Pints going well 
Dark lies the Island or There are Little Kingdoms by Kevin Barry. He’s the gold standard in Ireland imho.
3 Likes
Night Boat to Tangier (not a short story ) is unreal writing talent
4 Likes
Kevin Barry is the king of the short story in Ireland, as mentioned Donal Ryan’s collection is also excellent.
The end of the world is a cup de sac is an excellent collection also as are the two books from Claire Keegan
2 Likes
I have started this.
I would agree with your assessment. Easily read, punchy and grounded in specific events and facts.
1 Like
Dubliners
I didn’t want to post this in the Russia Ukraine war thread as the inevitable would happen. A brilliant article about the war from a clearly very gifted Bulgarian writer, Georgi Gospodinov. Among the best I’ve read about the war.
His book Time Shelters, sounds fascinating and has been long listed for the Booker.
1 Like
I read Clare Keegan’s Foster and Small things like These in the last week. They are extraordinary books.
Small Things like these covered a subject I’ve often wondered about. There was Magdalene Laundries all over the country. There was young girls going into them and not coming back out. People in general seemed to be somewhat aware of what was going on. Yet no one seemed to speak up. Maybe they did speak up and were silenced but there doesn’tseem to be anything much on record. Its just hard to fathom such evil was allowed to go on in every part of the country for so long.
6 Likes
Industrial schools, paedophile priests getting a quiet move of parish, Christian Brothers beating the shit out of small children, really bizarre stuff that was widely known about.
I grew up very near to Bessborough which is now notorious, it was one of the dominant buildings/grounds in the area but it wasn’t really spoken about, but I doubt anybody thought there was real cruelty going on there like we see here n that (extraordinary) book.
Claire Foster is an incredible writer, every sentence is a masterpiece of the art
1 Like
A few years ago I heard an interview with an auld fella from somewhere in the midlands. His family had a shop and a farm. When he was in his late teens his parents died suddenly and he was left managing everything, he was mitred from it and minding his siblings also. One day the local priest arrived out and told him that he had a job down the country for his younger sister. They all thought it was a great opportunity for her and off she went. The cunts locked her in one of laundries and she wasn’t seen again for 20 years. Your man concluded years later that because she was a good looking girl the priest didn’t want her tempting the parishioners.
4 Likes
State sponsored kidnapping. It is incredible this stuff was allowed happen
I thought you were a supporter of the Catholic Church?
I’m a supporter of the religion, the administration is the problem.
Is it like supporting a team but wanting the management sacked?
Ok goys, stop trying to pigeon hole my faith.
1 Like
Didn’t you want the Catholic Church (administration) still involved in education provision in this country?
Bigtime.
Clown.