I can’t recall him writing anything from a baby’s perspective
Kala is a grand book but just lost its way for me
Pretty sure he wrote a piece in The Spinning Heart from a baby’s perspective - I thought that was a bit daft.
Don’t get me wrong I like Ryan but I don’t think he’s done anything better than Kala personally.
You might be right but I’ve read that book a couple of times and I don’t remember that, if he did I’d say he did a great job.
Anyway it’s all about opinions, for me Colin Walsh isn’t nearly in the same league as Donal Ryan, but he’s grand and he’s written a decent book, I just got a bit fed up of it.
Which of his books was your favourite?
I’m away to Spain for 10 days in a few weeks so will be lining up a couple of titles to get through. Looks like Kala will be one of them. I’ve read From A Low And Quiet Sea and enjoyed it, fwiw.
Agree the first half of Kala is better than the second half. Donal Ryan is a brilliant writer. His ear for language is tremendous. He always comes across as an alright sort too. I think all his books are good but the first two, a spinning heart and the thing about December are his best.
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I’d read the Donal Ryan books in order, not that it makes any difference but you can track his progression as a writer.
For holidays I’d go with the short story collection ‘a slanting of the sun’, every story is a near masterpiece
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This Queen of Dirt Island is brilliant
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I don’t know - I thought Kala was a great book the whole way through. I suspected the villain early on which isn’t like me. I’m usually hopeless at that kind of thing.
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Would highly recommend “ apeirogon” by Colum McCann
It’s a great name for a book too
We’ve been in the local library here for years. It’s great, there’s a pile of really expensive landscaping books I’ve read. We also get access to an app called Libby (not sure if this is an Australian thing) which gives us access to every magazine under the sun, so I get to read Gardens Illustrated and the New Statesman etc etc for free.
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Libby is free with the Irish libraries as well. So is Pressreader. Don’t know why I didn’t join years ago.
Good stuff. Libraries are brilliant.
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Pretty much the same here.
They have audio books n all boi.
I’ve never listened to an audiobook
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I don’t see the point.
It’s meant to be read as a physical book.
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It’s a story 
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Get “mudlarking” on audiobook if you can.
Put it into Audible search there and it said it was “unavailable in your region”
Haven’t seen that before