Books, Old and New!

Some day I'll compile a complete list of all the vague Black Books references contained on this site. The number will probably resemble a mobile telephone number.

Anyways, having been tagged by surfing queen Aunty Helpful Dictator, Here is a rundown on some of the most important books in my life.

One Book That Changed Your Life.

The Dalkey Archive by Flann O'Brien. The beginning of two things; my lifelong obsession with Dublin and its peculiarities, and my desire to write. Neither have abated with age. Not the great man's best book by any stretch of the imagination - Karl and I will be very, very old and grey before we reach agreement on that question - but unquestionably my favourite. In many ways it made me who I am today. And it's very very funny.

One Book You've Read More than Once

On the Road by Jack Kerouac. The bible of the hobo soul. The older you get the more you long to be the sixteen year old that read it and that made a solemn promise to himself never to settle down. Ah, the folly of youth! Personally I'm not the best at re-reading books, but I do think it's a good idea.

One Book That You Would Want On A Desert Island

Ulysses. Never, ever will I tire of the challenges that it throws at us. If I could bring two, probably Crime and Punishment or Lost Illusions, the latter being a very similar book to the former except without much redemption for the protagonist. Great book though.

One Book That Made Me Laugh

The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien. Raw comedy smothered in darkness. Some parts are so funny it's just plain wrong. It kind of bugs me that Lost is linked in many people's head with this book. For me, the comparison is like comparing the streets of Haussmann's Paris with the dogshit that can be found on it's pedestrian walkways

One Book That Made Me Cry

No book has ever made me cry. Many books have made my stomach churn - Maribou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welch, Poor Souls by Joseph Connolly, Exodus by Leon Uris, while Lost Illusions made me collapse in a melancholy heap of despair. But no tears. I did cry as a child while watching Boxer being taken off to the knackers yard in the animated version of Animal Farm. Does that count?

One Book You Stayed Up All Night To Finish

The Barracks by John McGahern. When people think of existential Irish writers, Beckett always gets the nod. But McGaherns early work is rich in the tradition, questioning the subjectivity of human experience and churning at the mediocrity and sadness of it all. Great Book.

One Book That Took You Too Long To Read

Anything by Hemingway. Always worth it but always takes forever.

One Book You Are Currently Reading

Candide by Voltaire. The opening passage must have inspired the Four Yorkshiremen in Monty Python Such a catalogue of disasters!

I tag Shane. Every other blogger I know has already been tagged.