The new policeman - Kate Thompson

Yet another one of those books that have been waiting on the shelf for years and that I enjoyed more than I expected I would. I wasn’t even sure what it was about, just that once someone told me it was good. And yet, the right time for it only came now. I devoured this in less than two days. It was that good. It’s also about everything I love. Ireland, for starters. It’s set in a delightful little village I’ve visited more than once, in county Galway. It’s about traditional Irish music, and even though I’m not the biggest fan of trad, or diddly aye as my friends from the wesht call it, I do enjoy a session every now and then. It really shows the true heart of Ireland. And finally, it’s about magic, folklore and mythology. About the Tuatha de Danann and the great Irish heroes of the old sagas.Only, not like you’ve read them before.
Life in Kinvara seems to go as usual, except it isn’t. Time is slipping away too fast and people never seem to have enough of it. There is a new policeman in town, but he’s not so sure he’s right for the job and he’d rather play his fiddle in the pub than investigate crimes. Then there’s 15-year-old JJ Liddy who bears his mother’s family name with pride (The Liddys have been for their music and their ceili for years), until one day his friend tells him his great-grandfather murdered a priest, and he’s not sure about being a Liddy anymore. He doesn’t know anything about his family’s past and now his mother realises it’s time to tell him the truth. But soon JJ realises there’s more at stake than his family pride. His determination to buy more time for his mother, as she asked for her birthday present, brings him to the edge of reality in a quest to fix time and fulfil his mother’s wishes.
This was a multi-layered story that was satisfying on many levels. It was filled with humour, with characters instantly easy to love, with an almost tangible love for music and for dancing and for communal traditions carried forward for generations with love and pride. And then there was a not-so-subtle criticism towards the present times, or the present at the time of the novel, when Ireland was at the height of its economic boom, which happened so sudden and so fast that it had earned the name Celtic tiger. No one had time for anything anymore, except making money, buying houses and cars and climbing the career ladder. This was not a huge part of the story but it did linger there, understated, until the ending, when it becomes more obvious.
 But what I loved the most was the new take on the Irish “Gods”. I especially loved Angus and the Dagda, and Bran the dog, and everything that had to do with them. I was slightly concerned about JJ, because unlike him, I did remembered what happened to Oisin in the legends. But still, you don’t need to know too much about old Irish sagas to enjoy this. If anything, it’d make you want to read more about them. But even if this was the only book you’d ever read about them, I think it’d be a good one.
The ending was the cherry on the cake. You find out who the new policeman really is and even though I had an inkling, I hadn’t guessed the full story, and it’s brilliant!

Songs I can't live without these days

It's been a while since I did a music post. OK, it's been a while since I did an "anything" post, but regardless. I'll like to share some songs that I really really love at the minute, cause you should love them too.

Laura by Bat for Lashes


Ever since I saw her performing this live, I can't stop listening to it. It's just such a beautiful song.

New Ceremony by Dry the River



Their whole album is brilliant, but this song in particular lifts me up every time. It makes me want to sing to the top of my lungs and bounce around the room. They're fantastic live too.

Tallulah by Allo Darlin'



My favourite track of their new album

Run by Daughter



I don't know much about this artist, but this song is great.

Le Temps de l'amour by Francoise Hardy



Have you seen "Moonrise Kingdom"? If you have, then you know why I'm listening to this. If you haven't, go watch it now. You won't regret it, I promise.

Will You Please Spend New Year's With Me? by Allo Darlin'



Another Allo Darlin' song because they're perfect and because it's almost that time of the year.

Bonus Track:

Eternal Flame by The Bangles



This is only a recent addiction. I had never heard of this song before until my friends sang it at karaoke last Saturday. They sold it to me so well that now I can't stop listening to it.

That's it for now. What songs are you addicted to at the moment?

New passions

Last Sunday I've been to the Ukulele festival in Dun Laoghaire. Beside having a wonderful day in the sunshine (and occasional liquid sunshine, too), listening to great gigs and meeting beautiful people, I've been struck with a sudden and irrepressible desire to own a ukulele. I entered the raffle convinced I'd win one, but alas, it wasn't meant to be so easy. By Tuesday my fickle desire hadn't evaporate yet, so off I went to by myself one! I am now the proud owner of a cheap but lovely wooden ukulele and I am on my way to "accomplish my goal of becoming a proficient ukulele player", according to the Ukuelele Method Book 1 's introduction.
Now, the last time I ever read a note on a music sheet, I was probably thirteen. And they were in Italian. Playing an instrument or reading music, I can safely say, is NOT like cycling. But I'm hopeful. I've only practised for about two hours last night and it's going swimmingly. Let's see how long it'll last.

It will be easy to remain inspired, if I keep attending gigs as great as the ones I've been to lately. There are so many amazing musicians here and everywhere. The Dublin scene is full of them.
One of these special musicians I'd like to introduce you is the crazily talented Riona Sally Hartman. I had the pleasure to listen to her live last Monday in the International Bar, during the Glor Sessions, and I was mesmerised. Listen to her and you'll know why.

Seasnail by Ríona Sally Hartman


Kamikaze by Ríona Sally Hartman

"Oh Rapunzel!" by Ríona Sally Hartman

04 Song for the Dead, Song for the Living by Ríona Sally Hartman

Also, not a new passion, but FLORENCE HAS A NEW SONG AND VIDEO OUT!
And a RELEASE DATE (November 7th) for her NEW ALBUM!


*happy happy dance*

Some tunes...

So, I'm almost ready to post my first review of the year, I just need to write it...But in the meantime I'd like to share with yous some tunes I've been loving recently. My old mac has passed away few days ago unfortunately, and I'm waiting for the IT guys to back it up for me, so I'm left with NO music on my new laptop. Thank the Elders of the Internet for sites like the hypemachine and we7, I'm not left completely musicless.
I'm really into happy, carefree, summery songs so that's what this post is gonna be about.
Here we go:
The Magic Kids - Hey Boy

	The Magic Kids - Hey Boy .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Summer Fiction - Chandeliers

	Summer Fiction - Chandeliers .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Tennis - Marathon

	Tennis - Marathon - Mastered AAC .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

The Love Language - Hard to Tell

	The Love Language - Heart to Tell .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Generationals - Trust

	Generationals - Trust .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Avi Buffalo - What's in it for?

	Avi Buffalo· - Whats In It For? .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Summer Camp - Ghost Train

	Summer Camp - ghost train .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Cults - Go Outside

	Cults - Go Outside .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes - Home

	Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Also, I'm falling in love with Adele. I haven't listened to her new album yet and can't wait to! Rolling in the deep is such a powerful single, the whole album must be amazing. What I'm going to share here is her version of Promise this by Cheryl Cole. I'm glad she has a soft spot for Cheryl as I do. She's my guilty pleasure. Luckily I don't need to feel guilty to like Adele's version :)

	Adele Covers Cheryl Cole& 39;s "Promise This& 39;"For BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge.mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

and that's all for now :)

New Directions

Lately I've been trying to come up with a cool name for a new blog, a place where I could talk about other things beside books. About all the stuff that are going on in my life, about the music I listen to or the things I've knitted, or what my latest cooking experiment tasted like. I thought I wanted to leave this place for books only, although there hasn't been much of those here either.
But then I realised the easiest solution would be to just use this one. It's my blog after all, I can post whatever I want, right?
So yeah, from now on, officially, I will talk about anything, which will include books too (I could never give up those. Actually, I will post two reviews soon), but not exclusively.

Ever since I lost my job at the bookstore (oh yeah, another thing I never mentioned here...) I have had lots of time to dedicate to the things I love doing. Less reading and more "making". I'm editing my NaNoWriMo novel, which is due to be finished by the end of June, in order to avail of the offer for a free printed copy. I still very much doubt my ability to write anything close to good, but it's a good exercise and I'm taking it for what it is.
Also, only recently I've started to exercise again. I live just beside a wonderful park, and I've taken up jogging there in the morning. I like it so much that I have to stop myself from going every day. Apparently there needs to be a day of rest in between training. I'm increasing gradually the running time and I love to see how much I'm improving each time.
Then of course there's the knitting. I haven't made much lately, but I'm not giving it up. I can't wait to get those photos ready so I can show you the pretty stuff I have made.
More importantly, being unemployed meant that I could apply for a training course free of charge. I had been thinking of starting my own business for quite a while now, and here was my opportunity to make it come true. I won't talk about what it is until it's closer to being actually real, but I'm really excited about it. So now I'm still doing this business course, there's about a month to go and then there will be hundreds of things to do to make it happen. It will involve cooking, this I can say. I have long given up teaching. It was cool for a while, but it's not my thing. While I think this may very well be it.
So that's about it. I hope it's going to be fun:)
I leave you with some more videos of songs I've recently come to love. Hope you like them. xxx

"Old Times" by Whispertown 2000


"The ghost who walks" by Karen Elson


"Rabbit Fur Coat" by Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins


and lastly, a band I'm loving lots at the moment. This song sounds so much like those cartoon songs of my childhood, and obviously I'm mad for it:)
"I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star" by The Boy least likely to

Other stuff I've listening to (and stuff I've been doing)

Slowly I'm returning to my usual self. I'm just back from a much needed holiday in Madrid. I had never been to Spain and I loved it. I struggled at first with the language, but by the second day I was already able to have a simple conversation with the locals! When they learned I was Italian they stopped answering to me in English and let me experiment with my elementary Spanish, which was fun. I took Spanish in school but that's like more than twelve years ago (at least)...I remember liking it very much but I never used it until this week. I was surprised at how much it came back to me speaking it.
It was also my first experience at travelling alone and it was definitely a hit. There were so many other people travelling alone and always ready for a chat or to join me to explore the city. I met some very strange but joyful people, and ate lots of delicious food (mostly tapas). I will post the pictures as soon as I develop and scan them (yes, I still don't own a digital camera...)

This holiday also brought me back to books. I started reading The Dreaming Place by Charles de Lint on the plane. I chose a short book as I didn't trust myself to read something too long. But by the end of the first day in Madrid I had finished it. So I went book-hunting. I found a bookshop which had books in English and bought My family and other animals by Gerald Durrell and I am enjoying it very much. Then I also got a YA book in Spanish, cause I plan to keep re-learning it. I've already read two chapters, for which I'm really proud. The book is El coleccionista de relojes extraordinarios by Laura Gallego García, who, according to the local bookseller, is a good author. I'm really intrigued by it so I'll let you know my thoughts on it.
I decided to leave Enna Burning at home, cause I only have the last few chapters left, and didn't want to finish it too soon and then carry it around for nothing. But I will finish it today or tomorrow. I did love it, although it has taken me ages to read it.

OK, so now for the music part of this blog post:

I love love love the Slow Club. I wish they played here. I wished they did the Electric Picnic, it'd be perfect. I need to see them live! I love almost all their songs but this one, I can't get enough of. I love singing along to it, it's lovely.
ps: I was sure there was a beautiful music video for this song, but I can't find it anymore.


Another band I'm loving for their soft 60's sound is Camera Obscura. This is their best song i think:


As most of these artists, I've only started to listen to Cathy Davey very recently, but I immediately loved her style. She's playing here soon, but I'm still thinking whether I should go. 26 euro seems a lot for someone I just started to know, but I know I would enjoy it. Hmm, dilemmas...
This is her latest single:


On an extremely different note, I'm loving the latest Beth Ditto look on Gossip's new video for Pop goes the World. The song is cool, but her hair is the best part. It's purple! And Blue! And her make-up! And her whole thing! Fantastic.

GOSSIP - POP GOES THE WORLD from V Magazine on Vimeo.

I'm finishing here with a treat for myself, basically. It's Florence's new song. She debuted it in Dublin, but I couldn't get tickets. Thank the Internet Gods for Youtube. I knew she was going to play something new, and I couldn't wait to listen to it. You can barely understand any lyrics, but it doesn't matter. It's Florence's new song for Pete's sake!! What else could *you* want?!

What I've been listening to

OK, so the truth is, I haven't read anything in more than a week. Must be a record. But I have been doing lots of knitting, and listening to music in the meantime. So I thought I'd share my latest discoveries with yous, and keep this neglected blog afloat.

One of my favourite songs of the past week or so is Johnny Flynn's Tickle Me Pink.
I have no idea what it means, just that it sounds very poetic and deep, and has an infectious melody.
Here's the video:


Another band I've been into recently is She & Him. They make this soft 60's pop which puts me immediately in a good mood. It's the perfect music to listen to in the morning. I love Zooey's voice!
Their first track in the album is my favourite.


Most of this new discoveries come from LastFm. Sometimes the recommendations are a complete failure and sometimes they are a revelation, or just a very pleasant surprise.
Lykke Li falls into the latter category. I thought she was so so at the beginning, but the more I listen to her the more I like her.


Then there's First Aid Kit. There's something about these two Swedish sisters that I find irresistible. They have catchy songs, the play guitars and some other weird instrument I can't identify cause I don't know shit about music, and they do all this in a forest!


And how can I not mention my latest crush Amanda Palmer? I went to her gig in Dublin at the last minute and it was the weirdest most amazing thing I've ever been to. It was messy and chaotic and fun and full of heart and enthusiasm. I've been listening to her stuff and the Dresden Dolls ever since and they're fantastic. But what you need to watch here is a video from the gig I was in. It's called Fuck the Ash Cloud. It's hilarious. It's a song she and Neil Gaiman wrote over skype the night before or something. The two other guys on the stage are from Bitter Ruins, an improvised supporting band who were pretty cool in their own right. You can't see it on the video but Jason Webley was on a big screen on Skype beside Amanda and he was posting some cute pictures of Amanda and Neil being kept apart by the ash cloud. That's why people go "awwww" at some point!

Ok, this is getting way longer than I thought. I'll have to post a part II later. I have some many more bands I'd like to share.
But I'll leave you with something which will explain my recent moods. The lyrics are basically almost exactly what she's been telling me, and why I've been in some a shitty state. I know there's nothing I can't do to change her mind, but it still hurts. So there.

The Electric Picnic 2009

After few days away from the blogosphere, it's scary to come back and try to fit in again. So much it's been going on and I haven't been part of it. Not that I'm much of a blogger socialite, but looking at my 1000+ unread posts on my Reader, I feel overwhelmed and intimidated. I'll take a step at a time and just post some photos of the festival I was telling you about. It was so much more than I expected. It's not just about the music, even though the thing that will stay with me forever and which is standing out from the whole experience, was seeing Florence and the Machine live. I tried to get tickets to see them again in Dublin but it was physically impossible. They sold out in minutes. So here's few photos I took personally:


I also really enjoyed Julie Feeney. She's so unique, and such a great performer, even though ever so shy when it comes to the talking bits.

Another gig I loved was the Flaming Lips. Such a show!
But if I have to be perfectly honest, the reason that made me decide to go was the presence of my beloved drag queens. They had their own tent, called Poptopia, and they were amazing.

Photo taken from Facebook, can't remember from who!

Especially Veda Beaux Reves. She should be a huge rock star, she looked stunning on that stage and the reviewer on The Irish Times loved her too!


I was saying there was so much more than music. It's not called Music and Arts Festival for nothing.The whole festival was so artistic. It looked to me like a big fun fair for adults. Everywhere you turned there was something to photograph, especially in the Body and Soul Area. It was so pretty!
This is a part of the stage there.
This is me inside the sculpture of an elk!

This is Natasha's food stall. She makes everything completely raw, with no dairy, no wheat, no gluten, no sugar. And it's delicious. The chocolate cake was the best chocolate cake I've ever had. No kidding.
The rest of the food stalls were also really good, if not cheap. The tofu burgers at the Vegan and Vegetarian place were a favourite. So were the "bloody mary" crumpets at the Strumpets with Crumpets stall. I wish I took a picture of those. But my camera battery barely lasted to take pictures of Florence on the last day.
More pretty things on the stalls.


A new thing I tried there was the silent disco. SO MUCH FUN!

I bought myself a wholly hat because it was freezing at night. Here it is, where is sort of makes me look like a hobbit.
So many parents were carrying their kids around in these carts, and so many kids were dressed up as fairies. So cute:)
The ground was very very very very veeeeery muddy, sometimes resembling quick sands. It was great fun. You would have been very brave (or very foolish) not to wear a pair of wellies. I don't think I've ever seen that many people wearing wellies all in one place. The variety was incredible, I was jealous of basically every other girl who passed by me. I had nice pink flowery ones, but they leaked so I in the end I had to buy sensible green farmer-style ones, which weren't fashionable, but they kept me dry and warm!

I only have good memories about this festival. Even though the last day our tents got flooded, and we were covered in mud from head to toe and had to leave the tents there. Even though at night I barely got any sleep because the wankers beside us stayed up 24/7, drinking and being really annoying (I wondered if they saw anything else in the festival beside their gazebo). Even though I was freezing at night, and I didn't take any shower for 3 days, and my hair looked horrible all the time cause there was no power to use straighteners and if you wanted to use 10 minutes of hairdryer you had to pay 10 euro!
So despite all this, I can't complain one bit. It was awesome. I'd do it all again tomorrow. (although I'd bring warmer pjs, stronger tents and would find a quieter spot to camp!)

Blogging Break

I haven't written anything in a while. I haven't read much either. I start a book and then I put it down, and start another another one. I'm definitely not in the mood for reading, let alone talking about books. I hope this feeling goes away quickly because it doesn't feel like me. I want things to go back to normal, but I'm in such a state of internal turmoil these days, that I don't know when it will happen.
On the other hand music is easier, it makes me forget about things, and it heals.
I have been to a wonderful festival of music and arts called Electric Picnic last weekend, which happens in Ireland, in a big country field, like Glastonbury. It was my first time and it was amazing. I was walking in mud with wellies most of the time. We were camping out and barely got any sleep for three days. And it was all worth it!
I fell in love with Florence and the Machine. Such a powerful voice. I listen to her music on repeat now.
If you don't know her yet, check her out, but keep in mind that she sounds a million time better live. Mind-blowing!

Drumming Song

Rabbit Heart

Cosmic Love

Gotta go now, I'll be back to post some photos of the festival. And when things get calm again, I'll be a bookworm again.xxx

Quick post

This is not about books but if you like music read on!
I just found a link to download an album for free (I like those things) by an Irish songwriter, Adrian Crowley. I had never heard of him but I'm listening to it now and I really like it! He reminds me a bit of Nick Drake, but with a deeper voice. You have time till the 18th, so hurry up and let me know what you think!
To download go here.