Goodreads Ireland discussion
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What Are You Reading
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Seraphina
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Jan 07, 2014 10:32AM
I had to stop the podcast because it was giving a few things away so if you haven't read the book don't listen.
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I did the same as you, Seraphina, and stopped after a few minutes-I'll wait until I read the book before listening as well.
@Sara. Let me know what you think of Tales of a Dying Earth. I've had in my hands a few times and I put it back in favour of other books.
I started off being bored by the Dying Earth series but these days I absolutely love it. Personally, I found the first book - a collection of stories, really lacking the very subtle Vance humor of the next threes. It also seems a lot closer to a 'fantasy' style than Vance's other more 'sci-fi' books.Actually, veering off on another tangent Declan, did you ever get a chance to try any of Jack McDavitt's stuff?
I haven't, Brian. As has been my way, I'd forgotten completely about him. I think I'm losing it.
I'll add one of his while I'm adding Vance.
I'll add one of his while I'm adding Vance.
Given the amount of books you go thorugh that's hardly surprising, Declan. Doubt you're losing it.
Yeah, I've probably already lost it, Brian! :/
John wrote: "The latest episode of BBC Radio 4's Bookclub is about The Secret History by Donna Tartt.
"
Cool thanks. Nice clip to listen while I was working.
btw your link was only a wee snippet. The full l..."
I've heard of her but never read her. I actually thought she had passed away and then realized I had confused her with Susan Sontag.
I dipped into Troubles but am getting pulled away by a Scandinavian mystery. Must be the cold weather. I won't put either in "currently" reading until I decide which one I am currently reading:)
Is there a way to see how far friends are along in their 2014 goals? It's only Jan. 8th but I bet Sara is over 10 books already. And Allan is also reading up a storm while still on holiday.
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I'm not still on holiday unfortunately, Barbara-I've been back since Monday! My audiobook listening continues to thrive on my commute, but I actually gave up on a print book that wasn't gripping me on Tuesday, which I rarely do, so that I could start Stoner. So 'could do better' would be my assessment of my personal reading this month! :)
@Barbara. If you click on a GR friend's profile and scroll down page, it should reveal their progress. As long as they've set a target, that is.
@Gerry. be sure to let us know what you think of Stoner in the monthly read thread. I hope you love it until the end.
@Jamielynn. An hour sitting around? You're lucky you had a book with you.
@Jamielynn. An hour sitting around? You're lucky you had a book with you.
I've been watching about the cold on the news. It's scary. At least by June the snow will be lighter. :/
I watched clips of waves freezing as the hit the shore. it scared the hell out me.
You are so right, Jamie. When earthquakes hit, we just roll our eyes but I would be scared of a tornado because I don't know a thing about them.It's not cold here, Declan, but that's not good news. It rained here today which was great news. We are officially in a drought and severely limited in our water use-150 gallons a day- and violators will be fined and, in some cases jailed. I am fairly sure that's for the big water users like indoor pot growing.
I was reading an article in the paper this morning about debut fiction, and came across a section on Michele Forbes, who apparently grew up in Belfast in the 1970s. Her novel, Ghost Moth, is set in the city in the 20 years preceding the outbreak of the Troubles in 1969. I subsequently found this review:http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014...
Might be worth checking out!
Gerry - I can't say I understand soccer but I am interested in the book La Liga. I spent 2 months in Barcelona in 2006 not far from Camp Nou. Barca is my team, at least in Europe because of all the time I've spent in Barcelona. Also, having lived in Brazil and with many Brazilian friends, I know they are the best!Allan - thanks for bringing up Ghost Moth. I bought it this summer but still haven't read it. I will put it on the list for my book club meeting tomorrow night. That will make 3 Northern Irish books I am recommending - the other 2 are The Cold Cold Ground and Eureka Street. Sara is behind me on recommending The Cold Cold Ground.
I am 80 pages into Troubles, which still hasn't grabbed me, and getting immersed in a short Argentinian book Shantytown.
Declan - thanks for the instructions on finding friend's goals and progress. And I love having a real tree. These are grown on tree farms just for the Christmas market so I don't feel I am depriving the planet of trees as they wouldn't be grown otherwise, and do some good for the environment while growing. I buy from the local Lion's Club, an international service organization. They cost more, but are better quality and helping local charities.
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I finished Stoner two days ago, and I am still thinking about it. I think it's a remarkable book. I'm reading a couple of school-related books, but other than that, I just started The Cold, Cold Ground. I've just begun it, but it seems like it'll be an absorbing, quick read.
@ Sara - If you park illegally your car gets clamped, so you can’t drive it away. You have to phone the company that clamped your vehicle and pay huge amount of money to get the clamp removed.
Gerry wrote: "Its a great book Barbara. Its as much a history book as it is about football. The first few chapters about how fascism and General Franco affected both teams were my favourite part of the book. "I plan on reading that book myself - I listen to Sid Lowe on podcast regularly you see and his shameless plug in's have clearly broken through to me. Does it explain why the Spanish government are owed so much money by these top two teams, how that whole thing developed?
Audio: I'm listening to The View on the Way Down, a novel set around the effects that mental illness and suicide can have on a family. Kindle: I'm reading Swimming Home. On the surface it's about a family on vacation in France. But there seems to be a bit more lurking beneath that surface though.
Both quite good so far.
Sara, we'll have to recommend a few NI authors / books to break your duck with writing from the province. It'd be interesting to see, coming fresh to them, how you'd contrast northern writers to those from the south. All in good time...! :)
Hi everyone--I'm reading Adrian McKinty's book, and the word "peelers" has been used frequently. I'm not sure what that means. Is it a police officer? I've tried to figure out from the context, but I'm still not sure.
Cathleen-a 'peeler' is slang used for police due to that fact that the first organised police force in UK was set up by Sir Robert Peel. It's a term widely used in NI, probably more so even than in the rest of the UK.So how are you enjoying reading about the mean streets of Victoria / Carrick then? I'm sure you've read elsewhere in my posts, but the series is set in my original hometown of Carrickfergus, and Coronation Road is where my dad owns three rental properties and my mum lived for a number of years before she got married. A couple of my best friends lived on the street, and I used to get the bus to school about 100 yards up the road from 113, where Duffy lives in the book.
Like I've said to Barbara, McKinty fairly hams the area up as being a war zone, when in fact it's the most non descript, quiet area and street you could imagine, and always has been!
Allan wrote: "Cathleen-a 'peeler' is slang used for police due to that fact that the first organised police force in UK was set up by Sir Robert Peel. It's a term widely used in NI, probably more so even than in..."Allan, thank you! I thought that might be the meaning, but I hate it when I'm not sure--and the word keeps popping up. Yes, I remember reading that this is set in your hometown and what you wrote about it, so that was a deciding factor in getting the book! I'm in early pages still (and the past couple of nights I've only had a chance to read it later at night...and have nodded off--not because of the book, though!). It's an e-book, so I'm not even sure how far into it I am, but just near the beginning. I really like it so far. I'll tell you more when I'm further into it.
@Cathleen. Just to add to to Allan's answer the police of that era were also called 'bobbies' for the same reason.
Really, Declan? I always wondered how the term came about. Thank you.
It's the first of the Duffy books, CPHE. :)
Cphe wrote: "Cathleen wrote: "Hi everyone--I'm reading Adrian McKinty's book, and the word "peelers" has been used frequently. I'm not sure what that means. Is it a police officer? I've tried to figure out ..."
Hi Cphe,
It's the first one in the Sean Duffy series. Have you already read it?
Declan wrote: "@Cathleen. Just to add to to Allan's answer the police of that era were also called 'bobbies' for the same reason."I always wondered that, too! Thanks, Declan.
I'm looking forward to the third in the series as well, having just finished the second. :)
Monday night the book club Sara and I attend picked out books for the next 12 months! I must have been having one of my "second sight" days because I showed up with a list of 6 (brought 4 with me) and Dennis, our organizer, came with descriptions of a number of Irish award winners. But it's January and we didn't have books picked out for the next few months so great minds think alike. We will be reading at least 3 Northern writers, but I was cunning and didn't "out" them all as Northern. Americans are funny that way and some don't think Northern Ireland is Irish. Anyway, they are Michelle Foster's Ghost Moth which the description sets in Belfast so they knew that one was from NI. Ratlines by Stuart Neville - because there was another books mentioned about Nazis in Ireland by an unknown author so I pushed Ratlines. And The Cold, Cold Ground which I used Nancy Pearl's recommendation to push. I was surprised that only Sara and I seemed to know who she is as this was a book group and in the US, she is the book club guru librarian. Plus she is often on NPR and listeners recognize her name. I can't recall the entire list and last night spilled water all over my list:). It will be posted soon (eventually). I am editing to add, my absolutely unfavorite person didn't show her face and I am happy thinking she may not like the Neville and McKinty books. We have a "chick lit" leaning contingent and I don't think they like mysteries, at least of the Neville and McKinty vein. I tried to get Eureka Street on the list (never told them it was about Belfast:) but it was published in 1996 and our cutoff these days is 2000 and later. Dennis said "it's been out for 20 years!" I corrected him - only 17 plus, but agreed to holding the line on the 2000 and later rule.
Barbara, I read your original post earlier and your edited version there now. It was cunning indeed for you to get some northern writers in by stealth, and I'm delighted that your nemesis may stay away as a result! I have to say, I think you've both guided the group well. I'll have to purchase the Ghost Moth novel, but may wait until it's out in paperback here-I look forward to reading both of your reviews in the meantime. You'll definitely have to do the McKinty homeland tour now when you hit NI in April, Barbara, particularly if it's before you read the book with the group. I'll be really interested to hear what they think of it.
I really enjoyed Ratlines btw-I'm sure Stuart Neville is frequently humbled to hear of book groups etc reading his work, given that he didn't even want to read from this book when I was at its official launch in No Alibis-he just hung about the shop and signed copies for the few people that turned up for the launch. He really is a great author though, and I look forward to his next novel.
Be sure to post the rest of the reading list when you retrieve it, because it will no doubt give myself and others more excellent reading ideas. :)
Oh, and the 2000 and later rule is such a shame, given that our last 3 quarterly reads, which have been 5 star reads more or less across the board, were all 20th century novels. I suppose you can't have everything!
Allan wrote: "Barbara, I read your original post earlier and your edited version there now. It was cunning indeed for you to get some northern writers in by stealth, and I'm delighted that your nemesis may stay ..."Allan - I tried to get Eureka Street in saying the Robert McLiam Wilson had gone to Paris and disappeared etc. Dennis said it will be given "special mention" on the webpage. Ghost Moth was out in paper here last summer - I found that surprising. And I just got on the library list for McKinty's third novel. I have a couple of hours left to list to my Aberdeen novel then I can start #2.
You are reminding me that I have been slowly rereading Ghosts of Belfast on my iPad. Neville has nothing to be humble about but then again, in Irish culture, one is not supposed to self-promote. If you do, others will run you down. I definitely absorbed this lesson growing up. Another excellent writer who seems awed to have people show up to hear him is the DC writer Edward P Jones. His book of short stories Lost in the City is wonderful. My Saturday progressive reading group is reading it in a couple of months.
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Cphe wrote: "Cathleen wrote: "Cphe wrote: "Cathleen wrote: "Hi everyone--I'm reading Adrian McKinty's book, and the word "peelers" has been used frequently. I'm not sure what that means. Is it a police offic..."
That's definitely a positive recommendation :) I'm looking forward to reading the entire series.
Barbara wrote: "Monday night the book club Sara and I attend picked out books for the next 12 months! I must have been having one of my "second sight" days because I showed up with a list of 6 (brought 4 with me) ..."Barbara, that book group sounds both fantastic and daunting :) I wish we had a book group like that around here. What is "second sight"?
I've heard such good things about Ghost Moth. Probably here. I should put it on my list.
I can't believe the cut off date for your books is 2000. That seems so odd--and a shame considering so many good Irish books were written before that date.
And...how can book club group members in D.C. not have heard of Nancy Pearl? I assume they all are avid listeners to NPR and she's on practically every other week :)
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Strange.I got my daily goodreads email letting me know which subscribed topics had been updated. I click on the link to "What are you reading" and get brought here...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
A spoiler thread on a Jodi Picault form. Bizarre. Goodreads is borked.
Sara wrote: "I was disappointed about Eureka Street Barbara, but I can see the benefits of sticking to things published after 2000. Maybe we'll get lucky and Robert McLiam Wilson will publish another book some..."I loved Lost in the City and it was a finalist for the Penn Faulkner award. The stories are about the neighborhood partly destroyed when the metro was built, and the other side of Florida Ave NE where I work. I couldn't get into his book The Known World which won the Pulitzer, but maybe someday I will try again. Speaking of Baltimore, I am currently reading The Other Wes Moore, a book I am assigning my students. It's non-fiction, about 2 black men, the same age, both from Baltimore, both named Wes Moore - one a Rhodes Scholar and one in prison for life.
John wrote: "Strange.I got my daily goodreads email letting me know which subscribed topics had been updated. I click on the link to "What are you reading" and get brought here...
https://www.goodreads.com/t..."
John - I was getting the same thing the other day!!!
Cathleen wrote: "Barbara wrote: "Monday night the book club Sara and I attend picked out books for the next 12 months! I must have been having one of my "second sight" days because I showed up with a list of 6 (bro..."Cathleen - Second sight is a kind of extra-sensory perception. It can be seeing things before they happen, or perceiving things that are happening in another place. It is believed to be common in people of "Celtic" ancestry.
http://uhblog.ulsterheritage.com/2009...
I have had many, many experiences of seeing things before they happen. Sometimes just a moment before - like when I was in Camden Yards and the instant before Manny Ramirez hit his 300th homerun I saw it happen and saw the trajectory of the ball - then he did it and the ball went exactly where I'd seen it go.
The book club is part of a larger organization dedicated to Irish contemporary arts and the book club focuses on new Irish writers and contemporary literature.
http://solasnua.org/
It can be tricky defining "literature" though. In 2010 and 2011, they had funding for a writers' festival and they were both awesome. 2010 was the most impressive with Glenn Patterson, Nick Laird, Chris Agee, Christine Dwyer Hickey and Gerard Donovan. 2011 included Julian Gough (love him!), Leontia Flynn, and more. My favorite year was 2007 when the Smithsonian Folklife Festival featured Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland cultural bureau (don't remember the correct name) partnered with the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, and other organizations including Solas Nua to put on 4 full months of cultural activities. The most mind blowing was the night Glenn Patterson and Lucy Caldwell did a reading followed by a one-man performance of Maire Jone's play A Night in November.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Night_...
Jones was there. It was a very mixed audience, not just Irish Americans and absolutely amazing.
As to how it is possible that members not know who Nancy Pearl is - good question. Of course we have members who post cutsie pictures saying "Irish you a Merry Christmas" - on the book club's Facebook page. Pleezzz. I know my snobbishness is showing. And others who seem to want to read chick lit (after all, it is labeled "lit"). I've read all of Maeve Binchy's books but this isn't our mission.
Barbara, I took a look at the website there, and the events and organisation looks very impressive. Like Cathleen, I wish we had a book group as dedicated to reading contemporary Irish literature up here! Be sure, as I say, to post the other books that you'll be reading on here so we can all pick up ideas! :)A Night in November is a very powerful play-I was actually at the game that the play is named after-very dark times-Patrick Kielty, a comedian from NI, was the original actor who played the part, and the show had a great run in London, which was quite unusual for a NI play.
I just received word of one of the books I have to review this month. The new book by Sharon Kay Penman about Richard the Lionhearted. 700 pages. Why, oh why, do I never get the short ones?
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