Art Kavanagh

The latest post from Talk about books is about two novels by Irish women writers each of which features an intense friendships between a straight young woman and a slightly older gay man: Caroline O’Donoghue, The Rachel Incident, and Belinda McKeon, Tender 📖

Two novels by Irish women writers, published in the last 10 years but each set 13 to 18 years earlier, feature intense friendships between a straight young woman — a college student or recent graduate — and a slightly older gay man.

Trump is good at distraction. His first term was all about the Supreme Court but many people ignored that. This time, it’s all about dismantling much of the Federal government and taking firm control of what’s left. Don’t be distracted by Greenland or Gaza. Concentrate on stopping Musk and DOGE.

There’s a lovely and (to me) informative post by Richard Williams about Laura Nyro on his The Blue Moment blog. I bought a vinyl copy of Gonna Take a Miracle at a vide-grenier maybe 15 years ago but I’ve never had a turntable to play it on 🎶

The current post from Talk about books is about Wendy Erskine’s first collection of short stories, Sweet Home (2018). It’s a couple of days late because my phone/internet connection went missing on Saturday afternoon, presumably because of the storm.

Wendy Erskine, whose first novel will be appearing soon, is perhaps the most remarkable short story writer working in or to have emerged from Northern Ireland. In this post, I take a look at her first collection, Sweet Home.

Trump’s first 100 days … Has it been 100 days already? It feels like barely six weeks 🤷🏻‍♂️

The Verge headline reading “Trump’s first 100 days: all the news impacting the tech industry”

At last Emma Healey has a new novel coming out, her third. We can’t begrudge her the longish gap: she had a baby in 2017, leading to “an exercise and fasting regime … [which] became obsessive and damaging”. I was afraid she might have given up writing; so glad she hasn’t 📚

Irish schools have been told that a psychologist’s report alone isn’t enough to justify an exemption from mandatory study of Irish. I can’t believe Irish is still mandatory. In the 1970s and 80s there seemed to be wide agreement that the language should be optional.

The use of the word “cringe” as a noun makes me … um … wince.

There’s a superb piece in The Nation by Ethan Iverson about what happened in jazz between the deaths of John Coltrane in 1967 and Lee Morgan in 1972, much of it in Slugs’, East Third Street, NY, and very little of it recorded: Jazz off the record. Featuring McCoy Tyner et al 🎶

I got Alboran Trio’s third album, Islands (2020) in the post today from Italy. I wanted the cd rather than a download and Italy was the only place I could get it (possibly apart from Amazon: I didn’t look). It took 4 weeks to get here but at least it did in the end 🎶 🎹

For the first Talk about books post of 2025, I’ve been sent back yet again to the second of Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie books by a remarkable LRB essay by Sophie Smith about the Pelicot trial. Sexual violence in Atkinson’s One Good Turn 📖

An essay in the LRB about the Pelicot rape trial unexpectedly sent me back to the second book (of six) in Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie series.

The last Talk about books of 2024 is about Tana French’s seventh novel (and first standalone), The Wych Elm, the story of a man in his late 20s who has always considered himself lucky, till a vicious assault partly changes his mind 📖

Tana French’s seventh novel is her first standalone: the first-person narrative of a young man who always considered himself lucky, till a vicious attack partly changed his mind.

I found two Virago paperbacks, Jamaica Inn and Frenchman’s Creek respectively, in the Castlebar Oxfam shop yesterday, at €2 each. I’ve been meaning to read more du Maurier so this is opportune.

Front covers of Virago paperback editions of Daphne du Maurier’s Frenchman’s Creek and Jamaica Inn

I’ve been expecting this for almost a decade: Martial Solal has died aged 97. He was never one of my favourite jazz pianists but an extraordinary improviser. He didn’t rehearse but practiced exercises incessantly. I saw him live twice: once solo, once with the Moutin twins 🎹 🎶

I noticed only recently that Alboran Trio released their 3rd album in 2020. Their first two are from ACT in 2006 and 2008. I’ve ordered Islands from an Italian site at €23 (inc €8 postage). Could have got it from iTunes store for €9 but I’ve gone back to buying CDs where available 🎶 🎹

The latest post from Talk about books is about Paul Auster’s 1989 novel, Moon Palace. Children (and parents) of coincidence: Paul Auster, Moon Palace 📖

Like Auster’s immediately succeeding novel, Moon Palace (1989) is about chance, contingency and possible coincidences. But its interest for me is quite different: it’s a novel that has absent or missing fathers at its heart.

Is John Updike’s Rabbit, Run (1960) having a bit of a moment on Substack? Two posts in the last 3 days, by Sarah Ditum and Adam Roberts, discuss the novel, and Cecily Carver mentioned it back in October. Perhaps Updike is coming back into style 📚

I wanted to see the new Brad Mehldau trio in Nancy in October but didn’t get my act together. And now that very concert has turned up on RTE’s website! Rossy’s drumming lends itself to a more contemplative style. Some Mehldau compositions I hadn’t heard before and a return to earlier repertoire 🎶🎹