From amazon.com:

Review
BookPage- A wild Irish romp....Affectionately acerbic, Donegan is a hipper Peter Mayle in Provence.

Book Description

Lawrence Donegan's dream is a modest one, really. The intrepid journalist longs for a quiet, simple life far from the filth and noise of the big city.

And he thinks he'll find it in Creeslough.

From the moment Donegan arrives in the quaint Irish village, he is plunged into the problems and pitfalls of rural living. First, he needs to drain his home of water. Then he needs to find a job. After a brief and bloody stint as a Creeslough farmer -- dubbed "Quentin Tarantino's All Creatures Great and Small" -- Donegan decides to go back to his writing roots. He takes a job at the Tirconaill Tribune, a blindly idealistic, libel-slinging tabloid run by two men and a dog. Thus begins a passionate love affair between a big-city hack and a small-town rag.

Sublimely funny and effortlessly hip, No News at Throat Lake is a refreshing memoir of Irish life and times. Filled with unexpected curiosities and predicaments, it's a hilarious, sharp-edged portrayal that ponders what every foreigner wants to know about Ireland -- what's it like to live there, anyway?

I really enjoyed this book-so much so that I'm going to offer it up as my first ring (I just don't want to part with it permanently.)

Ring Guidelines Please:

Please journal book when received.

Please PM the next person on the list for their address before you’re finished. This should move the book along in a more timely fashion.

Please read and pass on in a timely fashion (I understand that we all have other commitments & financial responsibilities. However, if you cannot pass the book along within 4-6 weeks, at least send me a PM that you still have the book. I worry.)

Please add another journal entry and journal the book as “traveling” when you send it to the next person on the list.

Finally, if you wish to be moved down the list for any reason-let me know. I’d rather rearrange the list than see the book stall. Any other problems or concerns, feel free to pm me.

I hope that you enjoy the book and thanks for allowing me to share it with you : )


List Order:
glade1 NC
LyekkaMarengo PA
catsalive AUS
morsecode NY
Back to me

mailed to glade1 on 9/07/05

Received in the mail today, with another bookring book and a trade, to add to my already slightly overwhelming "to-be-read-right-away" list. Will read as soon as I can, especially since this looks like such fun. More later...

What a fun book! I really enjoyed this look at rural Ireland and I often laughed aloud at Donegan's humor. I admired the townsfolk in Creeslough. The story meanders a bit and I'd be hard pressed to pick a narrative theme, but that's the way real life is--it doesn't conform to conventions like novels do.

The line I keep remembering and chuckling over is when Donegan is at the cattle farm the first time and the vet is removing horns from the cattle. He says, "This was Quentin Tarantino's All Creatures Great and Small." That just struck my funny bone and I'm still laughing over it.

Once again, Bookcrossing has introduced me to a book I probably would never have even heard of otherwise, and I am grateful for the opportunity. I have LyekkaMarengo's address and will get this out in the next couple of days.

Thanks, bookreadera!

ETA: Mailed out on 10-26-05.

Received safe and sound in PA on 10/31/2005. I'm in the middle of my current book, so this one will come next.

Received today, thanks LyekkaMarengo.

Opps, looks like I forgot to come back and post my review - sorry. Here goes: This was a cute tale of a London newspaper wrtier who thinks he'd be better off with the quiet simple life he experiences on vacations in a small Irish town whose English name means "Throat Lake". After trying farming assistant at which he is less than successful he end up at his old proffession at the small local paper. There is a side story about his trying to prove whether the butler (who was from the town) did or did not kill his famous employer the heiress Doris Duke. It's a gentle, amusing tale full of local characters and heart as these kinds of stories are but I was sorry to see the ending. (Won't spoil it).

I enjoyed this, although I wouldn't call it "a wild Irish romp" as has been printed on the back. It's more a gentle Irish comedy. The quote about "Quentin Tarantino's All Creatures Great and Small" got a laugh out of me too.

Thanks, bookreadera. I'll send this off to morsecode as soon as I receive an address.

Posted surface mail 12/12/5.

This book arrived safe and sound in Buffalo, NY today.
Unfortunately it came with another ring. I'll still try to get it back on the road by next Saturday.

I finished this book last night and starting typing up a journal entry, but my cat started climbing all over the desk trying to get me to pet her ... after tons of typos I decided to throw in the towel and type up a journal entry from my cat-free office this morning.
~
I usually try not to keep book ring books for more than one week, but I have been a bit overwhelmed lately with high priority TBRs and after my first journal entry, bookreadera sent me a nice PM telling me to take my time because I was the last one on the list.

I was drawn to this book (and book ring) by its title. No News at Throat Lake… what a great title!
This was a fun little book and it is kind of amazing to think that the time recounted in this memoir was really a one year detour from the author's normal life. The author is quite witty and at times I found myself laughing out loud.
Throughout the book, however, it becomes clear that journalist and ex-rocker Donegan is not used to writing long pieces. His writing becomes disjointed at times and he could have done a better job of stringing the Bernard Lafferty/Doris Duke thread through the larger narrative.
All in all, this was a nice read. I would recommend it to others who are looking for an Irish "fix."

Thanks so much for sharing this book, bookreadera!

one of my first rings to be sent out and the first one to come home : )

Thanks to everyone for your journal entries and for sharing the book with me.

sending out via my "Packing My Bags" Swap at paperback swap. Off to travel some more...