Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris If you had set out in the summer of 1660 to travel the four miles from Boston to Cambridge, Massachusetts, the first house you would have come to after crossing the Charles River would have been the Goodkins’. Foster by Claire Keegan Early on Sunday, after first Mass at … Continue reading My Reading – January 2023
Reading
2022 – A Year of Reading
This year I came nowhere near my long term goal of reading a book a week with this year’s tally of 34 books read for the whole year. I do have a genuine excuse as the first four months was spent preparing my latest novel for publication. Despite the best of intentions my reviewing was … Continue reading 2022 – A Year of Reading
My Reading – December 2022
Souvenirs of Kyiv by Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger The Herr Oberst came to me on a sunny afternoon just a week ago. Forever Home by Graham Norton The Back Quay of Ballytoor was where things used to be. The Double by Fyodor DostoevskyIt was a little before eight o’clock in the morning when Titular Councillor Yakov Petrovich … Continue reading My Reading – December 2022
My Reading – November 2022
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John BoyneLong ago before we had discovered that he had fathered two children by two different women, one in Drimoleague and one in Clonakilty, Father James Monroe stood on the altar of the Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, in the parish of Goleen, West Cork, and denounced … Continue reading My Reading – November 2022
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – Some thoughts on re-reading
I recently re-read Pride and Prejudice, a book I last read some time in the mid-1970s. In the intervening years, I have watched a couple of film adaptations but haven’t been struck giddy by the story. And I have no particular fascination for the Regency period. When I think of that period I don’t think … Continue reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – Some thoughts on re-reading
My Reading – October 2022
The Quare Fellow by Brendan Behan (More detail on this play below)A prisoner sings: he is in one of the punishment cells. A hungry feeling came o’er me stealing, And the mice were squealing in my prison cell, And that old triangle, Went jingle jangle, All along the banks of the Royal Canal. A Shape … Continue reading My Reading – October 2022
My Reading – September 2022
Pride and Prejudice by Jane AustenIt is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.Still being read after 200 years, Pride and Prejudice doesn't need another review (there are over 92,000 of them on Goodreads alone); however, I have written a post … Continue reading My Reading – September 2022
My Reading – August 2022
The Survivors by Jane HarperShe could - almost - have been one of The Survivors. Standing there, outlined by the weak light, her back turned and the salt water lapping at her feet. Force of Nature by Jane HarperLater, the four remaining women could fully agree on only two things. From the Drop of Heaven … Continue reading My Reading – August 2022
My Reading – July 2022
An Independent Heart by Elizabeth Grant Snow melted on the horses' necks and tangled their manes with glistening icicles. My Brother Jack by George Johnson My brother Jack does not come into the story straight away. Nobody ever does, of course, because a person doesn’t begin to exist without parents and an environment and legendary … Continue reading My Reading – July 2022
My Reading – June 2022
The King's Inquisitor by Tonya Ulynn Brown The business of witchcraft is a foul trade and only a scrupulous man is fitted for the task. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan In October there were yellow trees. Then the clocks went back the hour and the long November winds came in and blew, and … Continue reading My Reading – June 2022
Catherine Meyrick 