlag #blessingverlag #penguinbooks #penguinrandomhouse #penguinverlag
Sunny Sundays #thebeesting #paulmurray #whatimreading
#thebeesting #paulmurray … ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... #bookquotes #bookstagram #books #booksofinstagram #reading #readingisfun #greatquoquotesofinstagramtes #book #wordstoyourmother #words #novels #novelquotes #read # #readingandwriting #ilovethispart #funquotes #funbooks #funbookquotes #greatquotes #sogood
Hast du schon eines dieser Bücher gelesen? 🤓💛 #threewomen #threewomenbook #dreifrauen #lisataddeo #thebeesting #derbienenstich #paulmurray #gespenster #gespensterbuch #dollyalderton #yellowface #rebeccafkuang #rfkuang #eichborn #eichbornverlag #atlantikverlag #piperverlag #blessingverlag #penguinbooks #penguinrandomhouse #penguinverlag
📚 Bank Holiday Book Treats 📚 It’s nearly the end of the month and a bank holiday weekend (UK) to boot, so I treated myself to a few new books (it’s also double points at Waterstones so I practically had to get at least a few stamps on my card…) 📚 The Bee Sting - Paul Murray: I’ve heard SUCH good things about this book and as it’s the Waterstones fiction book of the month I also got a free hot drink in their café (hot chocolate for me, with a babyccino for my mini bookworm). I’m really excited to read this one as I love a chunky book and it sounds right up my street from the reviews I’ve seen! 📚 Bellies - Nicola Dinan: I’ve wanted to read this one since it first came out in hardback so I have been really good waiting for it to be released in paperback. This was in the buy one get one half price deal with The Bee Sting. I love it when two of the books I’ve really wanted are both in this deal! 📚 Yellowface - R. F. Kuang: I’ve been waiting for this one to come out in paperback for what feels like forever. I am definitely way behind the curve here! This is going to be my next read as I was blown away by Babel, so am looking forward to seeing what I think of Yellowface. Who else is going to treat themselves while Waterstones have their double points offer on? What have you bought/ are you going to buy? #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #waterstones #bookpurchases #bookhaul #newbooks #whatimreading #bankholidayreading #thebeesting #paulmurray #bellies #nicoladinan #yellowfacerfkuang #rfkuang
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A profoundly entertaining family saga. Tome-like at 650 pages but worth every word. Murray filled this book with emotional depth, laughter and at times brutal honesty. I was so engrossed in this story in a way I have not been for a while and I was sad for it to end. An absolute masterpiece! If you somehow have not picked this up yet, you need to! Don’t be put off by the size, once you get to know this family, it genuinely flies by! #thebeesting #paulmurray #writing #amazing #literature #book #booklover #bookworm #bigbooks #masterpiece #profound #classics #bookerprize #booksbooksbooks #loved #familysagabooks #lgbtq #mustread #fivestars #fiction
Time to start a new book 📖 💛 The Bee Sting by Paul Marray 💛
#booksworthreading It's sunny again in #Nairn today - the perfect time to get a new book & take it to the beach. 🌞 (And then indoors again, when it rains! 😂) Some #booksellerrecommendations from the bookseller-recommended fiction section here at #nairnbooks 👏 If you've not yet read it and enjoy historical sci-fi Gothic queer monstrous Frankenstein-inspired feminist fiction? #OurHideousProgeny is AMAZING, btw! 🔥 . . . #nairnbookshop #indiebookshop #readingisfun #readingisfundamental #historicalfiction #queenmacbeth #linanderson #thebeesting #thegoodwomenoffudi #prophetsong #burntofferings #timeshelter #studyforobedience #thetrees #percivaleverett @c_e_mcgill @linandersonwriter @quineofcrime #booksellerfaves
We've got a fabulous variety of new books hitting the shelves today! If there is something here you would like reserved for you, you may do so by logging in using your library card on our website: hillsdale-library.org or by calling our circulation desk at 517-437-6470. #HistoryofHillsdaleCountyMichigan #AtlasofHillsdaleCountyMichigan #TheBeeSting #PaulMurray #AnitaDeMonteLaughsLast # #xóchitlgonzález #CassandrainReverse #HollySmale #TheBurnout #SophieKinsella #ALGraziadei #InRepair #DollyAlderton #GoodMaterial #LadiesoftheLights #PatriciaMajher #Killerwomenofmichigan #tobintbuhk #Somecansee #anorthernmichiganasylumseries #JRErickson #JoPiazza #thesicilianinheritance 📚📚📚📚❤❤❤❤
144/366 half term has arrived so it’s time to catch up on some reading #mconnell365 #photoaday #readingtime #thebeesting #metime
I've really enjoyed this book. It's a tense, absorbing tale about a family falling apart under multiple pressures - the threat of bankruptcy, forbidden passions, school bullies, past traumas and a sense of imminent catastrophe. It took me a little while to get into it - the book is written from each family member's POV (beginning in third person then switching to second later on, not sure why) and I was only really hooked once I got to the parents' perspective because so much of the present hinges on their past, the strange and troubling circumstances that led to their marriage. Once you've taken this in, their union seems so much more fragile and compromised. Their story shakes you to the core; they are not meant to be together but at the same time, they clearly need each other because of their shared history, what they've both suffered. But time has not been kind; their life increasingly seems like an illusion. At a distant point in time, they had seemed to be a life raft to one another, someone to cling to when all else was destroyed, but now they have drifted apart, forced on different tides. The children are exposed to this atmosphere of bitterness and they begin to behave in their own reckless, secretive ways, viewing their home life as a prison. Nobody feels seen or understood. It's only a matter of time before something terrible will happen and the mood towards the end is climactic, shrill, unbearable. It's a funny but heart-breaking book, full of surprises. It beautifully illustrates how one terrible decision - carried out under intense distress, grief or anger - can poison your life, and how the past is never quite laid to rest. #thebeesting #paulmurray
BOOK REVIEW: The Bee Sting by Paul Murray 🐝 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ The Bee Sting is a brilliantly book following one family in Ireland as the family business starts to go downhill and things start to unravel. It has perspectives from each family member and shows how they viewed certain events, their current situation and where they wanted to go in the future. I really cared for the characters in this novel and I wanted to know more and more about them, which kept me turning the pages. It was also really unique and interesting to have each of their points of views as they would see certain events differently and how the children viewed their parents was completely different to how they were in some aspects. The plot was good; I felt it did drag a bit in the middle, but not so much that it completely put me off reading it or picking it up. I specifically want to talk about the ending though because that was were extremely well written. The way Murray used the text so each person got a whole part or section of the book to start, then it gradually reduced so you only had a sentence snippet of each characters perspective. It made it fast paced and a whirl wind which I haven’t ever experience in a book previously. I also loved the Irish setting. It was so interwoven with the whole story and it really brought to life the family and village. Though, I’ve yet to hate a story set in Ireland! Overall I really enjoyed this novel; it was really clever and I loved the characters, I would certainly read more from Paul Murray on the future. Have any of you guys read The Bee Sting? What did you think? #book #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #thebeesting #read #reading #bookrecommendations #bookreview #bookreviewer #bookreader #booksbooksbooks #booklover
Another book review - this time of The Bee Sting! 🐝 This was shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize (and for good reason). If you like a good family saga, with generational trauma, heaps of lies to unpack and characters who clearly need therapy, this one is for you 😬 We dive into the lives of a previously well-to-do Irish family whose business and lives are unravelling in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash. Paul Murray does a masterful job at carving out 4 distinct individual voices, giving us a lengthy section from each character's POV (teenage daughter, then adolescent son followed by mum and dad). The fraught relationships the characters have with one another and themselves are explored in a brutally real fashion. I felt empathy for all of them whether or not I liked them, especially for the mother, Imelda. We learn throughout how her own past of abuse and neglect has led to the unhinged and neglectful mother she becomes. Her POV was by far my favourite to read - the complete absence of punctuation really served to highlight her fragile state of mind and disconnection from everything. This book is 5/5 🌟 for me and I'd recommend it to anyone! Have you read this one yet, or is it on the TBR? #thebeesting #fiction #bookerprize #bookerprize2023 #bookrecommendations #booklover #irishliterature
#thebeesting #paulmurray #bookoftheweek #essentialread … This amazing book twists & turns in the most amazing ways; like a Shakespeare tragedy set in modern day Ireland, it is funny, sad & will have you on the edge of your seat right up to the end - thanks @frankieblair for the borrow! #goodreads #thebeestingpaulmurray
#thebeesting #paulmurray … ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... #bookquotes #bookstagram #books #booksofinstagram #reading #readingisfun #greatquoquotesofinstagramtes #book #wordstoyourmother #words #novels #novelquotes #read # #readingandwriting #ilovethispart #funquotes #funbooks #funbookquotes #greatquotes #sogood
First of all this book was excellent. When I picked it up at the library I didn’t expect it to be such a tome (it’s around 700 pages!), and was a bit intimidated by the length of it. Let me say that every section of the book was perfect in the way it develops the characters, adding on new emotions and layers to what is essentially a fairly straightforward story. The Barnes family, once wealthy and respected, is struggling during the 2008 financial crisis in Ireland. There’s Dickie, the patriarch, who runs a local, now failing, car dealership; Imelda, his wife who is trying to keep the family afloat by selling off possessions; Cassie, their angsty teenage daughter who is desperate to get out of their small town with her (kind of self-centered) best friend; and PJ, the 12 year old son who’s terrified of his parents getting divorced or being sent to boarding school. The Bee Sting doesn’t have traditional chapters - it instead opts for larger sections dedicated to each member of the Barnes family, exploring their upbringings and adding another layer onto our understanding of events that are continually unfolding. Just when you think you’re getting the full emotional context, the next section completely changes your perception! There was a really interesting shift in POV near the end of the novel that confused me at first because of the stark difference, but I actually really appreciated how the change seemed to raise the stakes and put me directly in the story after reading the first part in third person. While the ending was not what I expected, I don’t think any other way of concluding would have satisfied me. Paul Murray is some man for stitching all of that together so well. If you’re a fan of character-driven narratives and have the time for a longer read, I highly recommend this novel! . . . . . . . #bookstagram #bookrecommendations #bookcommunity #bookreviews #thebeesting #paulmurray
Another new book to add to my ever growing collection 🩷
"So many of the bad things that happen in the world come from people pretending to be something they are not. Writing a poem does the opposite, she said. If you look at the world, a little piece of the world, and try to see it for what it actually is, you start to see yourself more clearly too. And that can be very liberating. Sometimes it can save your life". #thebeesting #paulmurray
THE BEE STING What a grand reemergence to the book review portion of dan reads books! The Bee Sting was long, arduous, and absolutely wild. Following an Irish family amidst the 2008 financial crisis, the story is told largely from four unique perspectives -- Dickie, who, in trying to keep the family business alive, has fully denied his own identity; Imelda, trying to make the best of a life marred by trauma; Cass, struggling to find herself as she prepares to leave for university in the big city; and PJ, a middle school boy stuck between yearning for the carefree nature of being a kid and the growing up thrust upon him by his family’s crisis. Each character’s distinct voice brings layers to the story, their past subtly shaping their future. This story will make for an incredible HBO Limited Series (pls @hbo) -- while the setup took quite some time, the subtle foreshadowing was well worth the wait. I could not put it down as their four stories converged in an unpredictable, wild ending.
Here's some summery yellow spines to brighten up your day!💛🌻 Has everyone got their summer reading list ready? Comment below and let us know what's on them!📚 #indiebookshop #independentbookshop #summerreads #yellowbooks #yellowface #thebeesting #aliceoseman #heartstopper #bigswiss #butter #bookstagram
🐝 What. A. Book!!! The Bee Sting will be another 2024 favourite for me. In essence it’s about one family in Ireland - Dickie, Imelda, Cass and PJ - whose fortunes have taken a turn for the worse after the financial crash. Something I loved about this book was how much each character’s narration (+ perspective on events) varied. Not only did each family member have a distinct voice, but the often subtle differences in events and timelines made everything feel tense and uncertain, especially during that crescendo of a finale. The symbolism in the book was rich, and it was a real delight to delve into Murray’s portrayal of a rural Irish town where everyone knows everyone (and everyone’s business). Through the 600+ pages we get to know the family intimately - their every secret, thought, hope or regret laid out in what is an expert character study. But we also get a fraught and thrilling plot that spirals relentlessly towards its final destination, each seemingly incidental moment leading the central characters back to the forest, to the bunker. The ending is ambiguous but I can’t imagine it any other way. Wowowow. Highly recommend!
I finished The Bee Sting late last night and WOW. This book was 650 pages long and yet every sentence felt vital to the story (even if you only realised it a lot later down the line). I haven’t read a book in such a long time that has felt this intricately plotted, and packed with both witty remarks and also the heartbreaking reality that sometimes you have no idea what’s going on with the people closest to you. Split into the perspectives of the four members of the Barnes family as they navigate bankruptcy, The Bee Sting sees each of them careening towards a dangerous conclusion, so focused on their own mistakes to make any move to prevent it. I was literally on the edge of my seat for the last 100 pages of this book - totally unpredictable in the best way and one that will stay with me for a long time. We chose this as our book club read for the month and I cannot wait to discuss it! 🐝🐝🐝
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The Bee Sting 🐝 #paulmurray #thebeesting #bookerprize #bookstagram #books #bookquotes
How was your long weekend? Me: I read a 700 page book in the small glimpses of sunshine we had, so mostly inside. A big, messy family drama. It almost has some sense of mystery because I never knew what was going to happen. Overall very dark and very Irish, with small glimpses of humour, but a feeling mostly of despair. I love a family drama, and I think Paul Murray is a great writer, but yeesh this book is an undertaking. An undertaking I am glad I took, but an undertaking nonetheless. There is a whole section with no punctuation at all, so if you are bothered by stream of consciousness sort of writing, you might struggle with that. For some reason I don't mind that! It is moving and messy and Murray does a great job with character development. #thebeesting #bigbooks #alwaysreading #spring? #Irish #literature #bookstagram
One of my best books of 2024--beautiful prose, incredibly constructed plot, a story so particular to a family and yet so universal in it's humor and tragedy. #bookstagram #booklover #amreading #thebeesting #irishauthors
Check out our fabulous “Books of the Month” for May!!🎉📚🎉📚 These books are a must read and you won’t want to put down.📖🎉📖 - FICTION: “Bee Sting”- by Paul Murray. 🐝 - One of the greatest living comic novelists follows up Skippy Dies and The Mark and the Void with a beautifully crafted bittersweet delight about one family desperately attempting to get through the most trying of times. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2023 Shortlisted for the Nero Fiction Award 2023 - FANTASY: “The Ferryman” by Justin Cronin - A mind-bending tale revolving around a small island community cut off from a rapidly deteriorating outside world, this powerful, thrilling novel from the author of The Passage blends myth, mystery and science fiction to mine the human condition and the nature of truth in impeccable prose. - THRILLER: “The House Keepers” by Alex Hay. Brilliantly constructed and wonderfully escapist, Hay’s rollicking crime novel finds the slighted female staff of an illustrious Mayfair residence plot an audacious heist as the perfect revenge. - NON-FICTION: “Ultra Processed People” by Chris van Tulleken. Passionate and eye-opening, Van Tulleken’s authoritative account of the damage that ultra-processed food is doing to our bodies, our health and the planet makes for essential reading. - CHILDREN: “Alex vs Axel by Sam Copeland. Hilarious fish-out-of-water comedy from the author of Charlie Changes into a Chicken as a studious schoolboy swaps places with a monster-slaying hero. An Exclusive Edition with sprayed edges is available. - SCOTTISH : “Weak Teeth” by Lynsey May. At once breezily comic and wryly perceptive, May’s beautifully wrought debut revolves around the hapless but loveable Ellis, who finds herself back at the family home, freshly single and crippled with toothache. Come in to store to hear more from our booksellers, and to grab one of these excellent reads! #thebeesting #ultraprocessedpeople #thehousekeepers #theferryman #alexvsaxel #maybooksofthemonth #newtonmearns #waterstonesbookofthemonth #paulmurrayauthor
My review for “The Bee Sting” is over on the blog now, link in the link tree in my bio, with a mini review below. This book is incredible. For quite a chunky book I flew through it because Murray’s writing has kept me gripped. The cast of characters is quite small but it gives it a more intimate feel. The narrator changes between each member of the family so you get a really good feel for each person and how they interact with the others as well as getting to see where opinions differ. I loved some of the little twists along the way and the ending was just incredible and I have found myself thinking about it repeatedly over the weekend whilst I’ve been away. I highly recommend this book, it’s an easy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me. #Bookwormeryreviews #TheBeeSting #PaulMurray #bookwormery #bookstagram #readandreviewed #bookreviews #readingmakesmehappy
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An evening spent very well. 📚☕️ 👓 #thebeesting #waterstones #waterstonesgrimsby
🐝World Bee Day🐝 . i celebrated the worlds most precious pollinator by reading a bee themed book (The Bee Sting by Paul Murray) and making prohibition era favourite, Bees Knees which is floral, zingy and elegant. . did you do anything bee related today? . #BookTubePrize #WorldBeeDay #bee #pollinator #beesknees #beeskneescocktail #prohibitionera #drinkingcocktails #thebeesting #paulmurray #ebook #honey #buzz #inthegarden #springaesthetic #lovebees #reading #yellow #cottagecore #springtime
V excited to start reading this in the sunshine with a little bee for company 🐝 #thebeesting #britishsummer #bookstagram, #bookish, #bibliophile #bookstagramaesthetic #bookishvibes #booknook #bookishmoments #bookshelfie #bookspiration #booklife #bookstagramcommunity #bookworm #bookbloggers #bookloversclub #readersofig #bookcommunity #whatimreading
May’s Fiction Book of the Month 📚 The Bee Sting 🐝 By Paul Murray “Immersive, insightful and all encompassing, this deftly written family saga is a complete triumph in all its tragicomic glory. The barnes family business is slowly skidding towards bankruptcy in the wake of the financial crash in Ireland, yet they have many more trials and tribulations facing them as a family. We follow them as mistakes are made, regrets are felt and surprise reveals occur all with a sharp bittersweet wit that is full of heart. A beautifully crafted masterpiece that manages to be as funny as it is heartbreaking, this is a prize winning masterpiece worthy of all the praise heaped upon it” 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 #waterstonesbookofthemonth #thebeesting #paulmurray #fiction #bookrecommendations #waterstonestenterden #mytenterden #read
🐝THE BEE STING Have you picked up our Fiction Book of the Month yet? This mesmerising family drama is a testament to Murray's skill as a writer. You will be completely enraptured with the Barnes family's tragic tale, and you won't be able to put it down until you see their story through 💛 👉Swipe for the synopsis. {Tags} #bookrecommendations #bookofthemonth #bookrecs #familysaga #irishbooks #Irishauthor #fictionbooks #Paulmurray #thebeesting #2024bookrelease #waterstones #waterstonesmiltonkeynes #fivestarread
3.5 stars I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it. This dysfunctional family saga told from four different perspectives was dark, sad, confusing and surprising. We start the book reading from Cass’s POV, the Barnes’s eldest child in her final year of high school and her struggles preparing for uni in Dublin. We move onto Imelda, her beautiful and tragic mother, whose background will break your heart. We have PJ, the younger brother of Cass, watching his family crumble apart at the seams. And finally, Dickie, father & husband, so very troubled in every way. I didn’t find any of these characters necessarily loveable, but they are all unforgettable and perhaps devastatingly realistic. I enjoyed the ride this book took me on up until the end. Though I can appreciate the desperation and excitement that the final chapter was about. I have a feeling this is one of those books that will settle in and stay with me for a long while and I end up loving. #bookstagram #bookreview #thebeesting #paulmurray #mayreads #booklover #literaryfiction
Two recent additions to my TBR shelf 📚 I've been meaning to get a copy of Brave New World for ages now and I've heard great things about The Bee Sting. Let me know if you've read either of them and what you thought of them ✨
Started listening to this one this morning #paulmurray #thebeesting
Paul Murray’s “The Bee Sting” had me breathing heavily through wild sobs by the end of it. The buildup to that ending was masterful and it left me wrecked. You can swipe through to read my (spoiler-free) note that I wrote on the last page when I finished it (if you can read my chicken scratch). It still sticks with me. I actually began it on audiobook, but I was so hooked into it I knew I had to buy a physical copy, and I read along with the audiobook for the final 1/3 of it. The audiobook is also a helluva treat, with fantastic performances by a cast of narrators. As soon as I recovered from the ending, I immediately started reading again from the beginning and only started to appreciate it more! This is, easily, the best book I’ve read so far this year. Phenomenal. #bookstagram #paulmurray #thebeesting #📚 #books
THE BEE STING by PAUL MURRAY ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 The Barnes family are in trouble. Until recently they ran the biggest business in town; now they’re teetering on the brink of bankruptcy - and that’s just the start of their problems. Dickie and Imelda’s marriage is hanging by a thread; straight A student Cass is careering of the rails; PJ is hopelessly in debt to the school bully. Meanwhile, the past is rising up to meet them, but everyone’s too wrapped up in the present to notice disaster looming’ Ooft. It’s been a while since I’ve read anything that you’d class as proper literature (no offence to Sarah J. Maas and the other authors I’ve been enjoying lately) and wow, I had forgotten how good it is to read something as meaty and multifaceted as this. I loved every moment of this sweeping family saga. The characters are simultaneously so unique and so recognisable, so realistic you feel you’d meet them walking down the street tomorrow. The plot is a clever mix of the domestic and the political, with the family’s turmoil set against an increasingly sinister backdrop of the climate crisis. AND THAT ENDING! My heart was pounding. I’ve seen lots of criticism of the ambiguity at the end but I personally enjoyed being left to make my own conclusions (would love to discuss with anyone else who’s read it 👀) and think it worked with the overall themes of the novel. This is a tough read and won’t be for everyone. I’ve knocked .5 off because of the annoying lack of quotation marks throughout and because some chapters could have been more concise, but overall I’d really recommend! #bookreview #booklover #bookstagram #bookrecommendations #bookworm #booksbooksbooks #bookish #bookaddict #irishfiction #thebeesting
Last ⭐ Now ⭐ Next ⭐ Physical Books What's on your physical TBR pile? Last - 🐝 The Bee Sting by Paul Murray This was a fantastic read. Great showcase of distinct POVs with just a teeny, tiny wobble at the end. Now - 🫖 A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal Not convinced by this at the mo. Halfway through and thinking of DNFing... Next 🃏 The Cloisters by Katy Hays Dark academia with tarot cards... I'm excited 🙌 #lastnownext #bookpile #bookstack #thebeesting #atempestoftea #thecloisters #bookcommunity #reader #booksta #alwaysreading #booknerd #readersofig #readingcommunity #bookishpost #booksbooksbooks
Was feeling a little blue yesterday so book-bought myself happy with these 4 from the ‘Buy one get one half price’ section at @brightonwaterstones ☺️ (along with a sizeable @wob.group online order to arrive next week 👀) I’ve heard such good things about Weyward and None of This is True so I just had to grab ‘em! The Bee Sting is Waterstones’ Fiction Book of the Month and when I found out it was by an Irish author I couldn’t say no. Big Swiss is my virtual book club read for July so I picked that up to complete the deal. 💬 What’s the last book/s you bought?
2024 Book 32 - The Bee Sting by Paul Murray ⭐⭐ I hated this story - it was very literary and had some interesting allegorical references to climate change but I disliked the characters and found I had almost no connection with any of them. Add to that the absolutely dire plot - not a speck of hope in sight and it was not a pleasant experience to read. Finally, I found I could not deal with the very deliberate lack of punctuation. Even though it has wide critical acclaim, it was not the book for me. . . . . #thebeesting #bookreview #literaryfiction