Wow! What a read!

Archive of My First Blog – 12

Wow! What a read!
April 1, 2009

I am on a bit of an Irish tear. The top of our Netflix queue features a couple of Irish titles that I’ve been meaning to get to for years — The Snapper, The Informer, Man of Aran. And these days my to-read bookshelf is about half Irish writers. A huge part of that is the fact that we spent three weeks in Ireland last May and I’d really like to go back. NOW! Since that’s not going to happen, I take the trip via novels and movies. The economic bust may have slain the Celtic Tiger, but the flowering of Celtic artistry in film, in fiction and in music remains astonishingly prolific and amazingly excellent. Case in point– novelist Joseph O’Connor. You may have heard of his sister, Sinead? If you’re a reader, write his name down along with the title of the book I’ve just finished: Star of the Sea. Wow! This book just knocked me out. When I’m working hard on a writing project, as I am with my Oneida novel, I don’t spend a lot of time reading fiction because I’ve got so much other reading to do. And I don’t stay up late reading in bed because I’ve got so much writing to do the next day. But with this novel, I couldn’t help myself. Dunno how late I stayed up to finish the book — didn’t dare look; dragged ass all day — but I was sorry to be done and wanted to start all over again. The time is November 1847, the height of the Great Famine, the now place is an emigrant ship sailing to New York and the then place is Connemara, the rugged western edge of counties Galway and Mayo where bogs are more brown than green and people died of starvation by the tens and hundreds of thousands. The book presents as a contemporary work by an American journalist and includes quotations and illustrations from 19th century publications as well as emigrant letters and songs. The result is an immensely rich and unforgettable read.