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The books that brought writers like Roddy Doyle and Tana French comfort in 2020

Irish and Ireland-based writers, including Roddy Doyle, Sinéad Gleeson and Tana French, tell us about the books that soothed them this year.

IN A YEAR where so much seemed strange and uncertain, books could provide an anchor and hope. Whether it was revisiting classics, buying the latest novel by an Irish writer, or even turning to a genre you wouldn’t normally choose, people could find a bit of solace in books.

We asked Irish writers what they turned to in 2020 to give them comfort, and the results showed that comfort can be drawn from across the years and genres. You’ll find plenty here to keep you reading well into 2021 and beyond. 

Roddy Doyle, author of Love (Jonathan Cape)

“I read a lot of very good books this year but the ones that seemed to deliver comfort and reassurance were the books I’d read before – David Copperfield, by Dickens; Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson; Sons and Lovers, by Turgenev. I don’t really know why I found comfort in these particular 19th Century classics. Perhaps it’s because they’ve survived world wars, book-burning ideologies, and a clatter of pandemics. Or maybe it’s just because they’re brilliant.”

Doireann Ní Ghríofa, author of the An Post Irish Book Awards-winning A Ghost In The Throat (Tramp Press)

“I’ve taken to keeping Paula Meehan’s newly-published As If By Magic (Dedalus Press) on my kitchen dresser, so it’s always within reach when I sit down with a cuppa. It stretches all the way from 1991 to 2016, with the poet selecting her own favourite poems from her books – some sorrowful, some provocative, some joyful, some brazen. This book has been a source of deep comfort to me, in allowing me to marvel at the results of decades of devotion to the art of poetry. I return to the astonishments of this wonderful collection again and again.”

Sinéad Gleeson, author of Constellations and editor of The Art Of The Glimpse, an anthology of Irish short stories (Head of Zeus)

“Sara Baume’s Handiwork is not just about creating things; it pivots towards what we give our attention to, taking in birds, art and grief (Baume writes beautifully about her late father). I picked up Roger Robinson’s A Portable Paradise after reading his poem ‘Grace’ online. It’s an incredible collection on family, illness and identity. Abi Palmer’s lyrical, hybrid memoir Sanatorium explores chronic illness and wellness culture in stunning, hallucinatory prose.” 

Emer McLysaght, co-author of the Oh My God, I’m A Complete Aisling series (Gill)

“In Patrick Freyne’s Ok, Let’s Do Your Stupid Idea he writes with humour and skill about how he sometimes worries that he “can’t experience reality as fully or completely” as other people; that he’s “not all there”. Kathleen MacMahon’s novel Nothing But Blue Sky meanwhile introduced me to the concept of the “habit of happiness”. The former was relatable and the latter was revelatory and I just loved both books.

Sarah Breen, co-author of the Oh My God, I’m A Complete Aisling series (Gill)

“Nothing brings me more comfort than rereading Marian Keyes and this year I picked up Rachel’s Holiday (again) when I was in dire need of a cosy hug of a book. Relatable, perfectly observed and laugh-out-loud funny, it never lets me down. I cannot wait for the sequel.”

Tana French, author of The Searcher (Elm Tree Books)

“During lockdown I reread Amor Towles’s A Gentleman in Moscow. After the Russian Revolution, Count Alexander Rostov spends decades in house arrest at the Metropol Hotel. It’s a wonderful book at any time, and this time it brought home to me how people find ways to be happy, make connections, and make a difference to one another’s lives, even in the strangest, saddest and most restrictive circumstances.”

Oein DeBhairduin, author of Why The Moon Travels (Skein Press)

The Language of Kindness by Christie Watson is a memoir of a retired nurse which evokes beauty and shows us that we can draw strength from our human fragility. The Mouse and His Child by Russell Hoban charts the complex world of a pair of windup toys in search of victory over a cruel system. Rereading this as an adult gave me a fresh perspective. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly is the tale of a young boy navigating the death of a loved one showing us the starkness of the world and how uniquely we experience it.” 

Dr Rosaleen McDonagh, author of Unsettled (Skein Press, published in 2021)

“This year I was introduced to Judy Heumann’s Being Heumann, a narrative that felt somewhat familiar.There was pride and satisfaction in reading this twice. Then there was Nadina LaSpina’s Such A Pretty Girl, a disability female narrative that conjures up universal realities. Pure brilliant and emotional. Disability Visibility edited by Alice Wong gives voice to younger disabled writers and readers adding to the genre of disability writing. These books are important in this ever-expanding genre where we have the lens, the reality and the editorial control.

Dr Rosaleen McDonagh’s book ‘Unsettled’ will be published by Skein Press in 2021.

Sarah Maria Griffin, author of Words For Smoke (Titan Books Ltd)

“I’ve found reading really challenging this year, so turned to graphic novels to ease myself in when my focus was shot. Uzumaki by Junji Ito brought me a whole day of total escape, all surreal images and sinister, troubled characters. I’m currently reading Maeve Binchy’s Evening Class – her voice feels like coming home. I’ve also found poetry helpful during a time when concentrating was difficult: Anne Carson’s If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho lives by my desk and offers ancient, tiny poems which remind me that even though the world feels like it is on fire, poetry and art have the capacity to survive much longer than we can even imagine.”

Caelainn Hogan, author of Republic of Shame (Penguin Ireland)

“A work of beauty and meaning, Oein DeBhairduin’s Why The Moon Travels is a collection of stories passed down through generations within the Irish Traveller community. This book is a reclaiming of narrative, a connection across divides, and a reminder of the wonder of storytelling itself. It might not be comfortable to face the reality of systemic racism but Emma Dabiri’s Don’t Touch My Hair is a crucial and brilliant read, as is Audre Lorde’s ever powerful Sister Outsider. I was also swept up in the extraordinary romance of Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat as well as the raw humour and humanity of Elaine Feeney’s As You Were.”

Elaine Feeney, poet and author of As You Were (Penguin Ireland)

“During 2020 I took comfort in poetry. Colette Bryce’s The M Pages, Geraldine Mitchell’s, Mute / Unmute, Ariana Reines’ A Sand Book and Rita Ann Higgins’ Pathogens Love a Patsy were wonderful. I love short stories and went back to favourites; Tobias Wolff, John McGahern, Alan McMonagle and Mike McCormack. Sinéad Gleeson’s The Art Of The Glimpse landed in the midst of the madness and just holding it was a comfort. (Reading it proved great too). After struggling with longer reads, Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart was the first novel that fully held my concentration. It’s truly a classic already, so well observed – a phenomenal work. Speaking of classics, I reread Black Beauty, just for something of the comfort reading brought me as a child.”

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    Mute Onion Knight
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    Jun 29th 2017, 4:09 PM

    ‘Pro-abortion’? I think it’s pronounced ‘pro-choice’.

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    Mute Shawn O'Ceallaghan
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    Jun 29th 2017, 6:59 PM

    @Onion Knight: no its pro abortion…. for abortion. Just lime against abortion is anti-abortion. Once side wants abortions to be allowed the other not.

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    Mute Mo
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    Jun 29th 2017, 7:22 PM

    @Shawn O’Ceallaghan: no it’s not it’s pro choice i.e. Just because I choose to have a baby doesn’t mean I impose my choice on another woman to do so – I’m sure you didn’t really need me to point that out because that would mean you’re a bit stupid…..

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    Mute Atheos Euripides
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    Jun 29th 2017, 4:20 PM

    Those extremist Anti-Choice groups seem to have more organosations than members.

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    Mute DaisyChainsaw
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    Jun 29th 2017, 5:48 PM

    The same ten or so agitators, it would seem. It’s all so incestuous.

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    Mute David McDermott
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    Jun 29th 2017, 7:27 PM

    @DaisyChainsaw: seems to a commune of several integrated families all trying to pretend their not related as they pop up in the media.

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    Mute JMac
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    Jun 30th 2017, 2:40 AM

    @Atheos Euripides: Extremist groups! Kettle pot etc,!

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    Mute KEV
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    Jun 29th 2017, 4:08 PM

    The BAI better get used to these claims. Glad it was rejected.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Jun 29th 2017, 4:20 PM

    Odds are pretty short that Cora will be ranting on about IFPA on her twitter account..

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    Mute Atheos Euripides
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    Jun 29th 2017, 4:36 PM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: I’m always puzzled as to who Cora, David and Breda think they actually represent, because it’s not the Irish people. They might as well be campaigning to change the name of Leitrim to Tokyo, they’d have about the same amount of support.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Jun 29th 2017, 4:59 PM

    @Atheos Euripides: To be honest with you,I think that they represent a tiny minority of Irish people…A ball point figure to me, would be the amount of people that would want to see Irish women continue to travel to the UK in cases of FFA…and that usually is around the 12% mark..

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    Mute Iohanan
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    Jun 29th 2017, 5:24 PM

    @Atheos Euripides: they represent people like me actually. And if you consider that 38% of the electorate voted against same-sex marriage 2 years ago one can safely assume they represent a fair chunk of the electorate, especially when one considers that not everybody who is in favour of same-sex marriage is equally in favour of abortion, indeed the recent pole by the Irish times on abortion indicated that there was big divergence between the Citizens Assembly’s recommendation for unlimited and unrestricted abortion and the Irish electorate as represented in the Pole. So I’d say that Breda, David and Cora are representative of a substantial section if the Irish people.

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    Mute Atheos Euripides
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    Jun 29th 2017, 5:43 PM

    @Iohanan: They represent you? You must have very antiquated views then.

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    Mute Larry Doyle
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    Jun 29th 2017, 5:57 PM

    I’d say not everyone who voted on to losing side of the marriage equality referendum are anti-choice either @lohanan, but that’s just an opinion like yours and until there is a vote by the citizens of this country that is all we have, opinions. To object to having a referendum on this subject, which would allow this generation to have their say, is profoundly undemocratic and ultimately proves that those who wish the current restrictions to continue have little faith that they can prevail, hence these pointless complaints about media coverage of their dubious claims of abortion causing cancer and child abuse.

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    Mute Mark Walsh
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    Jun 29th 2017, 6:27 PM

    @Iohanan:
    It’s no one’s Business what other people do in their private lives
    If two same gender people want to marry it’s not anyone’s business
    If a Lady needs an abortion be on Social ‘ economic or any other reason it’s not anyone’s business
    The Church and its employees (priests) were molesting children for years and yet these F****ng were no where to be seen
    Leave people make their own decisions and get a life
    You people make me sick

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    Mute Iohanan
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    Jun 29th 2017, 8:05 PM

    @Mark Walsh: I care less what people do with their own lives but when one has an abortion they’re ending someone else’s life. Wrong full stop.

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    Mute Iohanan
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    Jun 29th 2017, 8:07 PM

    @Atheos Euripides: just because my beliefs are ‘antiquated’ doesn’t mean they’re wrong.

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    Mute Larissa Caroline Nikolaus
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    Jun 29th 2017, 8:17 PM

    @Iohanan: You must be such a saint, talking out of your behind, that you side with the (word starting with a w, rhymes with bankers) of the IONA so called institute tells me enough about you to label you a bigot and hypocrite and disregard your opinion as baseless

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    Mute Iohanan
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    Jun 29th 2017, 8:17 PM

    @Larry Doyle: whether we prevail or not in maintaining current abortion restrictions doesn’t address the simple question: is it lawful to end the life of another human being? because that’s what a foetus is, a small human being. Right and wrong, justice and truth exist in and of themselves and are not the fruit or the result of a public vote nor derive their essence from having been enacted by some governing body. Democracy is not infallible because the brainwashed proletariat can get it wrong as was the case with Hitler in Germany who ascended to power through popular vote. Perhaps if you deigned to condescend from your moral high horse you might put your mind to a more productive use than justifying the legalisation of a practice which will result in the loss of life of innocent people.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Jun 29th 2017, 8:19 PM

    @Iohanan: well you’ve just called your own views outdated so where does that leave you? Second question, should pregnant women be counted as two people on census night? Give reasons for your answer please

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    Mute Iohanan
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    Jun 29th 2017, 8:32 PM

    @Dave O Keeffe: that my opinions are outdated is innocuous, and what would be wrong with counting a pregnant woman as two people?

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    Mute Iohanan
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    Jun 29th 2017, 8:39 PM

    @Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: if I were a saint I wouldn’t be on the journal arguing with scoundrels like you!

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    Mute Karen Wellington
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    Jun 29th 2017, 9:57 PM

    @Iohanan: your antiquated view that a foetus is a human being with the same inalienable human rights as the mother is wrong. Not because its antiquated, because its not supported by science and fact rather than nutty religious beliefs. Activity in the Cerebral Cortex doesnt begin until weeks 22/24, upgrading the foetus from the neonatal equivalent of whole brain death to the slightly more cognitive higher brain death, Im confident that youll argue that a foetus will potentially “grow out it”, doesnt change the fact that a foetus isn’t a person and potential isnt good enough reason to force a woman to continue with an unwanted/unviable pregnancy, all that aside;do you believe keeping a person whos clinically brain dead alive indefinitely via machines and medication is the right thing to do?

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    Mute Iohanan
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    Jun 29th 2017, 10:40 PM

    @Karen Wellington: its interesting that you assert that science does not support the notion that a foetus is a person. If tomorrow scientists discovered that there was a molecule of living bacteria on Mars it would be considered the greatest ground breaking potentially human advancing discovery in history to date, yet a foetus which will in all likelihood develop into a human being is not to be considered as life by scientific standards? And I would ask you this: if someone were in a coma but according to doctors had a 50% chance of making a full recovery would you turn off life support? Yet in the case of a foetus we know scientifically that it will develop into a person. So on what grounds do you abort the foetus? I’ll tell you, on the grounds of the anti-principle, might is right.

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    Mute JMac
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    Jun 30th 2017, 2:36 AM

    @Atheos Euripides: that’s the only ammunition you have, rubbishing your oponents with personal abuse. Who would represent inocent babies from pro-death groups if they and their supporters didn’t.

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    Mute Karen Wellington
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    Jun 30th 2017, 7:12 AM

    @Iohanan: you just went ahead and ignored my hypothesis to answer one of your own, and a demented one at that; what doctor is going to say “there’s a 50% chance of recovery but we’re going to give you the option of pulling the plug”? If you’re just going to draw ridiculous parallels there’s probably not much point in explaining anything to you. However, a foetus has the potential to become a person, it’s not guaranteed (miscarriage, stillbirth, fatal fatal abnormalities, a woman’s choice not to bring into the world an unwanted child they have no way of supporting to further exacerbate an already strained system). Bacteria is considered a form of life, not sure what point you’re trying to make by ascertaining that, bacteria doesn’t get special protection at the expense of an adult woman.

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    Mute Richard Lippy Collins
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    Jun 29th 2017, 4:26 PM

    Complaints about being bias towards an issue are fair and welcome, when warranted. There was no bias. People were caught out lying and that is what was reported on. They exposed the lies that women are being told to scare them out of abortions. Did these complainant’s want someone to come on and back up the lies? I’m confused. #repealthe8th

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    Mute John B
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    Jun 29th 2017, 6:30 PM

    @Richard Lippy Collins: the type of balance they’re looking for is akin to insisting on having an astrologer on for balance when discussing astronomy.

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    Mute Larissa Caroline Nikolaus
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    Jun 29th 2017, 8:57 PM

    @John B: Or having a flat earther on, when discussing geology

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    Mute Tommy Browne
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    Jun 29th 2017, 4:05 PM

    Everything produced by RTE has a distinct lack of balance.

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Jun 29th 2017, 4:09 PM

    @Tommy Browne: says the man who was stumbling around yesterday. None of your dozens of online personas has any balance, more imbalanced it seems.

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    Mute Tommy Browne
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    Jun 29th 2017, 4:11 PM

    @Paul Fahey:
    Just deal with the substance of the article and less of the ad hominems..thanks.

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    Mute Tommy Browne
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    Jun 29th 2017, 4:12 PM

    In the interest of civilised debate.

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    Mute DaisyChainsaw
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    Jun 29th 2017, 5:50 PM

    Yeah Paul. Tommy and his pseudonyms don’t like homos.

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Jun 29th 2017, 7:53 PM

    @DaisyChainsaw: he he hee!

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    Mute The Bob
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    Jun 29th 2017, 5:24 PM

    Whatever about having to make sure that opinions on both sides of a debate based on opinions and wishes are heard, it is disingenuous to try and fake balance and present it as if both sides are equally valid. Were RTE to go out of their way to try and find someone that thinks abortions do give you breast cancer to “balance” the expert opinion of the gynecologist no matter how valid it is or if there is any evidence to the contrary? If they presented both of them sides as equally valid then I think they would actually be biased.

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    Mute Tony Murphy
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    Jun 30th 2017, 4:18 PM

    I boycott everything to do with RTE. got rid of radio stations in the car and phone. Would delete from the TV also if it was possible. Shouldn’t be made pay for the license with the tripe they produce. Let them fend for themselves and watch them go down the plughole

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