Part of the front cover of ‘Blood and Thunder’ – Rugby and Irish Life: A history, by Liam O’Callaghan.
Published:
Sat 28 Sep 2024, 1:45 PM
This week there’s sport, history, and also sporting history! And there’s fiction too.
Together Standing Tall by John Scally (Gill €29.99) and Blood and Thunder by Liam O’Callaghan (Sandycove €27)
Both of these books about the history of rugby were published on the same day, Scally’s subtitled ‘100 years of Irish Rugby’ and O’Callaghan’s ‘Rugby and Irish Life: A History’. The first is a glossy coffee-table tome, stuffed with stylish photographs, the second has illustrations too, but less so, the narrative being very much the feature. What I know about rugby could be written on the back of a postage stamp, but I know a well-produced book when I see one, and these two books are both beautiful, informative and written with passion. And though I hate to remind you, Christmas is coming! Either (or both) of these books would be the perfect gift for the rugby fan or player in your life.
Out of Sight!, Joe Geraghty, Martello Publishing €17.99
With the Paris Paralympics still fresh in our memories, the appearance of this book couldn’t be better timed. And if you’re feeling sorry for yourself over something, it’s a recommended read because it’s a pure tonic. In the first book of its kind, Joe Geraghty documents the single-mindedness of blind and vision-impaired people in the area of sports and leisure, with plenty of surprises along the way. Ever hear of Braille Chess? I hadn’t. Ever hear of a blind driver? They rip it up regularly at Mondello, using dual-drive cars. These people really don’t recognise boundaries and those who assist them in reaching their seemingly impossible goals are solid gold. There’s plenty of ‘uplit’ fiction out there, but it’s truly heartening to read the ‘uplit’ facts in this book!
The Last Disco, S Murray, C Bohan and N Ryan, Bonnier, €14.99
Most of us who were knocking around in 1981 remember where we were when we heard of the Stardust fire on Valentine’s night. The early morning news reports were bad, but nothing compared with the later reports and the death count steadily rising to, finally, 48 youngsters. And that’s besides the many who were appallingly injured and maimed. That it has taken this long to see any justice for victims and their families is an indictment of our state, too often behaving like the ‘banana republic, septic isle’ that Bob Geldof sang about just months beforehand. This book, written by the creators of the Stardust podcast, concentrates on the victims, their families and their long fight – not just for justice – but for the actual truth. It’s a sobering, compelling, shocking read.
The Politics of Gender and Sexuality in Modern Ireland, edited by J Redmond and M McAuliffe, Four Courts Press, €29.95
This book is a collection of essays by various expert contributors, on how women and LGBTQ+ people have fared historically in the state over the last 200 years. And as you can imagine, it’s been one struggle after another, most of them gathering controversy in their wake. The essays concern themselves with, as the introduction states, ‘examining the conception of bodies as political terrain’. Irish women have certainly been short-changed, most significantly in the decades of the fledgling state when the Constitution shooed us all back into the kitchen, only to be let out to… er… dance at crossroads and be comely. It’s an interesting and sometimes surprising look back and includes explorations of the two most recent referenda, along with the ongoing scandals around the state’s historic treatment of unmarried mothers.
And So I Roar, Abi Daré, Sceptre, €24.65
This novel is a sequel to Dare’s previous novel, The Girl with the Louding Voice, and follows 14-year-old Nigerian girl, Adunni. Adunni has escaped marriage to a much older man, who has two wives already. She is now living with Tia, her rescuer, in Lagos and looking forward to starting boarding school. The night before school starts, Adunni is captured and taken back to her home village, where she faces charges of killing a woman. She didn’t do it. But she has to prove it. The stark difference between rural and urban Nigeria is played out in the story, where women in the small villages don’t stand a chance of freedom or personal autonomy and where female genital mutilation is still commonplace. Endorsed by the likes of Maggie O’Farrell, Elizabeth Day and even Dolly Parton, it’s an important depiction of repression and slavery in a country where women have no rights. It reminded this reader of the late Edna O’Brien’s powerful and shocking novel set in Nigeria, Girl.
There are Rivers in the Sky, Elif Shafak, Viking, €18.99
Everything has fads and trends, including writing. The most recent fad or trend has been the paring back of prose, making it spare and impactful. And when it’s done well, it is not only effective, but sometimes breathtaking. Elif Shafak, a Booker shortlisted and multi award-winning novelist, doesn’t follow fads. Instead, she celebrates language in all of its glory and nuances in this sweeping saga, covering centuries and continents and the element that every species needs more than any other; water.
A single droplet of water binds the major characters in the novel, one that rains, freezes, thaws, condenses, then does it all over again. This droplet bears witness to three characters’ stories. There’s Zaleekhah, who in 2018 has escaped her marriage and lives in a houseboat on the Thames. There’s Arthur, an exceptionally intelligent child born into hopeless poverty in 19th century London, and there’s Narin who, in 2014, lives on the banks of the Tigris in Turkey. It’s a big, ambitious, sweeping epic, covering very recognisable issues like genocide, the plundering of precious artefacts, man’s inhumanity to his fellow man and mass migration, to name but a few. It’s a wonder of a book.
Footnotes
For animation fans, Kilkenny Animated takes place this year on October 4-6, a celebration of the creativity and craft of animation. See kilkennyanimated.com for details.
Ronan Collins, he of RTÉ, is hosting a show with his band The Sugarcubes in the Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, on Sunday November 3, at 8pm. Don’t say you weren’t told! See solsticeartscentre.ie for details and tickets.
Published:
Sat 28 Sep 2024, 1:45 PM
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