Colm Toibin Popular Books

Colm Toibin Biography & Facts

Colm Tóibín ( KUL-əm toh-BEEN, Irish: [ˈkɔl̪ˠəmˠ t̪ˠoːˈbʲiːnʲ]; born 30 May 1955) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet.His first novel, The South, was published in 1990. The Blackwater Lightship was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The Master (a fictionalised version of the inner life of Henry James) was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the 2006 International Dublin Literary Award, securing for Toíbín a bounty of thousands of euro as it is one of the richest literary awards in the world. Nora Webster won the Hawthornden Prize, whilst The Magician (a fictionalised version of the life of Thomas Mann) won the Folio Prize. His fellow artists elected him to Aosdána and he won the biennial "UK and Ireland Nobel" David Cohen Prize in 2021. He succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester. He was appointed Chancellor of the University of Liverpool in 2017. He is now Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University in Manhattan. Early years Tóibín was born in 1955 in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, in the southeast of Ireland. He is the fourth of five children. He was reared in Parnell Avenue. His parents were Bríd and Michael Tóibín. He is one of the two youngest children in his family, alongside his brother Niall.His grandfather, Patrick Tobin, participated in the Easter Rising in April 1916, and was subsequently interned at Frongoch in Wales, while an uncle was involved in the IRB during the Irish Civil War. Following the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922, Tóibín's family favoured the Fianna Fáil political party.Tóibín grew up in a home where there was, he said, "a great deal of silence". Unable to read until the age of nine, he also developed a stammer. When he was eight years of age, in 1963, his father became ill and his mother – sending her two youngest sons to stay with an aunt in County Kildare - for three months, so that she could take their father to Dublin for medical care; she did not call or write to her two youngest sons while tending their father. Tóibín traces the stammer he developed to this time – a stammer which would often leave him unable to speak his own name, and which he retained throughout his life. Tóibín's father – who worked as a schoolteacher – died in 1967, when his son was twelve years of age.Tóibín received his secondary education at St Peter's College, Wexford, where he was a boarder between 1970 and 1972. He later spoke of finding some of the priests attractive. He was also an altar boy in his youth.Tóibín went to University College Dublin (UCD), first attending history and English lectures there in 1972, before graduating with a BA in 1975. He thought about becoming a civil servant but decided against this. Instead, he left Ireland for Barcelona in 1975, later commenting: "I arrive the 24th of September 1975. Franco dies 20th November". The city would later feature in some of Tóibín's early work: his first novel, 1990's The South, has two characters meeting in Barcelona. His 1990 non-fiction work Homage to Barcelona also references the city in its title. Tóibín left Barcelona in 1978 and came back to Ireland. He began writing for In Dublin. Tóibín became editor of the monthly news magazine Magill in 1982, and remained in the position until 1985. He left due to a dispute with Vincent Browne, Magill's managing director. In 1997, when The New Yorker asked Tóibín to write about Seamus Heaney becoming President of Ireland, Tóibín noted that Heaney's popularity could survive the "kiss of death" of an endorsement by Conor Cruise O'Brien. The New Yorker telephoned Conor Cruise O'Brien to confirm that this was so, but Cruise O'Brien disagreed and the statement could not be corroborated. Personal life Tóibín is gay. Since c. 2012, Tóibín has been in a relationship Hedi El Kholti, an editor of the literary press Semiotext(e). They share a home in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. He has served as a curator of exhibits for the Manhattan-based Morgan Library & Museum. He has judged both the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Giller Prize. Tóibín does not watch television, and his awareness of British parliamentary politics can be summed up by his admission that he thought Ed Balls was a nickname for the then Labour Party leader Ed Miliband. He is interested in tennis and plays the game for leisure; upon meeting Roger Federer, Tóibín enquired as to his opinion on the second serve.As of 2008, he had family in Enniscorthy, including two sisters (Barbara and Nuala) and a brother (Brendan).Tóibín lives in Southside Dublin City's Upper Pembroke Street, where on occasions his friends — such as playwright Tom Murphy and former Gate Theatre director Michael Colgan — assembled for social interaction and entertainment. Tóibín spent his prize money from his 2006 International Dublin Literary Award on building a house near Blackwater, County Wexford, where he holidayed as a child. He filled this house with artwork and expensive furniture. He possesses a personal key to the private gated park at Dublin's Fitzwilliam Square, which is shut to ordinary members of the public.In 2019, Tóibín spoke about having survived testicular cancer, which spread to multiple organs, including a lung, liver, and lymph node. Influences Tóibin calls Henry James his favourite novelist; he is especially fond of The Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of the Dove, The Ambassadors, and The Golden Bowl. Tóibin fictionalized James in his novel The Master. He would later fictionalize Thomas Mann in The Magician. He is especially fond of Buddenbrooks — which he first read in his late teens — and has also read The Magic Mountain, Doctor Faustus and the novella Death in Venice.Tóibin's non-fiction was influenced by Joan Didion and Norman Mailer. He said decades after the publication of his debut novel (The South), "If you look at it, you see that the sentence structure is more or less taken from Didion", and expressed reservations about its quality.In July 1972, aged 17, he had a summer job as a barman in the Grand Hotel in Tramore, County Waterford, working from six in the evening to two in the morning. He spent his days on the beach, reading The Essential Hemingway, the copy of which he still professes to have, its "pages stained with seawater". The book developed in him a fascination with Spain, led to a wish to visit that country, and gave him "an idea of prose as something glamorous, smart and shaped, and the idea of character in fiction as something oddly mysterious, worthy of sympathy and admiration, but also elusive. And more than anything, the sheer pleasure of the sentences and their rhythms, and the amount of emotion living in what was not said, what was between the words and the sentences."Eavan Boland introduced him to the poetry of Louise Glück while Boland and Tóibín were at Stanford together in the 2000s. Tóibín stated in 201.... Discover the Colm Toibin popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Colm Toibin books.

Best Seller Colm Toibin Books of 2024

  • The Chandelier synopsis, comments

    The Chandelier

    Clarice Lispector, Magdalena Edwards & Benjamin Moser

    In paperback, Clarice Lispector’s explosive and surprising second novelThe Chandelier, written when Lispector was only twentythree, reveals a very different author from the college...

  • Ulysses synopsis, comments

    Ulysses

    James Joyce

    'Everybody knows now that Ulysses is the greatest novel of the century' Anthony Burgess, ObserverFollowing the events of one single day in Dublin, the 16th June 1904, and what happ...

  • Great Expectations synopsis, comments

    Great Expectations

    Charles Dickens & Charlotte Mitchell

    'His novels will endure as long as the language itself' Peter AckroydDickens's haunting late novel depicts the education and development of a young man, Pip, as his life is changed...

  • The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales of Terror synopsis, comments

    The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales of Terror

    Robert Louis Stevenson & Robert Mighall

    Everyone has a dark side.Dr Jekyll has discovered the ultimate drug. A chemical that can turn him into something else. Suddenly, he can unleash his deepest cruelties in the guise o...

  • Death in Venice synopsis, comments

    Death in Venice

    Thomas Mann

    A famous author in his early fifties travels to Venice alone and succumbs to a deep obsession with an exquisitely beautiful adolescent boy in Thomas Mann's iconic novella.Featuring...

  • Inishowen synopsis, comments

    Inishowen

    Joseph O'Connor

    From the bestselling author of Star of the Sea and Shadowplay, 'a powerful, moving adventure of raw fate and betrayed love' (Independent on Sunday).Inspector Martin Aitken's life i...

  • The Flamethrowers synopsis, comments

    The Flamethrowers

    Rachel Kushner

    NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW New York magazine’s #1 Book of the Year Best Book of 2013 by: The Wall Street Jour...

  • Confessions synopsis, comments

    Confessions

    Jaume Cabré & Mara Faye Lethem

    "Monumental" GuardianDrawing comparisons with Shadow of the Wind, The Name of the Rose and The Reader, and an instant bestseller in ten languages, Confessions is an astonishing sto...

  • Oroonoko, the Rover and Other Works synopsis, comments

    Oroonoko, the Rover and Other Works

    Aphra Behn

    When Prince Oroonoko’s passion for the virtuous Imoinda arouses the jealousy of his grandfather, the lovers are cast into slavery and transported from Africa to the colony of Surin...

  • The Age of Innocence synopsis, comments

    The Age of Innocence

    Edith Wharton

    Winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize, The Age of Innocence is an elegant, masterful portrait of desire and betrayal in old New Yorknow with a new introduction from acclaimed author Co...

  • Ships Of Heaven synopsis, comments

    Ships Of Heaven

    Christopher Somerville

    ‘Somerville is one of our finest gazetteers of the British countryside. He brings his formidable knowledge to bear on his personal quest to explore the cathedrals in this entrancin...

  • De Profundis and Other Prison Writings synopsis, comments

    De Profundis and Other Prison Writings

    Oscar Wilde & Colm Tóibín

    De Profundis and Other Prison Writings is a new selection of Oscar Wilde's prison letters and poetry in Penguin Classics, edited and introduced by Colm Tóibín.At the start of 1895,...

  • The Children Of Dynmouth synopsis, comments

    The Children Of Dynmouth

    William Trevor

    The Children Of Dynmouth a classic prizewinning novel by William TrevorPenguin Decades bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. The 1970s was a decade of anger and d...

  • The Spoils of Poynton synopsis, comments

    The Spoils of Poynton

    Henry James & David Lodge

    Mrs Gereth is convinced that Fleda Vetch would make the perfect daughterinlaw. Only the dreamy, highlystrung young woman can genuinely appreciate, and perhaps eventually share, Mrs...

  • The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State synopsis, comments

    The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State

    Friedrich Engels

    The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884), was a provocative and profoundly influential critique of the Victorian nuclear family. Engels argued that the tradi...

  • A Modest Proposal and Other Writings synopsis, comments

    A Modest Proposal and Other Writings

    Jonathan Swift & Carole Fabricant

    The political dilemma of Ireland; the state of faith in England; the charms of the Beggar's Opera; the importance of puns . . . This selection gathers together some of Swift's most...

  • An Elegant Woman synopsis, comments

    An Elegant Woman

    Martha McPhee

    “A portrait of selfcreation in the vein of F. Scott Fitzgerald”,” (The Wall Street Journal) An Elegant Woman is “a rich exploration of legacy and memory” (Entertainment Weekly) tha...

  • The Steppe and Other Stories, 1887-91 synopsis, comments

    The Steppe and Other Stories, 1887-91

    Anton Chekhov & Ronald Wilks

    This collection of Chekhov's finest early writing reveals a young writer mastering the art of the short story. 'The Steppe', which established his reputation, is the unforgettable ...

  • We Were Strangers Once synopsis, comments

    We Were Strangers Once

    Betsy Carter

    For fans of The Nightingale and Brooklyn comes an exquisite and unforgettable novel about friendship, love, and redemption in a circle of immigrants who flee Europe for 1930sera Ne...

  • Eugene Onegin synopsis, comments

    Eugene Onegin

    Alexander Pushkin & Stanley Mitchell

    Eugene Onegin is the master work of the poet whom Russians regard as the fountainhead of their literature. Set in 1820s Russia, Pushkin's verse novel follows the fates of three men...

  • The Wild Laughter synopsis, comments

    The Wild Laughter

    Caoilinn Hughes

    'A grand feat of comic ingenuity, mischievous and insightful, and full of resonance for the way we live now... So original and vibrant.' Encore Award JudgesFINALIST FOR THE AN POST...

  • Walking the Dog synopsis, comments

    Walking the Dog

    David Hughes

    Approaching fifty, and warned by his doctor that he's drinking too much and needs to take more exercise, David Hughes is given a dog for his birthday Dexter, a wirehaired fox terr...

  • Paris, 7 A.M. synopsis, comments

    Paris, 7 A.M.

    Liza Wieland

    “A marvel of lost innocence” (O, The Oprah Magazine) that reimagines three lifechanging weeks poet Elizabeth Bishop spent in Paris amidst the imminent threat of World War II. June ...

  • An Affair with My Mother synopsis, comments

    An Affair with My Mother

    Caitríona Palmer

    'Incredibly moving' Anne Enright, winner of the Man Booker PrizeAn Affair with My Mother by Caitriona Palmer: a moving and gripping story of love, denial and a daughter's quest for...

  • Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know synopsis, comments

    Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know

    Colm Tóibín

    From Colm Tóibín, the formidable awardwinning author of The Master and Brooklyn, an illuminating, intimate study of Irish culture, history, and literature told through the lives an...

  • A Guest at the Feast synopsis, comments

    A Guest at the Feast

    Colm Tóibín

    Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by LitHub and The Millions!From one of the most engaging and brilliant writers of our time comes a “not to be missed” (LitHub) collection of e...

  • Lost City Radio synopsis, comments

    Lost City Radio

    Daniel Alarcón

    “Daniel Alarcon writes about subterfuge, lies, and the arbitrary recreation of history with a masterful clarity. By accepting the premise that war is senseless, he goes on to make ...

  • Selected Prose synopsis, comments

    Selected Prose

    Charles Lamb

    This selection brings together the best prose writings of the great early nineteenthcentury essayist Charles Lamb, whose shrewd wit and convivial style have endeared him to generat...

  • Poems That Make Grown Men Cry synopsis, comments

    Poems That Make Grown Men Cry

    Anthony Holden & Ben Holden

    A lifeenhancing tour through classic and contemporary poems that have made men cry: “The Holdens remind us that you don’t have to be an academic or a postgraduate in creative writi...

  • The Sagas of the Icelanders synopsis, comments

    The Sagas of the Icelanders

    Jane Smiley

    In Iceland, the age of the Vikings is also known as the Saga Age. A unique body of medieval literature, the Sagas rank with the world’s great literary treasures – as epic as Homer,...

  • All Over Ireland synopsis, comments

    All Over Ireland

    Deirdre Madden

    All Over Ireland, edited by Deirdre Madden (Molly Fox's Birthday, Time Present and Time Past), continues the tradition of featuring the work of both new and established writers, in...

  • La casa de los nombres synopsis, comments

    La casa de los nombres

    Colm Tóibín

    Una espléndida interpretación de la Orestíada de Esquilo, por el autor de Brooklyn y Nora Webster.Colm Tóibín retoma la única obra conservada del teatro griego antiguo y la revisa ...

  • The Damascus Road synopsis, comments

    The Damascus Road

    Jay Parini

    From the author of the international bestseller The Last Station, a superb historical novel of the Apostle Paul, whose tireless and epic preaching of the message of Jesus brought C...

  • A Man in Love synopsis, comments

    A Man in Love

    Martin Walser & David Dollenmayer

    For readers of Colm Toibin’s The Master and Michael Cunningham’s The Hours, a witty, moving, tender novel of impossible love and the mysterious ways of art. Johann Wolfgang von Goe...

  • The Yellow Birds synopsis, comments

    The Yellow Birds

    Kevin Powers

    Finalist for the National Book Award, The Yellow Birds is the harrowing story of two young soldiers trying to stay alive in Iraq. "The war tried to kill us in the spring." So begin...

  • Himself synopsis, comments

    Himself

    Jess Kidd

    "[A] fastpaced yarn that nimbly soars above the Irish crime fiction genre Kidd clearly knows very well." New York Times Book Review“[A] supernaturally skillful debut.” Vanity Fair“...

  • The Malay Archipelago synopsis, comments

    The Malay Archipelago

    Alfred Russel Wallace & Dr Andrew Berry

    Of all the extraordinary Victorian travelogues, The Malay Archipelago has a fair claim to be the greatest both as a beautiful, alarming, vivid and gripping account of some eight y...

  • Fallen synopsis, comments

    Fallen

    Lia Mills

    Fallen by Lia Mills a remarkable love story amidst the ruins of the First World War and the Easter RisingSpring, 1915. Katie Crilly gets the news she dreaded: her beloved twin bro...

  • Nothing On Earth synopsis, comments

    Nothing On Earth

    Conor O'Callaghan

    The critically acclaimed psychological chiller from a powerful new voice in Irish literary fiction.SHORTLISTED FOR THE KERRY GROUP IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2017 'As fine as it is fr...

  • Red Cavalry and Other Stories synopsis, comments

    Red Cavalry and Other Stories

    Isaac Babel, Efraim Sicher & David McDuff

    Throughout his life Isaac Babel was torn by opposing forces, by the desire both to remain faithful to his Jewish roots and yet to be free of them. This duality of vision infuses hi...

  • Ward No. 6 and Other Stories, 1892-1895 synopsis, comments

    Ward No. 6 and Other Stories, 1892-1895

    Anton Chekhov & Ronald Wilks

    These stories from the middle period of Chekhov's career show him exploring complex, ambiguous and often extreme emotions. Influenced by his own experiences as a doctor, 'Ward No. ...

  • The Golden Hour synopsis, comments

    The Golden Hour

    William Nicholson

    She loves him. She's happy. But could she be happier? 'Capturing humour in the small, perfectly skewered moments of everyday life, this is a story of small, largely middleclass liv...