Maureen Kennelly Arts producer
As well as a novel, I usually have a collection of short stories on the go. I don't read a whole pile of non-fiction, though on the last break I read the potter Edmund De Waal's memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes– exquisite. I don't distinguish between what I read in summer and at other times, but I'm addicted to the total immersion in reading that holidays bring. I love the anticipation of days of doing nothing but reading.
I am the laziest, most unadventurous tourist, regarding all notions of day trips, etc, as unnecessary intrusion into reading time. And I love the association of sun and heat with some of my favourite books. Reading Richard Ford's Independence Day in the heat of Sicily was perfect. Joe O'Connor's Ghost Lightis worth reading alone for the account of Synge and Molly's holiday in Wicklow. Hugo Hamilton's latest book Hand in the Firebrilliantly evokes a summer in Dún Laoghaire.
Jonathan Dee is a new name this side of the Atlantic and his The Privilegesis brilliant. At the moment I'm reading Requisite Kindness, a novella by American writer Richard Bausch – he deserves to be better known over here. Next is Emma Donoghue's Room, stories by AL Kennedy and Per Petterson's latest, which I know I am going to love.
As told to
TONY CLAYTON-LEA
