A friend of mine in America has just “nominated” me for a Facebook challenge where the idea is to post a cover of a book that you love each day for a week; no review or explanation required.

Now I’m normally allergic to these sorts of things (which can have a whiff of chain mail about them), but I do like the idea of sharing the books that have really made an impact on me.

Top of the list would have to be Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis De Bernières, which I read the summer after my Leaving Cert and actually bawled crying once I turned the last page because I had grown so attached to the characters and did not want the story to end. If that’s not a sign of a good book, I’m not sure what is.

I’d add to the list the epic Atonement by Ian McEwan and the probably pretentious-sounding The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera; but also Marita Conlon-McKenna’s Under The Hawthorn Tree, which I’m sure every Irish child who grew up in the 1990s read, and Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes, which I devoured as a teenager.

In more recent years I have savoured each word in Donal Ryan’s books – in particular The Spinning Heart – while Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman was the most unexpectedly uplifting book about loneliness that I could ever have imagined.

Recently, however, I have struggled to find a novel that has really captured me; you know the type of book where you stay up way past your bedtime because you just need to see what happens in the next chapter? And the next. And the next. Have you read anything wonderful this summer? If so, I would love to know.

This week's issue

In the meantime, however, there is plenty to read in this week’s edition of Irish Country Living. I really enjoyed my visit to Moher Cottage, where engineer-turned-entrepreneur Caitriona Considine has turned a former cowshed into an award-winning café; at how many farmyards in Ireland can you order a flat white? It’s just another reminder of how you can sometimes find a great business idea at your own back door (page four).

Then there’s the inspirational Fr Tony Coote, who is taking on a 550km challenge to walk the length of Ireland for motor neuron disease, after being recently diagnosed with the condition himself. All money raised from Fr Tony’s Walk While You Can challenge will go towards research into new medication for MND, as well as to caring for those who live with the illness, and you can find out more on page six.

In Living Life, Anne O’Donoghue chats with our cover star, plus-sized model, Snapchat sensation and soprano, Sinead O’Brien of Sinead’s Curvy Style (page 30); regular contributor Valerie Murphy shares her heart-warming story of puppy love (page seven), while to mark Farm Safety Week we have a kids’ puzzle page and slogan competition with some great prizes up for grabs (page nine).Happy reading. CL

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Being one of the cool girls