Book Week NI

This week is Book Week NI – a conversation-filled celebration of books, reading and libraries from Monday 16 October-Sunday 22 October 2023.

The initiative from BBC and Libraries NI is now in its eighth year and is a great opportunity to borrow a few good books and get the pages turning.

We have found some amazing books that feature the beautiful outdoor locations of Northern Ireland and you can check most of them out on OutmoreNI.com so that you can experience them on paper and in real life!

Mother Mother by Annie Macmanus

Mother, Mother by Annie MacManus is a powerful novel about family, grief, addiction, and motherhood. It tells the story of Mary McConnell, a 35-year-old woman who has lived her entire life in Belfast. The book features some iconic locations in Northern Ireland including Donaghadee Beach.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis spent much of his childhood in Northern Ireland, and the Mourne Mountains were a major inspiration for the landscape of Narnia.

The Watch House by Bernie McGill

This novel tells the story of a lighthouse keeper who is haunted by the ghosts of the past. The novel is set on Rathlin Island, a remote island off the coast of Northern Ireland.

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

The profile of Cavehill in Belfast is said to have inspired the land of Lilliput in the classic novel as it looks like a sleeping giant’s face. Look out for the face on the hill from the roads below and head up to check out the multitude of trails and take in the view of Belfast from the heights.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

From the author of “Notes from a Small Island” and “The Lost Continent” comes this humorous report on his walk along the Appalachian Trail. The Trail covers 14 states and over 2000 miles, and stretches along the east coast of America from Maine in the north to Georgia in the south. It is famous for being the longest continuous footpath in the world. It snakes through some of the wildest and most specactular landscapes in America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas. The Ulster-Ireland section of the IAT runs from the Bluestack Mountains in Donegal, through the Causeway Coast Way all the way round to Larne in County Antrim and is a great way to explore a multitude of trails in Northern Ireland.

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

This memoir tells the story of a woman who walks the South West Coast Path in England after her husband is diagnosed with terminal cancer. The book references a number of Northern Ireland outdoor locations, including the Causeway Coast and the Mourne Mountains.

For more outdoor trails and places that might inspire a future book on Northern Ireland locations, check out www.outmoreni.com