Most Popular Books by Roddy Doyle

It''s the summer holidays and Rover is busy searching for poo. He works for The Gigglers, small furry creatures who make sure grown-ups are nice to their kids. If they aren''t, they get the Giggler Treatment - a smelly, squishy present on the end of their shoe, which is where Rover comes in. But Rover and his nephew Messi (who is actually very tidy) are distracted from their job by a Big Fat Baby (B.F.B) who''s fallen out of her Granny''s backpack. It''s time for Rover to find the B.F.B, even if it means chasing a postie all over the city, following an aeroplane to Casablanca and leaving the Gigglers with a poo shortage... The fourth title in the madly funny Giggler series and illustrated throughout by Chris Judge, this is Booker Prize-winning Roddy Doyle at his hilarious, brilliant best.

With contributions by: William Boyd, Candice Carty-Williams, Imtiaz Dharker, Roddy Doyle, Pico Iyer, Robert Macfarlane, Andy Miller, Jackie Morris, Jan Morris, Sisonke Msimang, Dina Nayeri, Chigozie Obioma, Michael Ondaatje, David Pilling, Max Porter, Philip Pullman, Alice Pung, Jancis Robinson, S.F.Said, Madeleine Thien, Salley Vickers, John Wood and Markus Zusak ''This story, like so many stories, begins with a gift. The gift, like so many gifts, was a book...'' So begins the essay by Robert Macfarlane that inspired this collection. In this cornucopia of an anthology, you will find essays by some of the world''s most beloved novelists, nonfiction writers, essayists and poets. ''You will see books taking flight in flocks, migrating around the world, landing in people''s hearts and changing them for a day or a year or a lifetime. ''You will see books sparking wonder or anger; throwing open windows into other languages, other cultures, other minds; causing people to fall in love or to fight for what is right. ''And more than anything, over and over again, you will see books and words being given, received and read - and in turn prompting further generosity.'' Published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of global literacy non-profit, Room to Read, The Gifts of Reading forms inspiring, unforgettable, irresistible proof of the power and necessity of books and reading. Inspired by Robert Macfarlane Curated by Jennie Orchard

An imaginative short story inspired by real events, taken from the collection, BEYOND THE STARS, and written and illustrated by two award-winning talents

Bisi Adigun and Roddy Doyle’s centenary adaption of J. M. Synge’s classic The Playboy of the Western World had a sold-out run when it was produced at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre in 2007 and was brought back by popular demand in 2008. The new version is set in a contemporary Dublin pub and features the character of a Nigerian asylum-seeker in the lead role. Under the coauthorship of Bisi Adigun, artistic director of Arambe Productions—Ireland’s first African theater company—and best-selling, Booker Prize–winning novelist Roddy Doyle, the play engages with issues of race and immigration in modern Ireland and, when first released, aimed to be a model for intercultural collaboration. This critical edition features the full text of the play, published for the first time, along with a collection of essays exploring the play’s themes, cultural significance, critical reception, and the legal case that cut short its successful production run. Though the play was first produced over a decade ago, the topic of migration has only increased in its global importance over that time, and this adaptation of Playboy remains a popular touchstone among scholars of Irish theater and immigration.

A serial novel by 15 of the brightest talents in Irish writing (including Marian Keyes, Pauline McLynn, Gina Moxley and Frank McCourt), telling an elaborate tale of murder, mayhem and literary shenanigans in present-day Dublin. Approximately #1 from every copy sold will go to Amnesty International.

THE PHENOMENAL MEMOIR OF A NATIONAL TREASURE After Kellie Harrington won gold at the Tokyo Olympics, the Irish public recognized her as not merely a sporting hero, but a deeply inspirational human being. Now, Kellie tells the story of her unlikely journey to the top, and of the many obstacles and setbacks she overcame along the way. Growing up in Dublin''s north inner city, Kellie was in danger of going down the wrong path in life before she discovered boxing. The local boxing club was all-male and initially wouldn''t let her join, but she persisted. She was not an overnight success. For years she struggled in international competition. At times she felt unsupported by the national boxing set-up. More than once she considered giving up the sport. But some spark of ambition and love for boxing kept her going, and gradually she made herself world class. Writing with Roddy Doyle, the award-winning author of The Commitments, Kellie tells the story of her unlikely rise to greatness and her continuing dedication to living a normal life - which has involved remaining an amateur boxer and keeping the job she loves, at a Dublin psychiatric hospital. She shares exceptionally vivid and revealing details about being a woman in a historically male sport, and about how she manages her body and her mind. It is a vastly inspiring look inside the life and psychology of a woman who is both brilliantly ordinary and utterly exceptional.

Siobhan missed her mother dearly. Ever since she had gone, she spent her days reminiscing about the time they spent together. She remembered her mother''s voice singing and her mother''s hands combing her hair, but no matter how hard Siobhan tried she could never see her mother''s face.

After thirty years in America, Henry Smart returns to his native Ireland in this powerful and moving finale to his story. The Dead Republic opens in 1951 with Henry returning to Ireland for the first time since his escape in 1922. Henry, his leg severed in an accident with a railway boxcar, crawls into the Utah desert to die — only to be discovered by director John Ford, who recognizes a fellow Irish rebel — a boy volunteer at the GPO in 1916, a hitman for Michael Collins, a republican legend. He appoints Henry "IRA consultant" on his new film, The Quiet Man. With him are the stars of Ford''s film, John Wayne and Maureen O''Hara, and the famous director himself, "Pappy," who, in a series of intense, highly charged meetings tries to suck the soul out of Henry and turn it into Hollywood gold-dust. Ten years later Henry is in Dublin, working in Raheen as a school caretaker, loved by the boys, who call him "Hoppy Henry" on account of his wooden leg. When Henry is caught in a bomb blast, that wooden leg gets left behind. He soon finds himself a hero: the old IRA veteran who''s lost his leg to a UVF bomb. Wheeled out by the Provos at funerals and rallies, Henry is to find he will have other uses too, when the peace process begins in deadly secrecy... In three brilliant novels, A Star Called Henry, Oh, Play That Thing and The Dead Republic, Roddy Doyle has told the whole history of Ireland in the twentieth century. And in the person of his hero, he has created one of the great characters of modern fiction.

«Doyle ha ridefinito da solo, almeno su questa sponda dell''Atlantico, cosa debba intendersi per narrativa letteraria.» Nick Hornby «Magistrale... Un romanzo magnifico sui diversi legami tra gli uomini e gli ineffabili misteri dell''amore.» Daily Mail Grandi amici fin dall’adolescenza, Davy e Joe hanno ormai quasi sessant’anni e si vedono di rado. Le loro vite hanno preso strade diverse, letteralmente: Davy infatti vive in Inghilterra da molto tempo e torna a Dublino solo per far visita all’anziano padre, mentre Joe è rimasto nella sua città d’origine. Ma questa sera il loro incontro ha un sapore particolare, e insieme alla birra scorrono ricordi e segreti mai confessati... Davy ha ritrovato Jessica, la «ragazza con il violoncello» di cui i due amici poco più che ventenni si erano invaghiti, e per lei ha lasciato la famiglia. Pinta dopo pinta, pub dopo pub, nel corso di una lunga conversazione in cui il passato si intreccia al presente, anche Joe si confida: l’amore per sua moglie Faye, così disinibita e ribelle, ha suscitato nel padre, che per il figlio avrebbe voluto un altro destino, una sottile ma costante disapprovazione; quel padre che forse, ora, lascerà molte domande senza risposta… Questa serata segnerà la fine dell’amicizia di Davy e Joe? O sarà l’occasione per parlare sinceramente del loro rapporto, di quello che è stato, di quello che può ancora essere? Con una straordinaria abilità narrativa e una capacità unica di coinvolgere il lettore, Roddy Doyle riesce a raccontare con ironia e commozione anche le pieghe più recondite e buie dell’esistenza. E a celebrare l’amore in tutte le sue forme, anche quelle che non credevamo potessero esistere.

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE FOR COMIC WRITING 2019** Meet Charlie Savage: a middle-aged Dubliner with an indefatigable wife, an exasperated daughter, a drinking buddy who’s realized that he’s been a woman all along… Compiled here for the first time is a whole year’s worth of Roddy Doyle’s hilariousseries for the Irish Independent. Giving a unique voice to the everyday, he draws a portrait of a man – funny, loyal, somewhat bewildered – trying to keep pace with the modern world (if his knees don’t give out first).

Dave, Pat and Ben are friends since childhood and they all love Liverpool fottball club. On a trip to see their heroes in action Dave & Pat chat up two local girls, but Ben goes missing.

Bullfighting moves from classrooms to graveyards, local pubs to bullrings; featuring an array of men at their working day and at rest, taking stock and reliving past glories. Each is concerned with loss in different ways - of their place in the world, of power, virility, love - of the boom days and the Celtic Tiger. Brilliantly observed, funny and moving, the stories in Bullfighting present a new vision of contemporary Ireland, of its woes and triumphs.

Two men meet for a pint in a Dublin pub... In 2012, Roddy Doyle showed us the world anew: through the back-and-forth of two Dublin pub-dwellers. They chewed the fat, set the world to rights, slagged each other unmercifully. And along the way, they chased the ebb and flow and stupidity of the year right to the bottom of their pints. Today, they''re still at it - even over Zoom, if needs be. Collected for the first time, here is almost a decade''s worth of elections and referendums, births and deaths, football, financial crashes, pandemics and the philosophical questions of life, as told through the wit and warmth of Roddy Doyle''s comic genius. Includes: Two Pints, Two More Pints, Two for the Road - and, for the first time in print, Two Pints: The Play and The Zoom Pints

Es ist 1968. Patrick Clarke ist zehn Jahre alt, und abends sitzt er vor dem Fernseher, knabbert Chips und sinniert über die amerikanischen Soldaten, die im Mekong-Delta gegen ''Gorillas'' kämpfen. Er liebt den Geruch seiner Wärmflasche und das Gefühl im Mund, wenn er eine Lebertrankapsel zerbeißt. Er haßt Zoos, läßt sich ungern küssen und empfindet die Jungs aus der neuerbauten Sozialsiedlung als seine natürlichen Feinde. Seinen kleinen Bruder Sinbad kann er nicht ausstehen, dafür ist Kevin sein bester Freund, mit dem er Fußball und Verbrechen spielt. Dennoch ist Paddys Welt alles andere als heil: Sein Vater trinkt zuviel und streitet immer häufiger mit seiner Mutter, und schließlich bekommt auch die Freundschaft mit Kevin einen Riß. Ohne Psychologisierungen, unsentimental und nüchtern, zeichnet Doyle das Leben dieses kleinen Jungen nach, der aus dem Paradies der Kindheit vertrieben wird. Ein einfühlsames, stilsicheres Portrait eines zehnjährigen Jungen und seiner Welt.

Paddy Clarke grandit à Dublin. A la fin des années 60, il a dix ans et son petit monde, entre l''école et le terrain de jeux, son amitié avec Kevin, le football, et son attachement pour son petit frère, est rempli de rêves et de mystères. Paddy est à l''âge où l''on cherche son identité. Son plus grand désir, toutefois, serait de voir ses parents cesser de se disputer, mais son père finit par partir et Paddy doit affronter les moqueries dans la cour de récréation : "Paddy Clarke n''a plus de papa, ha, ha, ha !" Paddy, heureusement, possède des trésors d''énergie et d''intelligence pour détourner l''angoisse : au milieu de la mésentente qui brise son foyer va surgir en lui la ferme détermination de survivre. Avec son mélange "irlandais" de tendresse et d''humour, Roddy Doyle a su rendre l''enfance dans toute sa réalité : le temps des décisions brutales, des grands chagrins inconsolables et des infinies possibilités...

Dette er romanen bak suksessfilmen med samme tittel (The Snapper). Sharon Rabbitte, 19, har vært på rangel (det skjer ikke så sjelden), og lattseg besvangre; uskjønt og uønsket. Besvangreren er slett ingen vakker, spansk sjømann på landlov, som hun forsøker å innbille familie og venner. Sharon fortsetter jobben i supermarkedet, går på pub med venninnene, og bor hjemme hos sin tallrike, støyende familie. De følger etterhvert hennes voks-ende mage med spent fascinasjon og stadig fastere solidaritet med ungen. Men hvem faren en , tør de knapt spørre om mer...