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Here are some of the most popular titles borrowed by you in 2022, our book-loving Dublin City library members. It’s great to see the One Dublin One Book choice, the Dublin Literary Award winner and some short-listed titles making the list. And always great to see Irish writers featuring so strongly as well.
Today we are recommending two titles on BorrowBox by legendary Irish writer Edna O’Brien. O'Brien, (born December 15, 1930, Twamgraney, County Clare, Ireland), Irish novelist, short-story writer, and screenwriter whose work has been noted for its portrayal of women, evocative description, and sexual candour.In The Forest is based on a horrendous true story of crime and terror that took place in Ireland in 1994. It’s an exceptional example of how real life can be stranger than fiction. Set in the countryside of western Ireland, In the Forest centres on unwitting victims for sacrifice: a radiant young woman, her young son and a trusting priest, all despatched to the wilderness of a young man's unbridled, deranged fantasies. Beautiful descriptions and a great array of voices tell the story of a murderer and his crime, the place where it happened, and the people it happened to. The author does a great job at creating an intense atmosphere, and it will keep you at the edge of your seat with each chapter. O'Brien's riveting, frightening and brilliantly told novel reminds us that anything can happen when protection isn't afforded to either perpetrator or victim. The writing is excellent and the author manages to effortlessly hold the reader’s attention.Girl. Captured, abducted and married into Boko Haram, the narrator of this story witnesses and suffers the horrors of a community of men governed by a brutal code of violence. Barely more than a girl herself, she must soon learn how to survive as a woman with a child of her own. Just as the world around her seems entirely consumed by madness, bound for hell, she is offered an escape of sorts - but only into another landscape of trials and terrors amidst the unforgiving wilds of northeastern Nigeria, through the forest and beyond; a place where her traumas are met with the blinkered judgement of a society in denial.This novel is short and spare. It’s the story of one girl’s struggle to survive against all odds. The author fictionalizes the true story of the girls who were kidnapped by the Boko Haram in 2014. The news horrified the world at the time and yet the international community did little to help them. It’s painful and challenging to listen to. It forces us to enter the dense jungle of pain, fear and trauma that the young girl Maryam experienced. A difficult read but I highly recommend it.Access eBooks/eAudiobooks on your phone, tablet or reader. Once you have installed the app, search for Dublin in the ‘Library’ field provided and then sign in using your library membership card number and PIN.Members of other library authorities will need to access BorrowBox using a different link.Submitted by Geraldine H.
As you’re probably aware, last year we entered what’s being called the decade of commemoration. It began with the centenary of the lockout, and continues now with the onset of World War One. This war was such a catalyst: The world was a completely different place at the end of those four years than it had been at the start of them; and the sheer bad luck of that generation, finding themselves plunged into a maelstrom, is heartbreaking. The centenary brings a surfeit of material, and with it a danger of overkill, but that will pass, and the commemorative material and research will be invaluable down the line. In the meantime, here is a sample of both fiction and non-fiction looking at the war from different viewpoints.ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONTThe German viewpoint. One of the earliest, and best, novels written about the war, and from the perspective of a German soldier, who has joined up straight out of school with his classmates: ‘We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces’. The regular German soldier suffered just as much at the hand of fate as their counterparts, dealing with mismanagement, poor equipment, hunger, rats, slaughter, and yearning for a normal life: on one of their regular forays to the front they pass a mass of new coffins, ready and waiting for them. Remarque also wrote a sequel called The Road Back, which continues the story of the surviving characters, and describes their rehabilitation into a corrupt and uncaring society.A COWARD IF I RETURN, A HERO IF I FALLThe Irish viewpoint. Up until very recently, Ireland denied its role in the war: the Easter Rising executions and subsequent rise in nationalism changed the public’s view of the Irish Fusiliers from heroes to traitors; and men and boys who had joined up for a variety of reasons – financial, a sense of duty, a belief that it would further Home Rule, or purely for adventure – returned to find themselves booed and shunned by society, unemployable, and erased from their family history. Now, with a century’s distance, this view is changing, and this book commemorates through diaries and interviews with family members the significant and substantial role of Irishmen. The book admirably refuses to glorify, just to acknowledge.DOROTHEA’S WARA nurse’s viewpoint. The diary of Dorothea Crewdson, a volunteer nurse in France from 1915 to 1919, preparing wounded soldiers to get back to England to convalesce. A typical nurse, she is practical and unfazed in the face of horrific injuries, shellshock, and bombs, and continues nursing the wounded well into 1919. Lots of interesting little details, including Fords, flappers (in 1916!), and how messenger dogs were showered with (harmless) bombs while being fed to accustom them to the noise. The diary includes Dorothea’s very vibrant little line sketches.A BRASS HAT IN NO-MAN’S-LANDThe old soldier’s viewpoint. The memoir of a Northern Irish Protestant with a military background, who joins the Royal Irish Fusiliers in Dublin. Crozier describes how the men thrown together from both sides of the Irish divide found it difficult to free themselves from their insular and parochial mindsets, and to work together as a team. This book makes uncomfortable reading: it’s pretty graphic and Crozier freely admits in his memoir that his job was to provide cannon fodder; that said, he states that it’s far better for humanity to eradicate war itself than to pretend it can be undertaken without brutality. The voice and tone are very much of their time, but then this is what helps us develop a deeper understanding of a world we find difficult to relate to.IRELAND’S MEMORIAL RECORDSThis CD-ROM, produced by Eneclann, contains the records of more than 49,000 Irishmen who died in this war. Easy to use, with clear instructions, it gives each individuals rank and company details, and date and location of death. This is just a small selection of material exploring the First World War. There are many others, both fiction and non-fiction: highly recommended is the Monica Roberts Collection of letters from soldiers, now available to view online at Digital Repository Ireland.