So, I'm back from my little sojourn to Ireland, where I planned to spend as much time as possible with my nose in a book. But I didn't read as much as I originally envisaged, because I had far too many distractions: Guinness-filled pubs, perfect weather (well, for at least three-and-a-bit days) and stunning scenery such as the view from the little house we rented (that's the view from the balcony and out of every window pictured above).
Typically, I took a bunch of books in my suitcase and then turned up to find quite an okay selection of books in the cottage's library.
I was delighted to see Sebastian Barry's Secret Scripture as it had only occurred to me on the flight over that I really should have packed it in my suitcase! I read that one first, curled up on the sofa overlooking Glandore Harbour, while drinking copious amounts of coffee and nibbling on cake (there was a great bakery in nearby Skibbereen).
Over the course of the next week, in between trips to the pub and trips to outlying towns and a lovely, but very long, diversion to the Ring of Beara, I read Jennifer Johnston's The Gates (which I subsequently donated to the library), Tana French's deliciously brilliant police procedural In the Woods and Molly Keane's wickedly funny Time After Time. (Can you guess a common theme here? Nothing like reading Irish books while holed up in deepest, darkest Ireland, in my humble opinion!)
I also made good headway through Peter Somerville-Large's The Coast of West Cork, a somewhat dated historical guide to the area (it was written in 1972 -- and you could tell), which I'll no doubt finish at some point, if only to discover places we should have visited while we were there!
I'll post reviews of each of these books over the next few weeks, although progress may be slightly slow, as we are currently mid-way through a kitchen and living room refurbishment, which means we are decamped in one very crowded bedroom, living on pre-packaged sandwiches and trying to stay away from home as much as possible to avoid the dust and general chaos. Yes, we never do things by halves!
I hope everyone's enjoying a good book or two right now. I'd love to hear your latest recommendations...
