Posted on by Cathy

📘If you’re Irish this was the month for you….

I know I said I wasn’t going to get involved in any reading challenges this year but this is March (the month connected to Ireland and all things Irish)……and there is an actual challenge called Reading Ireland Month ☘️

Just by chance in amongst my reads these past few weeks were some by female Irish authors….a young ‘un and an older one (now sadly no longer with us) The well established Maeve Binchy and the now becoming very well established Claire Keegan – so when I was made aware of Reading Ireland I picked out a few more authors from my TBR list that I knew would fit the bill…..and my library happened to have available😊

  • So late in the day – Claire Keegan 2023.
    Three previously published very short stories. All different, could be described as ‘dark’, certainly not pleasant.
    So late in the day:- Poor man, got what was coming to him
    A long and painful death:– Some people have a knack of taking the pleasure out of everything.
    Antarctica:- What you want is not always what you get
  • Foster – Claire Keegan 2010.
    A short story about life in rural Ireland with a lot to say in very few words.
    The little girl goes to stay with what is implied to be foster parents but what I actually thought was her aunt but maybe I misunderstood……a place where life is so very different to what it is like at home. Then the new baby is born and it’s time to go home – where life and the attitudes of her parents are so very different. Has a ‘strange’ ending that is open to individual reader’s interpretation/imagination
  • This year it will be different – Maeve Binchy 2008.
    Short stories with Christmas (and relationships) as the common theme.

    Christmas…..that time of the year when people are supposed to be on their best behaviour and things just have to be ‘perfect’ but we know life isn’t like that…….and that’s just what’s covered in these very readable and relatable stories.
    They include the problems of Grannies coming to visit – mothers deciding they’ve had enough and this year it will be different – overseas visitors wondering what Christmas will be like in another country – lovers thinking about each other while separated, then reaching slightly different decisions about their future – plus others that will make you feel happy….and sad

  • The Searcher – Tana French 2020.
    Cal Hooper #1

American ex police officer Cal Hooper hoping to get away from a previous life has bought a run down cottage in a small village in Ireland.  Getting to know the community but remain anonymous has been a hard task, then a young boy turns up asking for help and much to his better judgement he agrees to look for a missing brother.
Easy to read, first half flowed along nicely……then after a twist in the storyline I sort of lost interest. The mystery was solved in the end – after we learn many of the secrets of locals plus the boy isn’t what you think he is

  • The Transatlantic Book Club – Felicity Hayes – McCoy 2019.
    (I’d actually had my eye on another of this author’s books but saw this and thought the idea of an ‘international’ book club rather novel (yes I know 😊) so it came home with me.)

Eager to cheer up her recently widowed gran, Cassie Fitzgerald, visiting from Canada, persuades Lissbeg Library to set up a Skype book club, linking readers on Ireland’s Finfarran Peninsula with the US town of Resolve, home to generations of Finfarran emigrants.

A fun easy read – part the Finfarran Peninsula series – characters and backgrounds were (re)introduced slowly so it wasn’t difficult to get acquainted with everyone. The Skype sessions were more visual general get togethers with hello’s and past differences making appearances plus the choice of book to be read caused problems. A little romance was added….. well, a long distance ‘will he be there on screen tonight’ does he feel the same as me even though we’re an ocean apart.
All’s well in the end…..life in the little Irish town settles down again

*********.
And because life has got in the way a bit I’ve only just begun to read this one…..

The Country Girls – Edna O’Brien 1960.
Debut novel turned into a series

Kate and Baba are friends, live in the same village in entirely different environments, go to the same school, need each other’s company but treat each other differently……being short in length it’s not going to take me too long to finish……I’m hoping Baba will stop being a bully

Click the link below to see what others have been reading 
What’s on your Bookshelf 

Book Worms Monthly – April

(To comment please click on post title and scroll down)

24 Replies to “📘If you’re Irish this was the month for you….”

  2. I love Irish fiction and my favourites are Claire Keegan, John Boyne and Colm Toibin. I’m glad you mentioned The Country Girls. I loved it when I first read it, and resolved to read it again when I heard Edna O’ Brien had died.

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    1. Hello there Gail

      Keegan and Boyne I’ve read but not Colm Toibin…..will have to search out something from the library to put that right won’t I 😊

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  3. Oh these are great reads! What a fantastic reading month! (and yes to John Boyne, Claire Keegan, and Colm Toibin… and I would add Colum McCann!) Irish writers are some of my absolute favorites!

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  6. What an interesting challenge with some good books. I have enjoyed Claire Keegan. I read somewhere that she said, “I like to respect the privacy of my characters.” I thought that was so sensitive and thoughtful. I wonder if I have read the Edna O’Brien book or another by her? Oh age and memory – sometimes they let me down.

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  7. Hi, Cathy…I’ll have to look into these. I’ve been doing a lot of ready of late…more than I usually do, even. Cyclone Alfred poked his nosey nose in, uninvited and unwelcome, causing much mayhem in the area…in South-East Queensland and its surrounds. Here on the hill in the Gold Coast Hinterland where I live, we lost power. I was without power for a week…some others for longer. We had no water (we’re not on town water supply here…we’re reliant on rainwater tanks, and the electric pumps that dispense said water); we’re septic, not sewerage, so no flushing toilets; contents of fridge and freezer had to be tossed out. Our local supermarket couldn’t open for a week because their generator wouldn’t work. I felt so sorry for them because they had to toss out so much food…so much.

    Things are getting back on track, but the crews are still working hard, clearing away the debris caused by Alfie’s fury.

    Thanks for the book tips. 🙂

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  8. I love the British TV show VERA so found the books by Ann Cleeves and am reading them as they come available. I will look for the books you have posted.

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  13. That sounds like a good selection of books. I haven’t read any of them. My favourite Irish author is Marian Keyes and my two favourite reads of last year were both by Irish authors – Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent and The Bee Sting by Paul Murray.

    Popping over from Book Worms Monthly.

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  14. I love Irish authors and I especially love it when I can get the audio book with an Irish accent. I might have to give Foster a go, you have me intrigued. I also love Maeve Binchy but I’ve not read any of her books for a while.

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