WE CELEBRATE WORLD BOOK DAY THE WITH A TEAM OF AVID READERS
Bookworms choose their many favourite tomes to highlight joy of reading
THE annual day to honour books first started in 1995 by UNESCO and has grown into a movement to spread the joy of reading.
It was so gorgeous about her childhood in America in the 1800s CATHY KELLY ON LAURA INGALLS WILDER NOVEL
It’s held every year on the first Thursday in March.
To mark World Book Day, the Irish Mirror spoke to some of Ireland’s bestknown bookworms to get chapter and verse on what makes reading so special for them.
Author Cathy Kelly, whose latest novel Sisterhood is out now, loves the Little House series and Pride and Prejudice.
She said: “Laura Ingalls Wilder - The Little House In The Big Woods - is the first book I remember consciously reading.
“It was so gorgeous - very autobiographical, about her own childhood in America in the late 1800s.
“She’s about five years old in the book and I can still see the home. They had a pig and killed it and said every bit of the pig was used - except for the squeal.
“I still have Little House on the Prairie mentality - I was stocking up during the pandemic like I was in the woods.
“My favourite classic is Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen wrote so wisely about human frailties.”
Former GP, Newstalk Breakfast presenter Ciara Kelly, said: “A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving and East West Street by Phillippe Sands are just three of my favourites.
“The first is set in India and deals with a long family saga against the backdrop of poverty, oppression and the caste system.
“I have rarely ever cared as much about characters in a book and I’ve wept every time I’ve read it.
East West Street is non-fiction but reads like a novel and is an incredible potted history of the interweaving of Europe through two world wars.
Scientist Luke O Neill said: “A book I’ve just finished I really like is The Terror of Whiskey by Rob Arnold.
“It’s all about the science of it - how it’s made, the different types, the flavours. It’s a world tour of whiskey from Kentucky to Ireland to Japan. If you like whiskey, this is fascinating. An all-time favourite of mine is Lord of The Flies by William Golding.
“I was transfixed by it and still am. A great story about a bunch of schoolboys stranded on an island.
“It’s an allegory of how humans can be mean to each other and how power corrupts. As relevant today as it was when it was written in the 1950s.”
Impressionist Mario Rosenstock said: “I am loving Fintan O’toole’s We Don’t Know Ourselves, a history of modern Ireland from the perspective of his lifetime.
“I love Walter Isaacson’s Leonardo Da Vinci, a biography of the genius who - among other things - invented the helicopter 400 years before we caught up.
“I grew up listening to the Beatles and I love Come Together by Richard White, which looks at John Lennon and Paul Mccartney’s relationship after the band broke up.”
Artist Kevin Sharkey said: “A couple of books changed my life. A Course Of Miracles was an incredible explanation
of how life can be understood from a different perspective.
“It taught me it was OK to let go and focus on my dreams. The other is The Art Of The Deal by Donald Trump. Regardless of what anyone thinks of these figureheads, he wrote a great book about how to negotiate a deal.
You can Heal Your Life by Louise L Hay offers hope to anyone damaged
or traumatised, like many of us.” Paddy Cullivan, musician and historical entertainer, said: “The Catcher In The Rye by Salinger captured teenage humour, worry and empathy perfectly.
“A Moveable Feast is Hemingway’s memoir of 1920s Paris is both hilarious and heartbreaking. I love Joyce’s Dubliners, but the first few pages of Todd Andrew’s Dublin Made Me are
It was revolutionary to read about a young man with same fears as me TADHG HICKEY ON CATCHER IN THE RYE
an even better description of the Irish class system. Claire Mitchell’s The Ghost Limb is enlightenment for all those who don’t fit national identity stereotypes.
Marisa Mackle, author and travel writer “When I was 11, I read The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and was completely gripped by it.
“The book is about curiosity and discovery. I still have my original dogeared copy. My two favourite classics are Catcher in the Rye and A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh. They are both timeless with their dry humour and observations”
Comedian Tadhg Hickey said his favourite is Awareness by Anthony De Mello.
He added: “It doesn’t contain particularly complex ideas, but Anthony De Mello’s Awareness is certainly the smartest book I know. It’s a guide to experiencing the world as it is, not as our distorted thinking tells us it is.
“I’m currently reading The New Age of Empire - How Racism And Colonialism Still Rule The World by Kehinde Andrews.
The most important word in the title is ‘still’. How often are conversations about colonialism shut down by conservatives who say, ‘That’s the past, move on’.
Andrews expertly details racism and colonialism are still the pillars of economic and political hegemony.
My favourite childhood book is The Catcher in the Rye.
“As a teenager it was revolutionary to read about a young man with the same fears and desires and self-obsessions I had. It was vicarious and exhilarating.”