One of the great things about going on holiday is discovering new bookstores in unfamiliar locations. I also love exploring the shelves of bookstores in airports. And then it's wonderful to come home and find books that have arrived in the post during your absence. The photograph above shows a mish-mash of titles accumulated via these three routes during my recent trip to Eire.
From the top down:
- P.W. Joyce's Irish Place Names (a hugely helpful and interesting pocket guidebook bought in County Cork -- every time I go to Ireland I'm always stumped by the unusual names of towns and villages and this book explains what they mean. One of my favourites, noted during this trip, was Ballydehob, which means "the ford of the two cabs or mouths, of some local feature". Many others, such as Ross Carbery, Clonakilty and my all-time favourite, Ballycanew, are simply not listed.)
- Martin Wallace's Great Irish Writers (a pocket-sized dictionary of biography, not particularly comprehensive, also bought in County Cork).
- A. Norman Jeffares' Pocket History of Irish Writers: From Swift to Heaney (much better than the one listed above, and bought in County Cork from a different shop!)
- Stephen Davison's Kill & Cure (a preview copy of a debut crime novel set in London and featuring a chiropractor as the central character. This was sent to me courtesy of the publishers, Alice & Fred Books.)
- Richard Yates' The Easter Parade (sent to me by the very kind Jeniwren, who comments here regularly, after I mentioned I was lusting after the complete Vintage collection of Yates' novels -- it's the supercool retro covers I like so much!)
- Emile Zola's Ladies' Delights (a review copy sent to me by the generous people at Oneworld Classics.)
- Tana French's The Likeness (purchased at Dublin Airport on the way home, because I read her debut while on holiday and thought it was terrific.)
- Frank O'Connor's My Oedipus Complex and Other Stories (a magnificent collection of O'Connor's short stories, introduced by Julian Barnes, purchased in a brilliant little independent bookstore in Skibbereen, which had a great section on fiction by Irish writers.)
- Gene Kerrigan's Dark Times in the City (also purchased at Dublin Airport. I read Kerrigan's Little Criminals last December -- sadly, I never reviewed it -- and thought it was brilliant. I then heard a podcast of him being interviewed about this latest book and just knew I had to get my hands on a copy!)
