Liza Costello’s work was a finalist in the Sean O’Faoline Short Story Competition, the Frances McManus Award and the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award, and was broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1. She lives in County Westmeath with her family. Her novel Crookedwood was recently published by Hachette Ireland.
I buy a lot of books and am a slow reader so there are quite a few teetering piles out there. Currently I am weaving between Ian Coburn Anatomy of Murder ~Life and Death on a Divided Island~Lucy Caldwell’s elegant collection of short stories, presenting Northern Ireland’s complex history through highly human narratives. intimacy.
There are also used copies of Fantasy Horror Fear By Dan Simmons, I Got It After Seeing Its Charming TV Adaptation. hunting party I also recommend the work of Lucy Foley. The poetry collected by Elizabeth Bishop is never far away.
What was the first book you remember?
The Complete Illustrated Story of Hans Christian Andersen, a gift from his late father. A reproduction of a 19th-century book, the cover depicts a mermaid lying on the seabed. White blonde hair floats outside, staring blankly at the fish.
What is your book for this year?
It actually came out in 2020, but I have to say JFK Volume I By Fredrik Logevall, which I read earlier this year. I tend to do my best and start reading history books instead of falling back to fiction sooner or later.But like murder anatomy, this book is all about its people, facts so seamlessly woven into its fabric that you barely realize you’re absorbing them. It’s an incredible read.
Favorite literary person?
There are many options.finished recently olive again A work by Elizabeth Strout centering on Olive Kitteridge, she is a wonderful character who is both sensitive and kind, and always as flawed as she is growing towards the end of her life.
near
Crookedwood by Liza Costello
A book that changed your life?
video of the day
I believe that all good things change the reader and thereby change their lives.
On a more specific level, read Dermot Healy’s poetry collection fool’s business It was the beginning of his writing obsession, which led to him (finally) submitting his PhD in research a few weeks ago.
What book didn’t you read?
There are many of them.repeat the pathetic failure Ulysses But it recently ended when I discovered that wonderful RTÉ audio production (produced in the 1980s but available on Spotify).
Have you read your Covid comforts?
Chekhov’s “Gooseberry”, dug up during lockdown, shows three wet, muddy men bathing in a bathing pond with the lush evocation of rain, and then as they sleep. It’s a somewhat soothing read.
What book do you want to give as a present?
That tends to change over the years, but I recently gave someone a copy of Maggie Smith’s kind and inspiring book keep moving.
Who are the writers who shaped you?
I was lucky enough to attend a writing workshop with author and teacher Claire Keegan.
Recently, I discovered American author Attica Rock’s crime thriller and took the reader deep into the fine balance she achieved there, her literary sensibilities and the ugly reality of racial inequality in America. Totally captivated by the themes that take you. Past and present, all delivered through plots that make each book unappreciable.
Which book would you most like to remember?
definitely the next one.
