Book of the month
Room on the Sea, by André Aciman.
Published by Faber, €17
There are many exciting books due for publication later in 2026, but I was at something of a loss for a volume to review in this issue.
While shopping I came across a book that I recall being published, but I had never got around to reading. I was tempted on this occasion, and have no regrets. The novella is Room on the Sea.
During the bleak early months of the year, what is better than a little romance? Not your everyday romantic tale though – rather one between two pensioners, but not so old that they cannot enjoy flirtation. The author, a university lecturer, came to prominence thanks to a gay coming-of-age novel called Call Me by Your Name.
It propelled the little-known writer and academic to a best-selling author, his specialist themes being literary romances.
This volume has something of a comedic premise. While 200 potential jurors sit in a courthouse in Manhattan, psychiatrist Catherine and lawyer Paul, both 60-something, strike up a conversation. Respectively, they are reading Wuthering Heights and The Wall Street Journal. They begin to talk, having already made less than polite judgements about each other. It is the range of subjects they discuss that initially suggest there may be a spark.
Paul and Catherine are both married, neither are fulfilled, and this leads to them initiating a week-long rendezvous that is fuelled by food and a number of shared loves, among them Naples, espressos and cornetti. The fantasy, because that is what it is, gathers pace and they even talk about jetting off together to find a place overlooking the Bay of Naples, and it is there that they imagine a special time together.
The story is unrealistic, but surely that is what true romantics want to believe can happen.
Could this be a last-chance love affair for both of them, a fairytale with copious amounts of pastries and coffee? Is there a future for a pair of well-heeled characters who on the surface appear to be fine, but who are emotionally unfulfilled? The reader is taken along by the witty writing of André Aciman, and while the ending is somewhat predictable, you are invested enough to want to know more about what happened afterwards. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a little romance now and again.
Room on the Sea.
Walk the Blue Fields, by Claire Keegan. Published by Faber, €18
Claire Keegan’s work is known to a much wider audience these days, thanks especially to the success of Small Things Like These and Foster. Recently I came across a reissued volume of short stories by the author, first published in 2007. My only regret was not finding this over the many years since its issue.
Walk the Blue Fields comprises eight works, among them Dark Horses which won Keegan a Francis MacManus Award on RTÉ radio. The one that struck me most is the story that gave its title to the volume. Walk the Blue Fields tells the story of a priest, presiding over a wedding, a day of joy which is also one of great pain.
He plays an intimate role in a ceremony which sees a deep love he had being taken away from him in an agonising fashion. Yes, he chose the road he is on, and seemed to have made his peace with the decision, but we are left in no doubt about the agony of it all.
Walk the Blue Fields.
Ireland: Mapping The Island, by Joseph Brady and Paul Ferguson. Published by Birlinnr, €37
Shortlisted for the Hodges Figgis History Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, Joseph Brady who taught in the School of Geography at UCD, and Trinity College’s map librarian Paul Ferguson have produced both a scholarly work and an important historical volume with the beautiful Ireland: Mapping The Island.
While today we rely to an incredible degree on Google versions, maps have played a vital role in the past, and their use was not always for good. They were once an essential tool for conquerors, and helping them to later redistribute land. This fascinating book will not only educate and inform readers now, but in time will be a go-to reference for those coming after us. Lavishly illustrated with beautiful images and, of course, maps, its themes include bogs, roads, railways and the country’s coasts, as well as towns and cities.
Mapping the Island.
From Russia with Love, by Ian Fleming. Published by Penguin Classics, €14.50
James Bond made his first on-screen appearance in the 1953 film Casino Royale, and his popularity endures to this day. The character was created by Ian Fleming, who died in 1964, and the best-loved among the books about the suave hero is thought to be From Russia with Love, published in 1957. It was included in a list of the 10 favourite books of President John F Kennedy.
From Russia with Love was adapted for film and starred Sean Connery, for many the ultimate Bond. It was the fifth book in the Bond adventures penned by Ian Fleming, It conveys all the panache we associate with Bond, and takes place largely in Istanbul and on the Orient Express. A plot to kill Bond and discredit the British Secret Service by the Soviets takes us through thrills, entanglements and escapes that defy belief, eventually leaving 007 in peril, in Paris.
From Russian with Love by Ian Fleming.
Book of the month
Room on the Sea, by André Aciman.
Published by Faber, €17
There are many exciting books due for publication later in 2026, but I was at something of a loss for a volume to review in this issue.
While shopping I came across a book that I recall being published, but I had never got around to reading. I was tempted on this occasion, and have no regrets. The novella is Room on the Sea.
During the bleak early months of the year, what is better than a little romance? Not your everyday romantic tale though – rather one between two pensioners, but not so old that they cannot enjoy flirtation. The author, a university lecturer, came to prominence thanks to a gay coming-of-age novel called Call Me by Your Name.
It propelled the little-known writer and academic to a best-selling author, his specialist themes being literary romances.
This volume has something of a comedic premise. While 200 potential jurors sit in a courthouse in Manhattan, psychiatrist Catherine and lawyer Paul, both 60-something, strike up a conversation. Respectively, they are reading Wuthering Heights and The Wall Street Journal. They begin to talk, having already made less than polite judgements about each other. It is the range of subjects they discuss that initially suggest there may be a spark.
Paul and Catherine are both married, neither are fulfilled, and this leads to them initiating a week-long rendezvous that is fuelled by food and a number of shared loves, among them Naples, espressos and cornetti. The fantasy, because that is what it is, gathers pace and they even talk about jetting off together to find a place overlooking the Bay of Naples, and it is there that they imagine a special time together.
The story is unrealistic, but surely that is what true romantics want to believe can happen.
Could this be a last-chance love affair for both of them, a fairytale with copious amounts of pastries and coffee? Is there a future for a pair of well-heeled characters who on the surface appear to be fine, but who are emotionally unfulfilled? The reader is taken along by the witty writing of André Aciman, and while the ending is somewhat predictable, you are invested enough to want to know more about what happened afterwards. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a little romance now and again.
Room on the Sea.
Walk the Blue Fields, by Claire Keegan. Published by Faber, €18
Claire Keegan’s work is known to a much wider audience these days, thanks especially to the success of Small Things Like These and Foster. Recently I came across a reissued volume of short stories by the author, first published in 2007. My only regret was not finding this over the many years since its issue.
Walk the Blue Fields comprises eight works, among them Dark Horses which won Keegan a Francis MacManus Award on RTÉ radio. The one that struck me most is the story that gave its title to the volume. Walk the Blue Fields tells the story of a priest, presiding over a wedding, a day of joy which is also one of great pain.
He plays an intimate role in a ceremony which sees a deep love he had being taken away from him in an agonising fashion. Yes, he chose the road he is on, and seemed to have made his peace with the decision, but we are left in no doubt about the agony of it all.
Walk the Blue Fields.
Ireland: Mapping The Island, by Joseph Brady and Paul Ferguson. Published by Birlinnr, €37
Shortlisted for the Hodges Figgis History Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, Joseph Brady who taught in the School of Geography at UCD, and Trinity College’s map librarian Paul Ferguson have produced both a scholarly work and an important historical volume with the beautiful Ireland: Mapping The Island.
While today we rely to an incredible degree on Google versions, maps have played a vital role in the past, and their use was not always for good. They were once an essential tool for conquerors, and helping them to later redistribute land. This fascinating book will not only educate and inform readers now, but in time will be a go-to reference for those coming after us. Lavishly illustrated with beautiful images and, of course, maps, its themes include bogs, roads, railways and the country’s coasts, as well as towns and cities.
Mapping the Island.
From Russia with Love, by Ian Fleming. Published by Penguin Classics, €14.50
James Bond made his first on-screen appearance in the 1953 film Casino Royale, and his popularity endures to this day. The character was created by Ian Fleming, who died in 1964, and the best-loved among the books about the suave hero is thought to be From Russia with Love, published in 1957. It was included in a list of the 10 favourite books of President John F Kennedy.
From Russia with Love was adapted for film and starred Sean Connery, for many the ultimate Bond. It was the fifth book in the Bond adventures penned by Ian Fleming, It conveys all the panache we associate with Bond, and takes place largely in Istanbul and on the Orient Express. A plot to kill Bond and discredit the British Secret Service by the Soviets takes us through thrills, entanglements and escapes that defy belief, eventually leaving 007 in peril, in Paris.
From Russian with Love by Ian Fleming.
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