Down but not out

Hermy

Man's Search for Meaning - Victor Frankl: A book I've heard mentioned again and again but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. While the first part where he recounts his time in Auschwitz was powerful testimony, the second part with its intimation of suffering as something noble was lost on me.

Hermy

Unsettled Ground - Claire Fuller: This months book club choice was not a good one. One of those books you stick with till the end desperate to see if there's any point to it, only to discover that there isn't. With a setting similar to that of Strange Sally Diamond it tells the highly unconvincing and improbable story of a brother and sister's descent into poverty and homelessness following their mothers sudden death. There were various contrived plot twists along the way, most of which remained unresolved, and in the end even the writing, which started out okay, couldn't save it as that went the way of everything else in the book. Awful stuff altogether!

Hermy

Long Lankin - John Banville: Not Banville's first published work - that was a short story The Party published in The Kilkenny Magazine in 1966 - but his first book, the short story collection Long Lankin was published in 1970 and reissued in revised form in 1984 with two stories excised from the original. A first edition of Long Lankin is now quite expensive so it may be a while before I get to read those two unfortunately! Banville is often dismissive of his early works, particularly Nightspawn which came after this, but these brief tales - snapshots, brief glimpses even - which leave so much untold, are really good and aught not to be dismissed as the author is so wont to do.

Hermy

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel: This months book club choice - a piece of post-apocalyptic fiction set in the recent past as a deadly flu virus decimates the global populace, leading to the collapse of civilization as we know it - was a good book but at the same time not really my thing. While the writing was generally good, particularly when describing certain of the more dramatic moments post-pandemic, the abrupt switching of time and place to develop the backstory, as well as the similarly abrupt and, at times, rather convenient conclusions of certain plot lines, made it a less satisfying read than it ought to have been.

Hermy

Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong - Jean-Benoît Nadeau & Julie Barlow: Continuing my French odyssey, this was exactly the book I've been looking for, a book that explains the origins of modern everyday France, how's it's distinctly different from its neighbours and other westernised democracies around the world, and just what it is that makes the French so uniquely French! The authors, a writer-journalist couple from Canada, spent two years in France at the turn of the millennium to write the book after Jean-Benoît was granted a scholarship to study the reasons why the French were resisting globalization. On the face of it this wouldn't necessarily have been my cup of tea but the book is about so much more and gives some real insight into French society, politics, education, commerce and their attitudes to themselves and the rest of the world. My only minor issue with the book was the authors' tendency to repeat themselves from time to time - perhaps better editing was needed. Otherwise a great read.

Hermy

Just to add, if anyone has any recommendations for books about France I'd love to hear them.

Hermy

The Missing Ones - Patricia Gibney: A piece of Irish detective fiction for the book club this month and not a book I thought I'd finish given what I like to read and the issues I have with popular genre fiction generally. However, the writing in this book was better than I'd expected and the storytelling was quite good and kept me engaged for the most part. The usual tropes were there though not so much that it became tedious, but to be honest the end was a bit of a mess. Overall not a bad book but I'd be in no hurry to read more in the series.

Hermy

For Richer For Poorer - Victoria Coren: I didn't always like Victoria. When I began watching Only Connect I couldn't connect with her barbed humour but thankfully that changed and now I'm an avid fan of the show and her madcap homilies! And though I don't have much interest in poker, or gambling more particularly, this was a very engaging read. Victoria does a brilliant job of bringing the reader with her on her poker journey from murky beginnings to the top table of the EPT, and along the way discussing her hopes and fears, some of which surprised me a little. A good, fun read.

Hermy

I Am, I Am, I Am - Maggie O'Farrell: Similar to Sinéad Gleeson's Constellations, this memoir recounts seventeen of the authors brushes with death. Though not quite on a par with Constellations it was nevertheless a quick read which speaks to the quality of the writing - O'Farrell gets to the point without indulging in sentimentality - and there were several unsettling moments in the book made all the more so by her direct style. A good read.

Hermy

Open, Heaven - Seán Hewitt: This months book club pick is Hewitt's debut novel though he has previously published several poetry collections. This coming-of-age story is told through the reminiscences of the main character as he casts his mind back twenty years to a summer in his mid-teens when he grappled with his new-found sexuality and a friendship he wishes were more than platonic. The opening and closing of the book were beautifully written but I felt the author dragged things out a bit in the middle and lost me for a while. Nonetheless a great first book.

Hermy

A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara: I knew going into this book that it had issues. I've seen it described as trauma porn! But I didn't see it like that at all. Yes, it's a difficult read. There's a lot of pain and suffering to deal with - addiction, abuse, mental health and self-harm (a lot of self-harm!) - but Yanagihara's ability to convey all of it convincingly and consistently over 700 pages, and over several decades in the lives of four main characters and numerous friends and relations is remarkable. I think this is likely to be my book of the year.

Hermy

The Cement Garden - Ian McEwan: A welcome short read after A Little Life, McEwan's first published novel is a strange tale of the disintegration of the lives of four children following the deaths of their parents, but the writing is superb, surprisingly so given McEwan was just getting started.

Hermy

I'm at the halfway stage once again and a bit down on last year with only eighteen books read, not that I'm overly concerned about quantity, just that keeping a reading log makes one aware of these things, but that's no harm as I've read a lot more than I would have otherwise.

I was intent on reading Ulysses this year but I've read the first two chapters and, despite listening to the RTE dramatisation of it endlessly, it's still tough going so I'll probably just dip in and out of it, reading a chapter whenever I can, and I'll get there eventually.

I've no real goals in mind at the moment other than to stop buying books and make inroads with what I already have on the shelf at home so here's hoping!

Hermy

There Are Little Kingdoms - Kevin Barry: Another quick read, Barry's first published work is a quirky short story collection with more than a hint of McCabe's Bog Gothic about it, though he has a great turn of phrase that's all his own.