A busy month of reading, the year began with two novels which, by coincidence, were set either entirely or partly in Wisconsin. The first was AMERICAN WIFE by Curtis Sittenfeld, a hugely entertaining novel based on the life of Laura Bush. Divided into 4 parts that examine different periods of her life – or rather, the life of Alice Blackwell, her fictional alter-ego – it’s a terrific read that offers an intriguing glimpse into the life of the outgoing first couple. Certainly George W Bush/Charlie Blackwell is portrayed as a vulgar, not particularly bright layabout who stumbles across drink, “religion” and the White House in that order, but he’s also rarely less than kind-hearted in the story, a phrase I never would have attributed to the former president himself. But the novel also leaves one questioning Alice/Laura’s complicity in her husband’s amoral and criminal administration. The suggestion is that he’s a fool, but that she should have known better and was in the unique position to steer him away from his malevolent impulses. The good news is that Ms Sittenfeld has written a great book; the better news is that as of a week or two ago the Bushes and their cronies are gone forever.
This was followed by THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE by David Wroblewski. A long novel about a dog-rearing family in 1970s Wisconsin, it’s a book that thinks very highly of itself but is deeply flawed. Wroblewski uses the plot of Hamlet to tell the story but to far less effect than, for example, Jane Smiley used King Lear in A Thousand Acres. (The scene that reflects the ‘play within a play’, for example, is excruciating.) At times he seems to be chanelling Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain, but without that book’s lyrical beauty. There are certainly interesting parts to the book – all the sections that deal with Edgar’s relationship with his dogs are fascinating – but there’s something very calculated about the rest of it, as if the author has decided that this is how to write a big American novel and readers will simply believe that it is one.
Dogs – a pair of them – are central to Ian McEwan’s BLACK DOGS, which I first read in 1993 but returned to this month. Experimental in its use of time periods and elegant in language, it’s a mesmerising novel which climaxes in a terrifying manner. Questions of discord between love, faith and politics are central to the story. It contains one of the finest closing sentences I’ve ever read. I followed this with MISS GARNET’S ANGEL by Salley Vickers, a moving and thoughtful novel about an ageing spinster who, having suffered the loss of her companion, decides to spend six months in Venice. It put me in mind of some of those great EM Forster novels and was a fine read.
It would be hard to find a more extreme contrast to this novel than what I read next, PIERCING by Japanese author Ryu Murakami. A horror/thriller set over one dark night in Tokyo, the novel tells the story of a young man who decides to commit a horrific act of violence, although it does not go quite according to his plan. It’s not for the squeamish but I must admit I quite enjoyed the shifting perspectives and the cool language that Murakami employs. So much, in fact, that I read two other Ryu Murakami novels later in the month: firstly, IN THE MISO SOUP, another descent into a chaotic Tokyo evening, this time between a young Japanese tour operator and an American tourist. Shocking, compulsive and vibrant, the horrors of the novel are offset by the depiction of the city as a devastatingly lonely place, despite the energy that surrounds the characters on the streets and in the bars they visit. And then his most recent work, AUDITION, a much more mature and reflective novel than the earlier two, although it descends into grotesque violence towards the end too. Still, an interesting author who manages to combine a bleak view of humanity with startling, vibrant images and a fast-paced narrative style that makes the books terrific to read.
Next was OUT STEALING HORSES by Norwegian writer Per Petterson, a languid story of a long gone summer, recollected by an elderly man. Although this is a short book, it takes careful reading to appreciate the beauty of the prose and to fully understand the stories happening behind the text. A very rewarding read.
I first came across Arthur Bradford’s fiction in an issue of McSweeney’s and, liking his story very much, I ordered his book of short stories, DOGWALKER. It’s a strange, surreal collection, mostly centred around the relationships between humans and dogs, and although they are at times funny, and certainly inventive, it’s hard to shake the feeling that they’re really quite meaningless and ultimately rather superficial. Unlike the extraordinary stories in Jay McInerney’s THE LAST BACHELOR, a collection filled with troubled relationships, cheating wives and husbands, and the kind of credible storytelling that defines his novels. Best of all is ‘The March’, which signals the return of two characters from ‘Brightness Falls’ and ‘The Good Life’ (suggesting that there is another novel in them yet) and ‘Summary Judgement’, a biting satire about a calculating woman.
I reviewed Gil Adamson’s debut novel THE OUTLANDER on RTE’s The View. It’s a beautifully written story set in 1903, concerning a young woman who has murdered her husband and is fleeing her brothers-in-law’s retribution. Along the way she meets a cast of eclectic characters. Adamson writes with a keen ear for nature and the awkwardness that can exist between men and women. Although it ends on a slight deus-ex-machine contrivance, it’s an excellent debut and should be widely read. As should Alain Claude Sulzer’s A PERFECT WAITER, a tragic love story that is as moving as it is insightful. A middle-aged waiter, Erneste, receives a letter from a former lover, a lover whose brief affair with him blighted his life, and a chain of recollections and unexpected discoveries are set in flow. I love books like this that can be read in one sitting and the reader can become completely lost in the world and the emotions of the story. Sulzer has written several novels but this is the first to be translated into English; I hope that more follow.
Diana Athill’s SOMEWHERE TOWARDS THE END was the deserved winner of a Costa award. A reflection on old age and the various people she has known who have approached that time of life in different ways, it’s the work of a gifted writer who clearly loves writing. It’s wickedly funny at times and utterly honest.
I also read a debut novel by an Irish writer, Peter Murphy, JOHN THE REVELATOR. An atmospheric tale of a young boy growing up in a small village whose life is altered by his friendship with a very free-spirited boy who he meets. It’s an interesting debut, filled with humour and energy, and a certain sense of mystery. Best of all is the old crone, Mrs Nagle, who takes up residence in John’s house whenever she sees an opportunity. Their face-offs are very funny and original.
And finally, the last book in a busy month of reading was THE 19TH WIFE by David Ebershoff. An ambitious novel, split between the life of one of Brigham Young’s polygamous wives in the 18th century and a young man trying to free his Latter Day Saint mother from a murder charge in today’s world, it’s fast paced and energetic, and details the lives of women all married to one man carefully. I felt the sections set in the past worked a little better than the ones set today but was impressed by Ebershoff’s use of an unexpected narrator to the contemporary scenes.
I arrived in Amsterdam yesterday, partly for work, partly for a holiday. Three of my books are published in Dutch by 
opportunity to meet some of the Dutch readers of my books.
I was a guest last night on THE VIEW, RTE’s arts review show, where the subjects up for discussion were three new movies, MILK, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD and VALKYRIE, and the debut novel THE OUTLANDER by Canadian writer Gil Adamson.
I was on hand in my old workplace, Waterstone’s in Dublin – where I worked between 1996 and 2003 – to help launch the publication of a new play, THE BOYS FROM SIAM by John Austin Connolly.
nner Edward Albee and is an extraordinary telling of the story of two conjoined twins, based on the lives of Chang and Eng Bunker, the original so-called Siamese twins. There was a huge turnout to hear John read two monologues from the play. It’s available to buy from 
I was a guest this morning on RTE Radio 1’s Marian Finucane show, alongside novelist Dermot Bolger, where we both gave recommendations on recent books that we had enjoyed.
Disastrous news recently that the Arts Council in Ireland have decided to scrap all funding for the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin. Literature is a major part of Ireland’s social and cultural history. The Irish Writers’ Centre was a space that writers could call their own. It is the only centre in Dublin devoted to literature that can provide an in-house space for readings, literary events, festivals, creative writing courses, developmental works and was the home to a number of writers groups and National organisations such as the Irish Writers’ Union and the Irish Translators and Interpreters Association. With the termination of funding access to these resources will be lost, leaving the next generation of Irish authors in a vacuum and having to look elsewhere for guidance and development. 
The programme for this year’s 
Hot on the heels of the news that THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS is longlisted for 8 British Academy
Awards comes the news that it has also been shortlisted for Best International Film at the Irish Film Awards – where it’s up against Man On Wire, Wall-E, and In Bruges – and also the Spanish Film Awards (the Goyas), where the competition is 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, The Dark Knight, and The Edge of Heaven.
The BAFTA longlists were announced yesterday and THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS has been longlisted for 8 awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, Best Make-Up, Best Editing, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. The shortlists will be announced in a week or so.