#DutchDictionary Van Dale 150 yr edition

1. Wonderful present…just for me!
2. 150 years after the first edition …today I celebrated and bought
3. the Van Dale Dutch dictionary  published….22 March 2022.
4. This is the only the 16e edition….in the 150 year history.
5. This three-part dictionary is a ‘mirror of society.
6. It shows how our changing society affects our language.
7. ….so thrilled to have these books.
8. I bought a set when I came to NL decades ago… to learn the language!
9. Now, I’m fluent in Dutch and want to learn all the …news words.

1. New goal:  Yes, I’m going to read this set… (it will take me months!)
2. #ReadingCoverToCover
3. Samuel Johnson…known as the father of the modern dictionary
4. ..would be so proud of me!

#ReadingIrelandMonth22 Humours of Bandon

MARCH

by Margaret McAuliffe (no photo)

Finish date: 19 March 2022
Genre: Play
Rating: D-
Review: The Humours of Bandon (ISBN: ‎ 978-1350041486)

Bad news: I had to think of a way to read this ‘mini’ play. No Acts – No Scenes…a one woman show…a production that lasts just 55 minutes. With the help with a few stage directions when Annie addresses audience during the play I create a structure in the play to help my reading. Two locations: Tallaght Basketball Arena (for competition) – next day in school.

Good news: Title: “The Humours of Bandon” is a well-known Irish jig performed to a tune of the same name. On the eve of the Irish Open championship, we meet Annie, 16 yr old Dubliner, as she takes us through the various successes and disappointments of her Irish Dancing life.

Good news  Message: It examines the importance of coming first and why it matters...

Personal: I expected more…the writing itself is repetitive, verbose, and reminded me of string of soundbites overheard at a dance competition. I wanted to laugh but couldn’t manage  even a chuckle. I’m sure this type of one woman show is best seen on stage. It is described as a play…but it doesn’t even come close.

#ReadingIrelandMonth22 Sebastian Barry

MARCH

by Sebastian Barry

Finish date:  16 March 2022
Genre: Play
Rating: A+++++++
Review: On Blueberry Hill (ISBN: 978-0571342921)

Good news: Type of play:  two-hander…with only two main characters.  This is such an easy read compared to a large cast of characters (Shakespeare…for instance!) PJ and Christy are a display of opposites. “…Now we’ve lived together in contentment, more or less, for nigh on twenty year. Like turtle doves. – In prison, I mean, for f**k’s sake, the chances of that.”

Good news: Conflict: There is a clear use of conflict that the audience/reader feels between offstage and on-stage. PJ and Christy reflect on what life is like on the outside of prison (hope, torment). The play evokes a feeling of emotion because…we are all imprisoned in some way in our lives.

Good news: Title: What has Sebastian Barry hidden in the title of the play…On Blueberry Hill. It immediately reminds on of the best selling 1956 song by Fats Domino! This is what I like about plays…the riddles/surprises that you can discover. No spoilers….if you want to know the answer…read the play!

Good news: Humor: Leave it to the Irish to give us a good laugh at the beginning! The first section “PJ” starts with a quote in Gaelic from bible out of chapter Eoin 1 = John 1: “In the beginning was the word… ( Ann so tosach do bhí an briathar…”) What is the link between the bible and the play? Well, I had to laugh…it was a set-up for showing how much fun it was to use the Gaelic word FOCAIL (= word) instead of BRIATHAR ( = word). The former was more FUN…to say! Yes, it sounds like….F**K

Good news: Tension: The two cellmates….address only the audience and never each other! Oh, this is very clever…and comical. The two characters in question often display differences because they are the…BEST of friends and the WORST of enemies.

Personal Goosebumps…when I fished the play. Oh, if you can find this story by Sebastian Barry in the library or better yet buy the Kindle version…please take the time to read this unforgettable play! Mr Barry is one of the best writers in Ireland…and he does not disappoint!
Fats Domino: “I found my freedom, on Blueberry Hill, on Blueberry Hill ….when I found you!”
#Bravo!

Cover…Love it!

#ReadingIrelandMonth22 Oscar Wilde

Charles Laughton and Margaret O’ Brian (1944)

MARCH

by Oscar Wilde

Finish date: 14 March 2022
Genre: Satire
Rating: A
Review: The Canterville Ghost (ISBN: ‎ 979-8525073715)

Good news: This is a perfect story to read for a bingo card…”space for a satire”. Oscar Wilde pokes fun at Americans with their practicality and common sense and pokes fun at the British with their feeling of aristocratic superiority!

Good news: Irony: The most ironic comical part of the story is that the ghost is more afraid of the family than they are of him! What good is a ghost who cannot scare people?

Good news: Wilde’s gothic setting of an OLD WORLD English castle, Canterville Chase, a traditional haunted castle VS the NEW WORLD residents, Americans…..who scoff at the thought of ghosts! The Americans…. counter the ghost’s chains with lubricant, his bloodstains with Pinkerton’s detergent, and his ghostly laugh with cough syrup. Hilarious!

Personal: This story is well-known but I never got around to reading it. It’s fairy-tale quality assures us of a happy ending. I saw the 1944 film version with Charles Laughton and try to imagine his portrayal of the ghost as a great actor with theatrical panache and flair. When you think of it….Sir Simon (ghost) reminds me of Oscar Wilde himself…larger than life! This was a delightful read!

#ReadingIrelandMonth22 Frank O’Connor

MARCH

by Frank O’Connor

Finish date: 12 March 2022
Genre: 6 essays
Rating: D-
Review: The Best of Frank O’Connor (ISBN: 9780307269041)

Bad news: Very disappointed with the 6 essays I selected in this book. I’m even having a hard time writing a review about it! If these writings are considered ‘O’Connor’s best’…then I have been deceived.

Bad news: I keep kicking myself for not having read some short stories in this book instead of the essays. O’Connor is called the Irish Chekhov…so he must be doing something right!

Good news: I did discover one of O’Connor’s books that I ordered from UK. It was $$ but is what I’m looking for. Hopefully I will learn more in his lectures given at Trinity University Dublin than what I read in this book: A Short History of Irish literature: A backward look (1968)

Personal: In hindsight these essays were a waste of time. They lacked depth and I felt that the essays were “…phoned in!” I will at least include my notes. IMO…skip the essays in this book and go right to the short stories…as I should have done!

Introduction to a Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man:
According to O’Connor  Joyce’s book is compulsory reading for every young man and woman. I wanted to know why? Didn’t really get an answer from this essay. I had no idea that Joyce uses Aristotle’s On the Soul as one the books he consulted while writing his book.

James Joyce: A Post-Mortem:
Such a great first sentence…the best hook: ”I think I almost said ‘Thank God’ when Joyce died.” Frank O’Connor examinations and dissects segments of Ulysses ( worth reading) and Finnegan’s Wake (…a colossal failure.) (pg 192)

My Father’s Son – George Russel and W.B. Yeats:
Portraits of G. Russel (editor of the Irish Statesman) and W.B. Yeats, Irish romantic poet 20th C . The essay read like a New Yorker Magazine profile…a little reporting, commentary, and analysis…but not much.

Silgo and Yeats:
This selection was taken from O’Connor’s traveling writings. It is just a few anecdotes of the friendship between O’Connor and Yeats…nothing impressive. Mentioned is Yeats’s self-penned epitaph: “Cast a cold eye on life, on death, horseman, pass by.”

Centenary Address at the Graveside of W.B. Yeats:
This address was written on the 100th birthday of W.B. Yeats. O’ Connor’s task is to say a few things Yeats would have liked him to say about his son, his wife and the greatest weakness of the Irish.

The Tailor and Anstey
The Tailor and Ansty is a 1942 book by Eric Cross about the life of the Irish tailor and storyteller, Timothy Buckley, and his wife Anastasia. The book was banned. O’Connor writes a scathing essay on the effects of this ban that proved…years later to have been unjustified.

#ReadingIrelandMonth22 Patrick Kavanagh

MARCH

by Antoinette Quinn (no photo)

Finish date: 08 March 2022
Genre: Biography
Rating: B
Review: Patrick Kavanagh: biography (ISBN: 978-0717136438)

Bad news: If you really want to enjoy this book…you’ll have to invest in a 2e book The Collected Poems of Patrick Kavanagh . There are so many reference to Kavanagh’s poetry you will have read both books simultaneously.

Bad news: Life is hard and Kavanaugh was 50 yr. old and a middle-aged pauper. He was constantly searching for a a handout, a good meal regular paying job, couch surfing by friends. This was described in detail. It made the book excessively long. IMO it could have been reduced to a few facts.

Bad news: A complete chapter (14) about Kavanagh’s film commentary for his column in The Standard…was that necessary…really?

Good news: First chapters are a good description of life in Ireland 1910s the usual barbaric life of the Irish country poor. “Yet in his heart he knew …despite the lack of outward affection, the beatings and the daily tirades of complaint…he was caught in a net of love…” (pg 51). The last 5 chapters were impressive. I was exhausted after reading this extremely well researched biography. Ms. Quinn is THE Patrick Kavanagh specialist!

Good news: We read how Kavanagh uses fiction: pastoral (smooth Georgian poetry) —> Dirty realism —> social criticism —> self-liberation writing his masterpiece The Great Hunger (1942). The strongest point of this book is the analysis of his poems.

Good news: Ch 10: Excellent explanation of the poem The Great Hunger . Kavanagh belonged to serf class and adopted the role of peasant spokesman. The Great Hunger is his anti-establishment masterpiece. I’d would never have grasped the metaphors, narration or the revelation what really destroyed Ireland’s rural life.

Always look for irony:

In 1955 Kavanagh underwent surgery to remove cancerous lung. The two months Kavanagh spent in the Railto Hospital “…as among the happiest of his life.” (pg 489). He was feeling safe and secure, protected from unpaid bills.

Kavanagh plagued by debts all his life ended up in his last years marrying a bookkeeper!

Personal: If I was asked to describe Kavanagh in 3 words: talented, tormented, ingrate. He was not an easy person to get along with! I’m impressed how diligently Kavanagh studied the great poets. Just reading all the time and he acquired a complete knowledge of English/Irish poetry….as if he had attended an Irish university. New Rule: Try to read the biography of the great poets before I read their poems. Knowing what the man has been through….makes all the difference how you read his poems. Kavanagh could lob a barrage of insults tempered by occasional compliments. Where did that anger come from?…read the biography.

Book recommendation: James Wright: A life in Poetry American poet 1927-1980. This book was unforgettable!. Perhaps you’ve never heard of JW…it is really worth your reading time!
by Jonathan Blunk (no photo)

#Poetry Ciaran Carson

Hare Bowl, Jeffrey Morgan (2002)

MARCH

by Ciaran Carson

Finish date:   05  March 2022
Genre: Poetry
Rating: A+++++
Review: Still Life (ISBN: 978-1930630918)

Personal introduction:  These poems moved me, surprised me, delighted me. After Ciaran Carson (1948-2019) had been told his lung cancer was terminal…he wrote his last book. Still Life  is a set of 17 meditations on paintings. The publisher delivered the finished book to his family just after Ciaran died (1948 – 2019). When I learned about Carson’s personal circumstances I wondered with all the themes and things to write about….. what does a dying man choose to be in his last book? What did Carson want to share with us?

Good news: For people who don’t read poetry…you can read these poems as if they were emails (letters) sent to you. There is more rhythm and pattern than rhyme.

Good news: This poetry collection was just a delight to read. The book felt like a visit to a museum with a good friend. You know, just meandering along the paintings and exchanging your thoughts or memories to a welcoming ear. The freedom to share just any observation from the shadows of yellow daffodils, the jiggles or jabs of a brushstroke (Monet)….to a coagulating egg white in the kitchen of a bodega. (Velazquez)

Bad news: Carson includes 3 poems on paintings by N. Poussin. I found this a bit too much… the 3 images were semi-dark mythical scenes and the comments were lackluster. There are so many other artists he could have chosen…missed opportunity.

Good news: I was introduced to Belfast artists: Gerard Dillion, Basil Blackshaw and James Allen Blackshaw (..his “Windows I-V” was Carson’s choice. IMO Carson  should have highlighted the artist known for his impressive studies on windows: Maitsse.
Reading recommendation Henri Matisse Rooms with a View. REVIEW
by Shirley Neilsen Blum (no photo)

Basil Blackshaw DID impress me with his portrait of Brian Friel  (Irish playwright).

James Allen…I love the colors he uses, the shades of 1960s Neapolitan ice-cream that remind me of David Hockney. (House With the Palm Trees)

Personal: This is not just a book of poetry…it is a lesson in art history with a whiff of the of the everyday-ness in life. The only sad note is…the poet knows his end is near.
The artists chosen 5 from France, 3 from No. Ireland, 2 from England, and 1 each from Italy, Wales, Spain and Belgium. I was MOST impressed by the life and paintings of French artist Yves Klein…a world of Madonna blue, Chagall blue, duck-egg blue….just beautiful! If you have the time it is worth looking at his Wikipedia page.

NOTES:

Poem nr 1: Claude Monet, Garden at Vetheuil (1880)

1. I read it in the morning while having my morning smoothie.
2. My view was a gray rainy scene…not a flourish of colors as in Monet’s garden.
3. The knowledge that the end was coming for Ciaran Carson… permeates Still Life.
4. One sentence spoke to me.
5. “How strange it is to be sitting here listening to whatever it is going on.
6. The days are getting longer now, however many of them I have left.”
7. That is exactly what I did…I just listened to whatever was going on in my garden.

Poem nr 2:  Angela Hackett, Lemons on a Moorish Plate (2013)

1. I read this poem in the dentist’s waiting room. I keep following John Adams motto:
2. “You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.
3. You will never have an idle hour.”
4. I had NO visual and that made the poem fall flat. After seeing the painting
5. I read the poem again.
6. Ciaran Carson sees so many colors in the image…
7. I would have missed!

Poem nr 3:  Velázquez, Old Woman Cooking Eggs (1618)

1. Carson describes the painting of a Spanish bodégon
2. …(Spanish for ‘still life’) and it reminds him of his time in
3. The Bodega in Belfast where Carson went with friends
4. …while the IRA were bombing downtown shops on a weekly basis.
5. This is the sentence that sums up the core message of this poem.
6. Carson only uses a part of the original quote by Keats in Ode to a Nightingale:
7. “That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,“
8. …but Keats’s  adds a second line that Carson knows…but is not mentioning`:
9. …And with thee fade away into the forest dim…
10. Carson reminds us yet again…the end is near and
11. …he would like to enjoy a drink with friends in
12. The Bodega in Belfast so that he can leave the “world”
13. …without anyone noticing and just “fade” into the dark forest.

#ReadingIrelandMonth22 Theatre & Ireland

Fiona Shaw….a great Irish actress!

MARCH

by Lionel Pilkington (no photo)

Finish date:
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: C
Review: Theatre & Ireland  (ISBN: ‎ 978-0230574625)

Bad news: Cover: Unimpressed….with all the great actors, actresses and the theaters in Ireland …publishers choose a huge illustration of the symbol “&” . Missed opportunity to draw a prospective reader to the book!

Bad news: 70% of the book places more emphasis on “the stage Irishman” and the history of the Irish theatre. 30% of the book finally sheds more light the modern Irish theatre (1960s-2000).

Good news: Whatever book I read about Irish theatre I always learn something new. What is a …a Kitchen Sink play?…how does stage decor influence the play?

1960s: Brian Friel’s Philadelphia , Here I Come!
Characters living in rural Ireland are faced with a choice
“…emigration and adjustment VS a suicidal attachment to a single identity”

1980s: Brian Friel’s play Translations
Ireland can <— LOOK BACK
rural premodernity, Gothic grotesque, anti-colonial resistance
or LOOK FORWARD —>
identity based on the ability to compromise, adapt and act cautiously.

1990s: Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane
reveals the gulf between the cosmopolitan world of the theatre audience and the benighted (lacking enlightenment) kitchen-sink living room of the characters on stage.

1997: Conor McPherson’s The Weir
Irishness without Ireland — conditions of repetition, hauntings, irrational allegiances.
unmodernized Ireland (pub, rural land, farm) … and a village threatened by modernity (tourists, housing development).

Personal: I do have Irish roots….but I hope I can encourage more people to read some Irish playwrights! Ireland is so much more than just Riverdance!

#ReadingIrelandMonth22 Conor McPherson

MARCH

by Conor McPherson (no photo)

Finish date:  04 March 2022
Genre: Play
Rating: F
Review: Shining City (ISBN: 978-1854598196)

Bad news: This confessional chat (scene 3) patient – therapist was supposed to be the climax of the play. Well, it was just an excruciating read. Scenes 1,2 and 4 were no better: there was a ghost, ex-priest, fiancé, baby, coddling wife, love affair with text messages, a gigolo…and a fight in a brothel.

Bad news: McPherson tries to mirror the private lives of the patient (John) and therapist (Ian). Both have huge secrets from spouse/fiancé…both want to “…believe that something else is my reality” but the whole concept of the play felt …like wading through thick mud, and I found myself longing desperately for some clear, unambiguous writing. Dialogue is awful….

Mmm…
Okay…
Well, I’m, you know…
No, no no…
No one finished their sentences…ever!

Good news: Stage directions were better than the play!

Personal: What did I just read? …it was a ‘train wreck’ of a play. Just awful. Scenes filled with …ho-hums, empty chatter…just NO feeling that I’ve read a brilliant play. I never expected to read such a boring piece of writing by Conor McPherson. I really enjoyed his play The Weir.  I still cannot find the link between the play and the title? Am I missing something? Shining City is such a huge disappointment.

This is THE WORST Irish play I’ve ever read!
#WasteOfMyReadingTime

#ReadingIrelandMonth22 Favorite Irish Actors

1. I’m enjoying a delicious  Irish Coffee this morning
2. ….in The Netherlands (tulip center of the world!)
3. and trying to think of my “5  best”  for week 1
4. #ReadingIrelandMonth22
5. #TheBegorathon22
6. Here are my 5 favorite Irish Actors:

1. Daniel Day Lewis was British born but holds Irish citizenship
2. …so we can rightfully claim him!
3. Movies:  there are so many to name but
4. The Boxer (1997) (one of my favorite soundtracks)
   
5. The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and another one of my favorite soundtracks.
6. The Age of Innocence (1993) are my favorites.

1. I was raised in a  Burns – Houlihan  family  who loved
2. classic Irish themed  movies
3. ….and I STILL watch  Going My Way (1944) every year at Christmas.
4. It is my number one “comfort movie”!
5. Barry Fitzgerald won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor 1945
6. …for his performance as Father Fitzgibbon.

1. It is a shame that many people remember
2. …this actress ONLY  for Killing Eve.
3. Fiona Shaw is one of the BEST  stage  Irish actresses.
4. Her performance in Medea is riveting!

1. Just look that this face!
2. …a REAL Dubliner who enjoys his Guiness, I’m sure!
3. Brendan Gleeson is the quintessential Irish character actor
4. …who has given us memorable movie moments!
5. Favorites: Calvary (2014) – The Guard (2011)…ABSOLUTELY hilarious!! – In Bruges (2008).

1. I’ve saved the best for last…
2. …the GOAT  Irish actor:  Peter O’Toole!
3. He made film history in the film Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
4. 10 Oscar nominations …and 7 Oscar wins in 1962.
5. If you’ve never seen this movie…
6. invest in your own DVD copy as I have done.
7. I remember  everything about the movie…
8. the time: August 1963
9. the place: Ansonia Connecticut movie theater
10. with my BFF Kathy.
11. This movie was  3 hours and 47 min long
12. ….so it was in the days when you had an ‘intermission’.