What I read while on holidays

I only brought one book with me on holidays (why do I always do this?!) which was "Nora Webster" by Colm Toibin.  I read "Brooklyn" by the same author which I really loved so I had a feeling I would enjoy his latest book.  As an aside, Brooklyn is being made in to a film starring Irish Actress Saoirse Ronan and I am looking forward to seeing it when it comes out.

Nora Webster is written in a similar style as Brooklyn and is a nice readable tale of life in Ireland revolving around newly widowed Nora Webster and her family.  Perhaps it is a highly romanticised view of life in Ireland in the 1960's (my mother said that she didn't think Brooklyn was an authentic or accurate representation of Ireland in the time that it was set) and I do think in some ways it seemed like life for Nora Webster was perhaps too easy even in difficult times.  However, I liked it overall and found it to be an enjoyable easy read.

I believe that my mother has a book in her.  I love to hear her and my aunts talk about their childhood and what it was like to grow up in a family of thirteen children in Dublin.  My mother was born in the 1950's and the tales she tells are of an Ireland gone by.

An Ireland where the big treat at Christmas time was when my granddad set up his train and would put an open bag of crisps (chips) in a carriage.  When he stopped the train in front of a particular child they got to take a crisp.  How cute - small pleasures in life!

Or an Ireland where my mother as a young girl wished for a bike from Santa.  And finally one Christmas she heard the clink of metal and fell asleep happy in the knowledge that she was finally getting what she had desired for, only to wake up and find out that her sister had got a typewriter. 

Or as she got older and when going on dates, my mam and sisters would buy fabric and patterns and would make an outfit for the weekend.  Thinking of all of these stories that my mother tells me one would perhaps come to the assumption that life in Ireland has always been happy, joyful and pleasant - however as we all know that has not always been the case......  

I digress.....let's get back to what else I read.

In one of the malls we visited, I bought "The Racketeer" by John Grisham which was one of his typical novels that are perfect for a beach read.  Vaguely predictable it still kept me entertained til the end.  I also bought Malcom Gladwell's "What the dog saw". Having enjoyed "Outliers" and other books by Gladwell I was entertained by "What the dog saw" but only got through the first bit as I switched to Andre Agassi's biography on Kindle as Ciaran finished it on the second last day (he really enjoyed it - I've always compared his style of playing squash to Andre's tennis style).  So currently I am partly through both of these and who know's when I will finish them.  However, I am currently in Starbucks and I do have the Kindle with me so maybe I will dip in to Agassi's life again! (edit 1/1//2015. I finished the Agassi biography - wow I never knew is all I will say!!!)