What Bibliomaniacs read July 30 2015

I have never fitted into the norm. Friends and family can vouch for this.

I have tried and failed.

Again and again.
And so I find myself in an unusual position of a book collector who not only gazes with love at my tomes but also loves to read.

I love books.
I love their feel.
Their smell.
The crinkle of the pages.
But more than that I have to admit I love the words that they contain.

And so I read.
And read.
And read some more.

And I get caught up in the worlds described and like the gently mad addict that I am I have to have more and more.

And so it happened that I read the wonderful inimitable Colm Toibin's "Norah Webster."
And I fell in love with the Irish.
I dreamed of whiskey and Guinness and rain and thought my thoughts in an Irish brogue.

I had to read more and more.
I am in my Irish phase.
I have just finished reading the wonderful, remarkable, strong, yet oh so gentle John Boyne's 'The Absolutist'.

I am rereading Ann Enright and may just have to read 'The Snapper' and 'The Commitments' again.

I think about the troubles and remember my time in Belfast in the late 70's and wish I had known the likes of these authors then.
Somehow I think my visit would been richer and far more memorable.

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