‘Giovanni’s Room’ by James Baldwin

I am ashamed to admit that this was the first James Baldwin book I read, but delighted that it won't be my last. Giovanni's Room is one of the classic works of queer literature, a story of an American in Paris who falls in love with an Italian man and the tragedy that haunts the …

‘Why Marx Was Right’ by Terry Eagleton

This is a book that immediately inspires strong opinions, by those who have read it and by those who have not and wouldn't be caught dead holding it. Any book with Marx standing proudly in the front with a big old flag is going to do that. However the book that lies underneath all of …

‘The City and the Pillar’ by Gore Vidal

TW: Sexual Assault The City and the Pillar by Gore Vidal is a novel with a complicated history filled with controversy and change. There are two version of the novel, I read the second version in which the end of the novel was altered (not for the better, in my opinion). On the surface it …

In Appreciation of Patrick Kavanagh

So once again I am back with a general appreciation post (not my fault they were born so close together). Today I am celebrating the Irish poet and novelist Patrick Kavanagh, the Monaghan born writer famously caught between two worlds, that of the urban in Dublin and his rural background in Monaghan. Patrick Kavanagh was …

In Appreciation of Oscar Wilde

Today the 16th of October is Oscar Wilde's birthday. On this day 166 years ago Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland. A short 46 years later on the 30th November 1900 he would die in Paris having become one of the most popular and controversial writers in Europe. In the time …

‘Galápagos’ by Kurt Vonnegut

Galápagos like many of Vonnegut's novels manages both to be endlessly humourous and thoughtful at the same time. This novel was sent to me by a friend (a big fan of Vonnegut) and as soon as I started finally reading it, having been sitting by my bed for weeks, I was instantly reminded why Kurt …

‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’ by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge is a book that could not have emerged at a more perfect time. It is not often non-fiction that isn't biography or somehow world war II manages to make its way to the front windows of bookshops but while Eddo-Lodge's book specifically …

‘The Green Fool’ by Patrick Kavanagh

Once again I return to Irish writing in the middle of the twentieth century with Patrick Kavanagh's first novel The Green Fool. Now it is no secret that I am a fan of Kavanagh's poetry but having read both of his novels I think it's safe to say I am now also a fan of …

‘The Story of Art’ by E.H. Gombrich

So when lockdown came a number of things happened to me personally, the first is that I had a bit more time than usual and the second is I really wanted a distraction. I had been insanely busy this year up until this point with work and my M.A. and all of that going on, …

‘The Spinning Heart’ by Donal Ryan

My thoughts on 'The Spinning Heart' by Donal Ryan