Yup, it’s a great read alright. Haven’t read the sequel but it’s on the agenda at some stage, think it’s called World Without End and set a couple of hundred years later.
gerry conlon’s book - in the name of the father - any good?
also blanketmen by richie o rawe?
maybe something on the 1913 lockout or james connolly either?
need to get my irish history fix in so recommendations please
Diarmuid Ferriter’s The Transformation Of Ireland: 1900-2000 . Excellent stuff.
Bored so here’s all the books I’ve read since the start of 2009
Who really runs Ireland by Matt Cooper – 3/4 through this, excellent, required reading
Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson – good if you’re into tactics which I found myself becoming less into towards the end and took me ages to finish, it is a good book though
Morbo by Phil Ball – put it down halfway though after the chapter about Barcelona – will come back to it however, quite historical in nature
Irish Apartheid by Sara Burke – about the Irish health service - quite tedious subject matter and don’t really know why I finished it, very tedious towards the end
Ship of Fools by Fintan O’Toole – excellent, recommended
Hand Of God by Jimmy Burns – biography of you know who so I recommend it by definition of its subject matter, good read
The Ginger Man by JP Donleavy – took me a while to finish, writing style is an acquired taste – not as funny as they say
Friday Night Lights by HG Bissinger – cracking book, great insight into small town America and high school football
Hurling the Revolution Years by Denis Walsh – decent but won’t tell many people that much new information
Bad Blood by Jeremy Whittle –decent book about Cycling, drugs, Lance Armstrong and all that
Flat Earth News by Nick Davies – excellent expose into how the media works
The Road by Cormac McCarthy – best read while eating a three year old tin of cold beans you found in the garage – tedious
Forza Italia – reasonable book about Italian football – some good insights into Italian culture
Watching the Door by Kevin Myers – fine page turner and captures the bleakness of the North 1972-1978 – Myers has undeniable cuntish tendencies but he is an excellent writer
Had E60 worth of book tokens lying around last week so picked up the following:
Why England lose – by Stefan Szymanski and Simon Kuper – 65 pages into this, bit too smart for its own good so far
Foul! by Andrew Jennings – about corruption in FIFA – looking forward to reading this
Bad Day in Blackrock by Kevin Power – fiction based on the Anabel’s murder - met this lad a couple of times through friends, and its supposed to be good so thought I might as well get it
The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein – topical given the economic climate – wasn’t overly impressed with her book No Logo when I read it seven or eight years back though, got very boring towards the end
The Great War for Civilisation by Robert Fisk – I’ll get back to you in 10 years when I eventually finish this
Have a few other books lying around that I’m tenuously planning to read at some stage
Unlimited Heartbreak – Henry Martin – might leave this until next summer, not that Limerick will still be involved after the first weekend in July
Follow the Money by David McWilliams - anything about decking in this one?
The Dark Heart of Italy- can’t remember the author – Tobias something or other
Anybody read any of these?
Reading great war for civilisation, where would you like to meet up and discuss in ten years did…
‘The Dark Heart Of Italy’ was very good from I remember of it Sid.
I got through that book very quickly purely because of when I bought it. Pity the Nation on the Lebanese civil war is also pretty good, not as good as civilisation though.
Just finished God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. It was a good read although I found it tough going towards the end. Very witty though and takes religion apart piece by piece. Not as good as The God Delusion but would recommend it nonetheless.
Next on the agenda is Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon. Quite looking forward to it.
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Coming to that time of year where I splash out on a rake of Sports books.
Definitely getting this one by Christy O’Connor-his Last Man Standing was very good.
Anyone read it yet?
http://www.penguin.com.au/Covers/9781844882526.gif
In 1999, the hurlers of St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield won the All-Ireland club championship. That winter, they became only the second club in history to win successive Munster club titles, and the following March they became the only Munster club to reach successive All-Ireland club finals.
Ten years on, St Joseph’s is in a totally different place, well down the pecking order not just nationally, but in County Clare. The senior team is still spearheaded by many members of the 1999 All-Ireland winning team, who are raging at the dying of the light.
At the beginning of the 2009 season, the team, club and parish were deeply wounded by two family tragedies. One of those tragedies – the sudden death of one member of the 1999 team – cut deep into the soul of the senior team. And that was not the last tragedy to strike the club …
As part of the healing process, the senior team made a pact to honour the memory of those lost by defying the odds and becoming county champions once again. A campaign fuelled by emotion and pain began promisingly, but slowly began to unravel into one of the stormiest and controversial in the club’s history.
The story of St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield is unique; but it is also a story that anyone connected with one of the 1,700 other GAA clubs will relate to. From player infighting to player-management stand-offs, team-bonding and on-pitch battles, The Club is a chronicle of the 2009 season told with unflinching honesty by Christy O’Connor, who covers GAA for the Sunday Times and who has been the St Joseph’s senior team goalkeeper for 20 years.
This is a story like no other, a fly-on-the-wall tale of the effort, agony and struggles that define the journey undertaken every season by every club side. This is grass-roots GAA at its purest and rawest, a great story brilliantly told.
I might get it today. Read a review on it in the tribune on Sunday and it sounds good - http://www.tribune.ie/sport/article/2010/nov/07/meet-play-love-an-insiders-guide-to-the-complex-wo/
Anyone read either of those Waterford books? Saw an interview with Shanahan last week and he came across as an alright sort, but I don’t think I’d be bothered reading what he has to say.
I’m looking forward to getting it. I know a few of the players and they are dreading it. Should be fun.
freakeconomics is a good book - parts of it not worth reading but some interesting theories
2010 Irish Book Awards
The Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year: Room by Emma Donoghue.
RTE Radio 1′s The John Murray Show Listeners’ Choice Award: Come What May by Donal Og Cusack.
The Ireland AM Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year: Dark Times in the City by Gene Kerrigan.
The Argosy Irish Non-Fiction Book of the Year: A Coward If I Return, A Hero If I Fall by Neil Richardson.
Eason Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year: The Oh My God Delusion by Ross O’Carroll Kelly.
Energise Sport Irish Sports Book of the Year: A Football Man by John Giles
Irish Newcomer of the Year: JFK in Ireland: Four Days That Changed A President by Ryan Tubridy.
International Education Services Best Irish Published Book of the Year: Good Mood Food by Donal Skehan.
The Dublin Airport Authority Irish Children’s Book of the Year: On the Road with Mavis and Marge by Niamh Sharkey (junior winner); Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil by Derek Landy (senior winner).
Coming to the end of one of the best books I ever read.
Papillon.
Inspirational stuff, i’ll miss it when I finish it.
The Club turned out to be nothing special. I’d say he fell out with a few lads alright, if they are the types to take things from Hurling/Football personally.
Top 100 selling books of all time acc to Guardian stats
Never read the Stieg Larrson books, might give them a rattle in the near future. Currently reading a biog of Robert Downey Junior, he’s lived some life to say the least.
Reading a book at the moment called ‘One Soldier’s War in Chechnya’ by Arkady Babchenko. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like it. The lives of Russian soldiers go way beyond what you might normally think of as misery. There’s a bit near the start where they kill a friendly dog, then cook and eat him as a kind of stew with a tin of tomatoes or something. You think it’s horrible but within a couple of chapters you start to look on it fondly as a rare moment of levity. The accounts of the continuous beatings in the army is unbelievable. The author is beaten nearly to death on several occasions, and it’s a completely acceptable part of life in the military.
Some amazing stuff in it. It honestly makes the boys in Generation Kill look like a bunch of absolute pussies.
Thats because they are absolute pussies.
Dunwoody’s method in my madness is a good read.