More Irish books

Between my latest library school class and writing reviews for the paper (latest one here), my efforts on poor spoonreader have been sporadic at best.
I have been reading though, making my way through some of the books I bought in Ireland.

• Irish Tales of Mystery and Magic: a spooky-funny book about the ancients warrior clans of Ireland, with whimsical illustrations.
• The Playboy of the Western World: a seminal play by John Synge that caused riots when it premiered in 1907 because of its comic treatment of patricide and its mention of women in their shifts (i.e. slips).
• Hellfire: a contemporary novel about the drug trade among working-class Irish, with a female narrator, gypsy fortune-tellers and maybe ghosts. I just started this one so I'm still getting oriented.

I'm also thinking about overhauling spoonreader, maybe changing the focus or shutting it down and starting a new blog? I've been writing this blog for three years, which is kind of hard to believe. I'd like to post more often if I'm going to keep doing it. Maybe I need to just do that. Your thoughts?

Trip to Ireland

Glendalough
Originally uploaded by spoonreader

My 10-day trip to Ireland last month was spectacular, a real book lovers' treat. I'm working on some writing about that and will let you know when I'm done. Meanwhile, email me for my Flickr link if you'd like to see all the photos.
One favorite stop was the Martello Tower at Sandycove, where James Joyce lived for a brief time and the setting for the opening scene of Ulysses. ("Stately, plump Buck Mulligan ...")
Another was Glendalough, the ruins of an ancient monastic settlement founded by St. Kevin, circa 500 A.D. (This one really had me thinking of How the Irish Saved Civiliation.) Here's my favorite photo of the trip from Glendalough.

Elvis is Titanic

Here's a link to my review of Elvis is Titanic by Ian Klaus. It begins:

Ian Klaus' slim memoir of his time in Iraq, Elvis Is Titanic, stands out as one of the few civilian memoirs to come out of the Iraq War thus far. Klaus decided to swim against the tide by going to Iraq in 2005, at age 26, to try to make a difference by teaching English. Klaus also happens to be the former boyfriend of Chelsea Clinton, a fact that is neither here nor there - or even mentioned - until the end of the book.

Read more here.