Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop on Middle Street has six rooms teeming rooms with more than 150,000 books, which will surely satisfy all your Christmas book-shopping needs.
Books of Irish Interest are always a great Christmas present and this year offers the usual cornucopia of great titles from Irish publishers. Charlie Byrne's has two wonderful histories of food in Ireland: the magisterial and surprising Irish Food History: A Companion published by the Royal Irish Academy and Galway's own JP McMahon’s wonderful An Irish Food Story. They also have the welcome reprint of the encyclopaedic Companion to Irish Traditional Music and some brilliant works of Irish historiography such as Diarmuid Ferriter’s pioneering study of Ireland from 1995 to 2020 and the final volume of the hugely important Atlas of Irish History from Cork University Press which looks at the Civil War period. Also big this year are two great learning Irish language books by Hector O’hEochagain and Molly Nic Cheile.
Galway books are hugely important at this time of year also and we have broad pallet to choose from: Two brilliant sports biographies, the legendary Joe Canning’s hurling biography and the fascinating story Racket about Conor Niland’s time in the world of the international tennis circuit. They have two great historical works, Anglicising Tudor Connacht by Joseph Mannion and Reforming Galway on St Nicholas’ Church by the late Raymond Gillespie. They also have new books by those pair of Galway poetry queens, Rita Ann Higgins and Elaine Feeney, and the amazing story of Emily Anderson by Jackie Ui Chionna.
Fiction highlights this year include new work by Kevin Barry, Roddy Doyle and Martina Devlin’s Charlotte and Niamh Mulvey’s Ammendments. International highlights feature James by Percival Everett and Tell me Everything by Elizabeth Strout, but of course in this category, the options are almost endless.
Younger readers have incredible choices this year including the likes of the amazing illustrated books, The Faerie Isle by Síne Quinn and Dermot Flynn, Beanie and the Bansheenie by Eoin Colfer and Steve McCarthy, and the beautiful An Fia sa Choill by Sadhbh Deviln agus Anastasia Melnykova. There are an incredible selection of novels for young readers this year as well, with a strong focus on magic and whimsy. Some favourites have been Fia and the Last Snow Deer by Eilish Fisher, The Lost Dogs by Patricia Forde, Someone’s Been Messing With Reality by John Hearne and Into the Witchwood by Charlie Byrne's children’s section manager, Méabh McDonnell.
Finally there are treats in store for young adults too as Galway’s own Catherine Doyle’s The Dagger and the Flame is the perfect book for teen readers to curl up with on Christmas Day. All of these books are just waiting to be discovered as well as the usual cornucopia of delights available in the children’s section. Don't forget, if they don't have it, the team at Charlie Byrne's can get it or maybe give you something that might even be better. They are always happy to help with specific enquiries in the shop and would like to wish all their loyal and year-round customers a very happy and book-filled Christmas.
