The Silence Between Breaths le Cath Staincliffe
A train from Manchester to London sees a variety of people gathered in one place. Nick finds it hard to suppress his anger at his young son who can’t seem to stop whining; Jeff is nervous about his first job interview in months and has already talked himself out of any chance at success; catering assistant Naz has big plans for a restaurant of his own, and daydreams about the napkins and cutlery he will choose; Caroline is exhausted by the demands of her spoiled teenager and the constant phone calls from her dementia-ridden mother; and Rhona is torn between wanting to be good at her job but desperate to get home to her small, sick daughter. When one passenger notices that Saheel is looking unaccountably nervous, and won’t take his eyes off his rucksack, she wonders whether she’s being overly sensitive and potentially racist. The tension is brilliantly captured by Staincliffe, and she succeeds in telling both sides of a story that is far from black and white.
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Recipes for a Nervous Breakdown le Sophie White
To be honest, I picked this book up for the recipes (which are gorgeous) but quickly found myself staying for the well-written and engaging memoir that accompanied them. Sophie White has subtitled her book And How to Cook Yourself Sane(ish), and it is a real page-turner, warmly told and beautifully presented. It is both a worthy addition to any cook’s collection, and an eye-opening and brutally honest look at one woman’s breakdown and the fight she had to get her life back on track. White spares no punches. We hear about the pill she took at Electric Picnic, when what started as a bad trip quickly escalated into a life-changing period during which she thought obsessively about suicide. We learn about her father’s early onset Alzheimer’s, which left her wishing at times she could kill him to ease the burden on the family. She is honest to the point of bluntness about her push and pull relationship with her mother, and about her only child status that held her back from fitting in completely. Through it all – the love, the hate, the joy and the misery – there are the recipes. Homemade Rolos, Walnut Whips and Bounty truffles are just some of the sweeter delights that feature, and there are plenty of lovely savoury treats also.
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Alter Egos le Mark Landler
By now the whole world is coming to terms with the fallout from the most divisive American presidential election ever, but this new title from New York Times White House correspondent Landler proved a timely and enjoyable read in the run-up to polling day. Mainly about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and the way their working and personal relationships changed as time went on, it’s also illuminating when it comes to Hillary and ‘those’ emails. At the UN, she said her deleted emails included “personal communications from my husband and me.” Continues Landler: “But Bill Clinton, his spokesman said, had “sent two emails in his life.”” What the book does, above all, is to highlight what a loss Obama will be to the national (and international) political scene. Where Hillary comes across as hawkish and pro-military action, he is demonstrably more tempered and not keen to rush into war (He summed up his foreign policy in one succinct phrase: “Don’t do stupid sh*t”). She has a mutual hate-hate relationship with most of the press, he has managed to keep things on a more even keel. Onward and, hopefully, upward.
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Fates and Furies le Lauren Groff
Married in haste at 22, and each with secrets that could make or break any relationship, Lotto and Mathilde nevertheless endure for far longer than their many detractors would have anticipated. He never quite got over losing his father suddenly, and she had a fairly horrendous start in life, but despite these handicaps, there is much that works with their marriage. Groff’s use of language is a thing of beauty in its own right, and the novel sweeps majestically through the next couple of decades, through death, disturbance, distractions and delight. An actor who never quite made it, Lotto instead turns his hand to writing, and he turns out to be rather good at it. Mathilde makes him want to be better, and behind the scenes she ‘handles’ events or distractions that may turn out to be problematic for him. There are quite a few surprises in the book, but if you like engrossing tales, interesting characters and descriptive prose, then you could do a lot worse than dive into this modern tale.
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Sonraí
Darina Molloy, Lárleabharlann Chaisleán an Bharraigh, Bóthar Sheáin Uí Mhóra, Caisleán an Bharraigh, Co. Mhaigh Eo. Rphost: dmolloy@mayococo.ie Teil: +353 (0)94 9047953
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