We asked Irish authors, artists and presenters about the books they like to curl up with at Christmas…
Claire Byrne, Presenter
“When I’m coming up to a break, I squirrel away a few books I can look forward to. The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) might not be full of festive cheer but it’s the size of a large yoga block and will fill those lovely, long days between Christmas and New Year.
My favourite book is Jane Eyre and Christmas is always the perfect time to go back to it. Graham Herterich (The Cupcake Bloke on Instagram) published his fi rst book last year, and it is a beautiful book to give as a gift . Of course, the people in my life who love rhinestones and sequins will all want Dolly Parton’s new ode to her unique style, Behind The Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, but I might find it hard to part with that one.”
John Boyne, Author.
“New novels are rarely published in December, which makes Christmas a good opportunity for catching up with books you haven’t had a chance to read during the year or a classic that’s been sitting unopened on your shelves for too long. I’ve never read George Eliot’s Middlemarch and have decided it’s time to remedy this.
I am looking forward to Michael Cunningham’s Day and Nathan Hill’s Wellness. While I don’t mean to be deliberately patriotic, novels by three Irish writers will defi nitely be under the tree as gift s for family and friends: Claire Kilroy’s Soldier Sailor, Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, and Sarah Gilmartin’s Service, each of which is beautifully written, engaging, and insightful.”
Bríd Higgins Ní Chinnéide, Artist.
“I always like to have a novel on the go, and then a nonfiction book or two for periphery reading on subjects such as painting, female art biographies, or anything to do with Russia.
I enjoyed The Baby on the Fire Escape by Julie Phillips and I’m reading This Dark Country by Rebecca Birrell, two fabulous books that explore aspects of living as a female artist. This Christmas I’d love to get From Ten to Dusk by Cristín Leach, and Everybody by Olivia Laing.”
Liz Nugent, Author.
“I don’t have a particular book I save for Christmas reading as I am always trying to conquer the To Be Read tower of books beside my bed. But sometimes I like to save a book that has already been published, which I didn’t read in proof form. This year, it is Anne Enright’s The Wren, The Wren.
The book I am most likely to gift to my writer friends is Annie West’s superb and hilarious graphic novel, The Late Night Writers Club.”
Martin Dyar, Poet and Curator of the 2024 Listowel Writer’s Week festival
Perhaps because childhood memories return with such power, and because it is a time of major reflection, at Christmas, the desire to read is strong. We’ll read, we tell ourselves, and in our well-earned concentration we’ll come to terms with it all. The words will work as surrogates for peace. I will be looking forward to spending time with Bernard O’Donoghue’s translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (a Christmas fable) and Mike McCormack’s This Plague of Souls, which I will re-read. It includes a wintery meditation on the personalities of old farm gates, a summons home to Mayo.
Kathy Rose O’Brien, Actor
I like to give first or vintage editions as Christmas gifts if the giftee has a favourite author or book. First Editions or Ulysses Rare Books bookshops are gems to visit but often I’ll get lost searching?abebooks.com?for an eye-catching dust-jacket or meaningful publication year. This Christmas my gifting theme is “guilty pleasures”, minus the guilt. First up, Mariella Frostrup’s Desire: 100 of Literature’s Sexiest Stories, a delicious compendium for the bedside table or, more provocatively, the coffee table. A friend who is as tempted by travel as she is by interior design will appreciate A Year In The French Style: Interiors & Entertaining by Antoinette Poisson with photographs by creative director and Irish-woman-living-in-Provence, Ruth Ribeaucourt.
Siobhan McNutt, Artist
This Christmas, I will be poring over Marlene Dumas: Open End, a compendium of over 100 works by the South African painter, one of the most exciting artists of our time. I will cosy up with Wild Shores:The Magic of Ireland’s Coastline, an inspiring clockwise journey through some of Ireland’s wildest places by ecologist Richard Nairn, which will make a great gift for my swimmer friends. I’m currently flying through Colin Walsh’s addictive debut novel, Kala, and will likely gift this to my mum who loves a good thriller. Coming up to Christmas, I’ll reread The Power of Now by Ekhart Tolle, for more peace and less haste. I’ll be buying a set of Tove Jansson Moomin books for my daughter. A timeless classic: who can resist those little trolls?
Sophie White, Author
Christmas reading is always a very specific type of reading. For starters, there is a book that I have to read every year – it is a complete non-negotiable. It is of course The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore. I’d be very happy with this tradition except that my kids demand it from about October on so the festive cheer is wearing thin by Christmas Eve. Perhaps this is the reason for my particular passion at Christmas time: a yearly crime spree. To be clear, a crime spree of the literary kind, including Irish crime writers like Andrea Mara, Catherine Ryan Howard, Amanda Cassidy and Liz Nugent. I’ll try and save the new Lisa Jewell for Christmas time.
Matt Cooper, Presenter and Author
Lots of books come across my desk each year, many ahead of doing a radio interview with the author. The mammoth Walter Isaacson biography of Elon Musk might be a (big) stocking filler I’ll give to friends, on the assumption they’ve already got my new book! I’ve done better with reading fiction this year, going through a few brilliant Jennifer Egan novels having been given one as a present last Christmas, and I also loved the new Dennis Lehane novel Small Mercies.
Claire Kilroy, Author
I have a few novels I like to reread but all of them are emotionally devastating and not one bit Christmassy. There’s one exception: Headlong by Michael Frayn. Like everything by Frayn, Headlong is so damn funny. Set in the English countryside and starring posh idiots and middle-class fools, it centres around a mystery: whether or not an old painting is in fact a lost masterpiece. I’m due a reread of Anne Enright’s The Green Road – the big shop on Christmas Eve chapter became an instant classic for a reason. I only seem to give children’s books as gifts these days. Tom’s Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce is wonderful to read to a child.
Francis Brennan, Hotelier, TV Presenter and Author
I recently re-read?Hotel du Lac?by Anita Brookner and the descriptions and the language had me enthralled once more. I am collecting books to read and give over Christmas. This is a novelty as normally I have hotel guests to look after, but not this year! I am especially looking forward to giving as gifts Claire Keegan’s?So Late in the Day, Sheila O’Flanagan’s Better Together, Paul Murray’s?The Bee Sting, Emily Hourican’s?An Invitation to the Kennedys?and Jess Redden’s new cookbook?The Food Pharmacy.
Tony Bates, Author and Psychologist
This year, we acquired a few acres of agricultural land bordering the Duff River in Co Leitrim, our dream has long been to grow native trees and have a plot of land with a river flowing through it where we nurture plants, herbs and vegetables. I look forward to curling up with two closely related books this Christmas: Eoghan Daltun’s book, An Irish Atlantic Rainforest and Manchan Magan’s Listen to the Land Speak. Each in its way explores why we have all become so alienated from the land and how we can rebuild a relationship with nature as an animating force in our lives.
Jess Redden, Author
Even though it’s been over two decades since the Harry Potter series was written, I always find myself going back to one of JK Rowling’s masterpieces during the festive season.?All through the year, crime fiction is my staple genre of choice, but in the lead-up to Christmas I love nothing better than a fantasy novel or good romance to curl up with in the dark evenings.?I like to give as a gift a book that has left me feeling happier, inspired or motivated – more often than not that would be a biography or self-help book.
Aoife Barry, Author and Journalist
When it comes to festive comfort reads, I always reach for Nigel Slater’s gorgeous The Christmas Chronicles (which makes a fab gift, too). Nigel’s writing feels like a friend giving you a warm hug. Last Christmas, I loved dipping into The Year of Miracles by Ella Risbridger, which was a gift from a friend. It’s ostensibly a cookbook, but is also a beautiful read about grief.