Beatlebone by Kevin Barry

This is a book that is part very Irish and part fan fiction.  I do love the way the Irish write.  There is something about the way they turn a phrase that is similar to each other and pleasing to me.  This author is new to me (I picked this out because it was on the New York Times Notable Books list), but he has the quality to his writing that reminds me of why it is just as important how you say things as it is to have a good story.  The story is largely meandering but pleasant.

In some ways the thing that is most intriguing to me about the idea of writing a book that is at least conceptually about the Beatles is how to do it.  Or a least how to do it without being irritating.  Like Sittenfield's recent rewriting of Pride and Prejudice, one who writes about the Beatles is just asking for criticism.  This pulls it off, in my opinion.