(Besides, we have the SCIENCE FAIR tonight. What a rite of passage for us as parents! I am completely stressing out about whether or not we were able to strike the right balance of giving David enough support to feel successful but letting it be clearly HIS project and HIS success.)
But I thought I would offer a book recommendation today. (I've had a few requests for book recommendations since this post, but, as you can see, I never seem to get around to it.) And what could be more appropriate today than to share my favorite Irish novel?
Ulysses by James Joyce.
Just kidding!!
This here little book is my favorite Irish novel.
Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane.
It's one of those books that is engaging: you want to move along quickly as the mystery at the story's core unfolds. But the prose is so lovely (Deane is a poet after all) that you want, at the same time, to slow down and savor each page.
The unnamed narrator of the novel is a young boy in Northern Ireland, not long after World War II. He gradually uncovers his family's secrets, discovers their depths, and realizes their sad consequences. In that very Irish way, the political is personal in this book. And in Northern Ireland, the political is close cousins with violence. But Reading in the Dark isn't about Ireland or about politics; it's about people, about a family, and it feels very private and intimate.
One of my favorite things about this book is its portrayal of an earnest, loving, and nurturing father. So rare! (Especially in Irish literature.) The young narrator sees his father treat his wife, the boy's mother, with tenderness, even as he is losing her to mental illness. The father isn't perfect--he's a multifaceted character responding with human emotions to difficult problems--which makes him all the more real and refreshing.
This is a sad, but very tender story in a lovely, engaging, and accessible novel.
If you're not in the mood for green food coloring or green glitter, may I suggest curling up with this book instead.
