Small Things Like These
by Claire Keegan · first published 2020
100% recommend
It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.
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…did not request those so I omitted them. You're welcome. Klara and The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan The Endurance by Carloine Alexander How To Live by Sarah Bakewell (Life of Montaigne) Now Way Down by Graham Bowley The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor The Power of Geography…
on “Ask HN: Which are the most interesting books you have read in 2022?” ↗…- A short stay in hell (sci-fi): A modern take on Library of Babel. Pretty dark. Quick read. - The Burried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Nominally fantasy, but not really. Great, like his other books. - Small things like these (fiction). Set in 1900s Ireland, atmospheric. I learned about Magdalene laundries from this book. - Parable of the Sawer by Octavia E. Butler, science fiction. Collapse of society, survival etc. Pretty…
on “Ask HN: End of Year Book Recommendations” ↗…working my way through Cormac McCarthy. This year I read Suttree and The Crossing, which are both excellent IMO. I discovered these beautifully written character observations: Matrix (Lauren Groff), Small Things Like These (Claire Keegan), and The Crimson Petal and the White (Michael Farber). Not exactly unknown in the fantasy genre, but Joe Abercrombie’s Age of Madness trilogy is great. I think Abercrombie is actually…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023” ↗