Thread by @DrMagennis, For each working day of my sabbat (starting 28th Jan), I’m going [...]

For each working day of my sabbat (starting 28th Jan), I’m going to recommend Northern Irish fiction on this thread, focusing on voices outside of the mainstream.
For anyone who enjoyed Milkman, you might find more reading material, let me know if you pick them up! #NIFiction

1. Starting with @WednesdayErskin’s debut collection Sweet Home ( @stingingfly and now @picadorbooks). Really sharp stories of East Belfast that mark out a talent to keep an eye on. #NIFiction https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/sweet-home-is-a-debut-collection-that-lingers-long-in-the-memory-1.3618080

‘Sweet Home’ is a debut collection that lingers long in the memory

Wendy Erskine is a startling new voice from Belfast that comes alive in short story format

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/sweet-home-is-a-debut-collection-that-lingers-long-in-the-memory-1.3618080

2. I’m starting this thread with everything I loved this year, so next up is @michaelehughes’ darkly hilarious Country. While the classical allusions give depth to the usual Troubles story, it’s the language here that makes this a great read. @johnmurrays https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/10/country-michael-hughes-review-iliad-troubles

Country by Michael Hughes review – the Iliad transposed to the Troubles

Whether or not you recognise Homer’s characters in the IRA gang of Hughes’s second novel, the rhythmic language will keep you enthralled

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/10/country-michael-hughes-review-iliad-troubles

3. For the day that’s in in, The Big Snow by David Park @BloomsburyBooks A pre-Troubles tangle of interconnected stories with a crime plot at the centre. Lots of hidden secrets under that wintry blanket! https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-big-snow-9781408836231/

The Big Snow

Northern Ireland, 1963. In a house with windows flung defiantly wide, a wife dies before her husband can make his confession. Elsewhere, an old woman searches desperately for a wedding dress in her...

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-big-snow-9781408836231/

4. Next up is the forthcoming novel from @JanCarson7280 with @doubledayuk @PenguinUKBooks. Her best yet: dark, magical, powerful, endlessly inventive. https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1115876/the-fire-starters/9780857525741

The Fire Starters

**WINNER of the EU Prize for Literature** 'One of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation' SUNDAY TIMES 'Gripping, affecting, surprising. I inhaled it' LISA MCINERNEY...

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1115876/the-fire-starters/9780857525741

5. All my meagre knowledge of Northern Irish crime fiction comes from @NOALIBISBOOKS, and years ago they put @inkstainsclaire's The Lost in my hand. I couldn't put it down on the way home: so well plotted and Paula Maguire is such a fascinating character! https://www.writing.ie/interviews/the-lost-claire-mcgowan/

The Lost: Claire McGowan

Claire McGowan’s debut novel, The Fall, a standalone, was published in January 2012 to rave reviews. Her second novel, The Lost, is the first in a new series, featuring forensic psychologist, Paula…

https://www.writing.ie/interviews/the-lost-claire-mcgowan/

6. I loved @paul_mc_veigh’s hilarious yet tender novel The Good Son, from @saltpublishing. This great site has interviews and reviews of this fine book: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-good-son-by-paul-mcveigh-is-irish-times-book-club-choice-for-july-1.2706661

The Good Son by Paul McVeigh is Irish Times Book Club choice for July

Lisa McInerney, Lucy Caldwell, Danielle McLaughlin and other writers will explore this humorous, moving coming-of-age novel about a boy who takes on the Troubles

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-good-son-by-paul-mcveigh-is-irish-times-book-club-choice-for-july-1.2706661

7. A collection that’s very important to me, @beingvarious’ Multitudes. I wrote about why I found these stories compelling, and there’s a host of other resources here if you ever want to teach or write about these short stories. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/multitudes-a-post-troubles-cliche-free-intimate-portrayal-of-northern-ireland-1.2796863

Multitudes: a post-Troubles, cliche-free, intimate portrayal of Northern Ireland

Lucy Caldwell’s stories are dense in nostalgic detail and show an acute eye for the violence of adolescence and the complex process of negotiating a burgeoning sexuality

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/multitudes-a-post-troubles-cliche-free-intimate-portrayal-of-northern-ireland-1.2796863

8. @rosemaryj77’s collection Aphrodite’s Kiss is by turns funny, filthy and poignant. My MA students got quite a kick out of these stories: lovely to round off a module on trauma with something so slyly complex. @WhittrickPress http://www.irishnews.com/arts/2016/05/05/news/writer-rosemary-jenkins-on-here-comes-the-night-aphrodite-s-kiss-and-van-morrison-509062/

Writer Rosemary Jenkinson on Here Comes The Night, Aphrodite's Kiss and Van Morrison

PLAYWRIGHT Rosemary Jenkinson’s last Lyric-produced play – White Star of the North – came out in 2012 to mark the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, while her latest Lyric show (Here Comes the...

http://www.irishnews.com/arts/2016/05/05/news/writer-rosemary-jenkins-on-here-comes-the-night-aphrodite-s-kiss-and-van-morrison-509062/

9. Another @WhittrickPress short story collection, @berniemcgill’s Sleepwalkers, which is currently £2.99 on Kindle. Beautiful, sensual stories of love and grief that span the globe. http://berniemcgill.co.uk/sleepwalkers/

Sleepwalkers • Bernie McGill

Sleepwalkers - Darkly moving and beautifully written, Bernie McGill's collection of short stories explores the lives of women across generations. McGill's characters grapple with consequences of...

http://berniemcgill.co.uk/sleepwalkers/

10. I wish someone would make a playlist of @Heresmehere’s novel The Rest Just Follows. Plenty of his will pop up in this list but this one jumps out at me first for the music, the clothes, the haircuts, the vivid depiction of life as normal. @FaberBooks https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/12/the-rest-just-follows-glenn-patterson-review-friendship-troubles

The Rest Just Follows by Glenn Patterson review – 'Friendship and fallout from the Troubles'

Set against the backgdrop of conflict in Belfast, Patterson explores the life paths and friendships of three friends, from teen torments and triumphs to middle age, writes Stuart Neville

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/12/the-rest-just-follows-glenn-patterson-review-friendship-troubles

11. I’ll be recommending some vintage NI novels this week, beginning with Janet McNeill’s The Maiden Dinosaur, republished by @turnpikebooks. I love her prose: so controlled yet simmering underneath.

12. Give Them Stones by Mary Beckett. It’s worth finding a secondhand copy of this: such a classic of women’s rebellion and resilience during the Troubles. Also,

.
(This short IT piece includes a Mary Denvir/Bookfinders anecdote so I couldn’t resist) https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/in-praise-of-mary-beckett-by-carlo-g%C3%A9bler-1.2115457

In praise of Mary Beckett, by Carlo Gébler

Irish Women Writers series: ‘The stories are mostly about women in Belfast and they are all marvels – simple, pure, piercing and true’

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/in-praise-of-mary-beckett-by-carlo-g%C3%A9bler-1.2115457

13. With a recent reissue from @Valancourt_B, Stephen Gilbert’s Ratman’s Notebooks is probably the creepiest book on this list. Read it while I worked in Special Collections and genuinely thought I heard scuttling for the rest of my shift.
http://www.valancourtbooks.com/ratmans-notebooks-1968.html

13. I think about The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne quite often. It is a remarkable achievement. There will be lots of Moore on the list, but I thought I’d begin with this, read during my MA at QUB & helped me recognise the rich fictional tradition in NI
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/brian-moore-my-real-strength-is-that-i-am-a-truthful-writer-1.3726350

15. No Mate for the Magpie by Frances Molloy (Ann Brady), available from @PerseaBooks. Brilliant use of Derry dialect, wildly funny in places, fascinating on civil rights activism (the author was at Burntollet).
http://www.troublesarchive.com/artists/frances-molloy https://www.perseabooks.com/no-mate-for-the-magpie

No Mate For The Magpie — Persea Books

http://www.troublesarchive.com/artists/frances-molloy

16. Dedicating this week to some crime fiction (although the genre is so rich I’ve no doubt more will pop up here) with the caveat that I am an enthusiastic reader and not an expert. A great introduction is the collection Belfast Noir, edited by @adrianmckinty and @stuartneville

16. Continued: you can read @beingvarious’ story from this anthology and Multitudes here https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/poison-a-short-story-by-lucy-caldwell-1.2779966

Poison, a short story by Lucy Caldwell

Taken from the Belfast author’s acclaimed debut collection, Multitudes, it is a tale of master and pupil, transgression and guilt

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/poison-a-short-story-by-lucy-caldwell-1.2779966

17. I absolutely devoured @claireallan's Her Name Was Rose after reading about her in this great article and can't wait to read her new one! This is powerful and very well plotted. @HarperFiction @HarperCollinsUK https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-46509896

How crime pays for NI thriller writers

The ink dried on the Good Friday Agreement and crime fiction writers walked out of the shadows.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-46509896

18. From @NOALIBISBOOKS @NoAlibisPress, Disorder by @gerardbrennan.
Another book put into my hand in this great bookshop, and this time from their own press. Excellent weaving of the crime narrative into some post-conflict politics, and darkly funny.
https://www.irishnews.com/arts/2018/03/01/news/co-down-author-gerard-brennan-on-new-no-alibis-published-novel-disorder-1266106/

19. I like McNamee’s novels best when he writes about the relatively unexplored pre-Troubles period, & The Vogue is no exception. A crime novel that explores the relationships between secret histories, w/ a ringing endorsement from Anna Burns. @FaberBooks
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/10/vogue-by-eoin-mcnamee-review

20. Ending this first crime week with @BrianMcGilloway’s Borderlands, published by @panmacmillan. A particularly interesting read in the current political moment, but also quite the page turner.

21. This week, I’ll be recommending some writers who write in different genres. Beginning with @jozebwrites, an @ACNIWriting-supported science fiction & fantasy writer who does highly inventive things with traditional Irish topics. Nice antidote to all that realism!

22. I had genuinely not read anything like @JanCarson7280’s Children’s Children. Magic realism doesn’t seem to cut it for these dazzling, often hilarious stories.
Try a story here:
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/we-ve-got-each-other-and-that-s-a-lot-a-short-story-by-jan-carson-1.2476393
Review:
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/children-s-children-by-jan-carson-review-sharply-written-and-inventive-1.2569550

23. Prolific Belfast-born Bob Shaw is loved in the international science fiction community and I’ve spent too much time hunting these down in the book stores of North Street. Some also now available as e-books.

23. Continued: if it’s Irish science fiction that you’re interested in, may I strongly recommend @JFennellAuthor’s @TrampPress anthology A Brilliant Void, which includes writers North and South. Jack’s generally the expert on this writing.
https://www.tramppress.com/product/a-brilliant-void/

24. @IntrepidJane’s lively collection of grown-up fairytales from @BlackstaffNI. More, and an extract here: http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/features/literature/read-extract-faerie-thorn

25. A recent discovery: @R_B_Kelly’s Edge of Heaven. Speculative fiction with a great female protagonist. Really good, tense writing.
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/visions-of-a-bleak-future-in-rachaels-fantasy-world-34998710.html

26. This week, I’ll be highlighting writing for younger readers, much of which has been recommended by family members and students. Starting with @shirleyannemcm, a much-admired YA writer who never patronises her audience.

27. The wonderful novels of @sheenawriter. Am currently reading Star by Star ahead of our event in the @IWHCmanchester and it’d be great for any budding feminists: a lively tale of suffragettes, great for anyone from 12 onwards http://littleisland.ie/books/star-by-star/

28. The magical novels of @ClaireLSavage. Brilliant for younger readers, from 8 onwards.
https://humag.co/features/claire-savage

29. I couldn’t let this week go by without recommending some Joan Lingard. Born in Scotland, raised in Belfast, these books were a staple for me growing up and surely an influence on #derrygirls’ Friends Across the Barricade. Love will save us all?
http://www.niliteraryarchive.com/collection/across-barricades

30. The first ever Children’s Writing Fellow at the Heaney Centre, @MyraZepf publishes her lovely children’s books in Irish and English. My friends’ kids loved Ná Gabh ar Scoil!
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/books/myra-zepf-went-from-working-with-honey-monster-to-carrying-out-seamus-heaneys-wish-to-inspire-kids-to-pick-up-books-35685510.html

31. This week I’ll be looking at some fictional depictions of Belfast. Beginning with Maurice Leitch’s Silver’s City, with a handsome reissue from @turnpikebooks. Such a classic of Troubles lit, & this list will definitely feature a lot more of his work.
https://www.irishnews.com/arts/2017/05/25/news/maurice-leitch-on-relaunching-his-classic-troubles-novel-silver-s-city-1034811/

32. @beingvarious’ All the Beggars Riding, in which Belfast haunts the novel. Such a fascinating character study, and my third year students love it.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/lucy-caldwell-drawing-on-dynamics-from-belfast-to-iraq-1.1349176

33. One of my favourites: Glenn Patterson’s Fat Lad, a bittersweet story of returning to Belfast. Had to replace my tattered old copy with this lovely @blackstaffNI edition. While I love the depiction of 1990s Belfast & family ties, it’s also really funny.
http://www.troublesarchive.com/artforms/literature/piece/fat-lad

34. Anna Burns’ No Bones, reissued following her Booker win. This is a challenging but completely dazzling novel: a tough read but a necessary one. @seanehewitt advocates for it in the IT here https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/anna-burns-s-first-two-novels-bold-terrifying-funny-profound-1.3729146

35. Next, @mforbesauthor’s haunting Ghost Moth, which oscillates between Belfast in the 40s and 60s to offer something simmering and fascinating.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/04/ghost-moth-michele-forbes-review

36. @winniemli’s novel, set in Belfast, was the winner of The Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize. It’s a difficult read, but quite remarkable. Li talks about writing the novel here:
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/dark-chapter-my-rape-regrowth-and-recovery-1.2366419

37. Ciaran McMenamin’s Skintown is wild tale of hedonism. Review here:
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/skintown-review-pills-n-thrills-and-bellyaches-1.3023555

38. Can’t believe I’ve not had a Deirdre Madden on this list yet! She’s been writing so magnificently for years, and this is one of my favourites: compact, powerful and beautiful.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/14/deirdre-madden-troubles-work

39. My Father’s House by @StoriesByBeth. Recommended by Deirdre Madden, I loved this careful, lyrical novel of homecoming and belonging.
https://www.writing.ie/interviews/mastering-the-art-by-bethany-dawson/

40. Bank Holiday Hurricane by @KellyCreighto16. Such a distinctive voice and these short stories from @Doirepress are a great introduction to her writing. There’s a range of difficult emotions here, written about with skill.
Interview: https://humag.co/features/raw-emotion-and-fear

41. Anthology week begins with two collections, over thirty years apart, which seek to showcase women’s writing from Northern Ireland. There’s more than just prose in these great, important volumes.

42. Two stunning collections from @sineadgleeson and @NewIslandBooks. If anyone asks me where to start with Irish fiction, I send them here to discover a wealth of new and classic writing.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-glass-shore-review-a-further-feast-of-female-voices-1.2802050

43. Threads: Stories of Lesbian Life in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s, edited by Moya Morris, now available as an ebook. A really important glimpse into a lesser known history.
https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/specialcollections/lgbt-history-month-gay-rights-in-belfast-and-beyond-by-emma-reisz-nadine-gilmore-and-tom-hulme/

44. The Magilligan Sentence: An Anthology of Writing from H.M. Prison Magilligan, edited by John Brown. Obviously a mixed bag, but given the volume of Troubles & crime fiction, interesting to see these stories. More on the Prison Arts Foundation: http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/features/literature/magilligan-prison-writing

45. A few forthcoming anthology treats with NI interest:
1. Belfast Stories ( @lisaunderneath and @paul_mc_veigh from @Doirepress)
2. Being Various ( @beingvarious from @FaberBooks)
3. Still Worlds Turning ( @junecaldwell from @NoAlibisPress)

If you want to find out more about Northern Irish fiction with two class writers, I’ll be in conversation with @berniemcgill and @sheenawriter at the @IWHCmanchester on Monday.
Free tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bernie-mcgill-sheena-wilkinson-northern-irish-fiction-event-tickets-54920526774?ref=eios

46. This week I’ll be highlighting work by one of my favourite novelists, David Park with @BloomsburyBooks. Each of his books explore masculinity and vulnerability, and The Truth Commissioner is a particularly important novel in our current moment.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/feb/09/featuresreviews.guardianreview20

47. A really excellent collection of short stories from Park, Gods and Angels. This collection showcases an impressive range and lightness of touch.
Read one here: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/boxing-day-a-short-story-by-david-park-1.3126906

48. I’ve bought this for a few friends and family and everyone has been completely floored by it. Especially if you or your family has moved between Northern Ireland and the North of England, I heartily recommend Travelling in a Strange Land.

49. Everything I love in a novel: art, a Bob Dylan gig, miscommunication, secrets revealed on a trip to Amsterdam. Three wonderful parallel stories and multiple epiphanies.
I have an article about this novel, & @beingvarious’ All the Beggars Riding here: https://drmagennis.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/magennis-routledge-article.pdf

50. Park’s Swallowing the Sun is a powerful read: families, museums, class mobility.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/may/01/featuresreviews.guardianreview21

51. The enjoyable novels of @SharonOwensTea which prove that, yes, Northern Ireland can be the setting for a bit of romance.

52. A really exciting body of work from bestselling Lisburn crime writer @SSCav. Read an interview here:
https://www.irishnews.com/arts/2019/02/07/news/twisted-writer-steve-cavanagh-my-wife-and-banksy-gave-me-the-idea-for-new-novel-1541752/

53. I’m going to run this thread and the #ReadIrishWomenChallenge Day 10 together today and go for @OrlaMcAWrites charting decades of one family in The Accidental Wife. McAlinden has such an impressive range. Also: Portadown woman solidarity!
https://www.writing.ie/readers/the-accidental-wife-by-orla-mcalinden/

54. Another one from my home county: an anthology of flash fiction from @ArmaghWriters and @Byddi. It’s so great to see the community writing scene flourish all over NI, not just in Belfast.

https://www.byddilee.com/2019/02/exciting-news-from-flash-fiction-armagh/

54. Another one from my home county: an anthology of flash fiction from @ArmaghWriters and @Byddi. It’s so great to see the community writing scene flourish all over NI, not just in Belfast. https://www.byddilee.com/2019/02/exciting-news-from-flash-fiction-armagh/

55. Read this when I was in my first year at QUB instead of what I was meant to be reading. Helen Waddell was such a pioneer and Peter Abelard is a classic of historical fiction. More on her, here https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-46377273
I do love all the cheesy covers, too.

56. I’ll be recommending some short stories that are freely available online. Beginning with the beautiful ‘The Cure for Too Much Feeling’ by @berniemcgill, taken from @sineadgleeson’s The Glass Shore from @NewIslandBooks.
https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/extract-the-glass-shore-short-story-3070166-Nov2016/

57. Boxing Day by David Park, free to read here from @IrishTimesBooks https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/boxing-day-a-short-story-by-david-park-1.3126906

Boxing Day, a short story by David Park

12 Tales for Christmas - Day 6: A father drives his son to visit his mother by the sea on the day after Christmas

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/boxing-day-a-short-story-by-david-park-1.3126906

58. These BBC short story recordings are a treasure trove, and here’s one from @rosemaryj77 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p072l5wz

BBC Radio 4 - Short Story, Two People Shorten the Road by Rosemary Jenkinson

A race against time for one unsuspecting taxi driver. Read by Julie Maxwell.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p072l5wz

59. Lots of great extracts to get a reader started in the Troubles Archive. Lots of great resources, including interviews and essays.
http://www.troublesarchive.com/artforms/literature/piece/give-them-stones

60. Offline tomorrow in the writing hermitage, so here’s a classic, reissued by @turnpikebooks: Linda Anderson’s important novel cuckoo. Such a great account of the development of a young woman’s politics.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/linda-anderson-s-cuckoo-a-timely-reissue-1.3660262

61. I love this novel, and the writing of Caroline Blackwood. Gothic houses, terrifying matriarchs and a wicked wit.
http://www.nybooks.com/media/doc/2010/02/09/great-granny-webster-introduction.pdf

62. A classic, Benedict Kiely’s Proxopera, another @turnpikebooks reissue. Thrilling, heartbreaking and illuminating.
More here: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/proxopera-by-benedict-kiely-the-most-humane-literary-response-to-the-troubles-1.2212651

63. Of all the Northern Irish novels that I teach @EnglishSalford, @Parisbob2001’s Eureka Street leads to the liveliest debates. Probably the novel that makes me miss Belfast the most, but that’s probably mostly the accurate description of Lavery’s.

64. Brian Moore’s The Emperor of Ice Cream, a coming of age story set during WW2. Vivid depictions of wartime Belfast and a great depiction of the role of religion in mid-century life.

65. Quite risqué for Northern Ireland in 1965, Maurice Leitch’s The Liberty Lad. Moving between the city and the country, with scandal everywhere, this was an achievement for a first novel.

66. Olivia Manning’s 1937 novel The Wind Changes is set during the Irish Revolution and features divided loyalties and romantic intrigue. Manning had quite the life herself, lauded by Burgess, world-travelling and with ‘the usual Anglo-Irish sense of belonging nowhere’.

67. The Meeting Point by @beingvarious, winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize. A haunting, beautiful novel about faith and desire.

68. Derry’s Kathleen Coyle published A Flock of Birds in 1930. She was a lifelong feminist and socialist activist. This novel, set shortly after the Easter Rising, is a page-turner.
A synopsis here https://sluggerotoole.com/2014/12/02/slugger-seasonal-book-club-vol-4/

69. Glenn Patterson’s The International, with a lovely reissue by @BlackstaffNI with an essay from Anne Enright. Set on the eve of the Troubles, with a lovelorn barman and a very Belfast cast of characters, this is a funny, devastating novel. One of my favourites.

70. Another novel that I love to teach which provokes great student work. Bernard McLaverty’s Cal explores working class masculinity, Catholicism, sexuality and the legacy of violence. A short, sharp read.

71. A well-paced Troubles thriller from 1990, Niki Hill’s Death Grows On You. A border country story of violence, family and intimacy.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/niki-hill/death-grows-on-you/

72. A magnificent novel, Deirdre Madden’s One by One in the Darkness. Set during the Ceasefire era, but with a look over the shoulder to the 60s and 70s, this is a beautifully crafted book. Themes of home, emigration & women’s relationship to NI history.

http://www.troublesarchive.com/artforms/literature/piece/one-by-one-in-the-darkness

73. I’m writing about East Belfast at the moment so turned back to Glenn Patterson’s That Which Was. A novel about faith, memory and one man’s enduring love for the Velvet Underground.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/mar/27/featuresreviews.guardianreview20

74. @berniemcgill’s The Watch House. Set on Rathlin Island during the advent of Marconi’s wireless, this is a sharp novel of masterful character development. Really haunting and savagely beautiful.
Review: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-watch-house-review-a-very-sharp-turn-on-rathlin-island-1.3181555

75. Ronan Bennett’s The Catastrophist. An Irishman travels to the Congo during Belgian colonialism in 1959, and Bennett’s thoughtful portrayal draws out the political tensions and the role of art and journalism in troubled times. It reads like a thriller.

76. @JanCarson7280’s postcard stories. This book, of very very short stories sent to Carson’s friends and family, is an absolute treat. Makes a wonderful gift or travelling companion.
https://www.irishnews.com/arts/2017/05/25/news/jan-carson-compiles-year-long-postcard-challenge-into-new-book-postcard-stories-1031625/
https://jancarsonwrites.wordpress.com/2016/01/03/ten-things-i-learned-from-postcard-stories/

77. A necessary counter to the NI pastoral, Leitch provides a nightmarish vision of the Northern Irish countryside. A deeply unsettling novel about masculinity and voyeurism.
I tried to make sense of it here: http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/32796/

78. I’ve been telling everyone about @fillharrison’s The First Day. Sensual, shocking and compelling from the first encounter. Of course, having a Beckett scholar as a main character might have helped. Such a strong debut. @FleetReads

79. @Parisbob2001’s Ripley Bogle (1989) which sees a young Northern Irish man homeless on the streets of Thatcher’s Britain. It is wildly funny, disturbing and important.

80. Dublin and New York feature in Deirdre Madden’s Molly Fox’s Birthday, a haunting novel about the failures of performance. Excellent narrative voice and enough literary references to keep you lot happy. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/aug/30/fiction.deirdremadden

81. Olga Fielden’s 1933 novel, Island Story, is a study of a woman’s life off the North Coast. A valuable piece of literary history, and due a reissue.
One of the few academic studies of her work: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09670880601117513?mobileUi=0&journalCode=cisr20
QUB manuscript holdings https://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/InformationServices/TheLibrary/SpecialCollections/FileStore/Filetoupload,679479,en.pdf

82. Margaret Barrington’s My Cousin Justin (1939). Barrington was born in Malin and educated in Dungannon and had quite a life, including anti-fascist activism. A fascinating look at women in Irish history.

83. I had @rosemaryj77’s Catholic Boy planned for today, before the great news about her @EHUShortStory prize nomination. This is, no surprise, a collection fizzing with ideas and wit that surprises you with moments of tenderness.
https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/news/2019/05/longlist-announced-for-2019-edge-hill-short-story-prize/
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/catholic-boy-review-author-s-own-sense-of-belfast-shines-through-short-stories-1.3484122

84. Where They Were Missed by Lucy Caldwell @beingvarious. A very powerful novel about girlhood, violence and mental health.

85. As I finish this paper on Belfast houses, I kept thinking about @Heresmehere’s Number 5, which looks at changing Belfast through one terrace from the 1950s. The novel takes in racism, sexism and sectarianism but with a wonderfully light touch.

86. Eoin McNamee’s The Ultras, which sets the Robert Nairac case against a picture of surveillance and secrecy. Of course, I think it’s a novel about masculinity: boxing, the military, myth-making. But, it’s also a taut thriller.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/body-of-evidence-1.1307659

87. Anne Devlin’s collection The Way-Paver, not least for the brilliant story ‘Naming the Names.’ Together, these stories form a vital exploration of the body, agency and women’s role in Northern Ireland.

88. At the risk of this turning into a Maurice Leitch fan account, The Eggman’s Apprentice is a wee cracker. Seduced into a life of singing for the local hard men, Hugo has a wonderfully dry narrative voice that keeps the plot marching along.

89. An usual novel that I love: Antonia Logue’s Shadow Box is written as the imagined correspondence between Mina Loy & the boxer Jack Johnson. New York Dada and racism in early 20C US feature in their letters.
I’ve written a little about it here:
http://fwsablog.org.uk/2014/10/04/re-writing-the-modernist-body-antonia-logues-shadow-box/

90. Last night I read @paul_mc_veigh’s contribution to @KitdeWaal’s #CommonPeople. So many Belfast stories are working class stories & McVeigh brings a welcome touch of humour. If you’re lucky enough to be in Belfast, go to this at @BelfastBookFest: https://belfastbookfestival.com/whats-on/common-people-an-anthology-of-workingclass-writers

91. A really remarkable novel, Bernard McLaverty’s Midwinter Break. For anyone who might diminish the relationships of older people, this shows their complexity, difficulty and intimacy.

92. From this year, Jenny McCartney’s The Ghost Factory. A novel alive with Belfast language, McCartney circles around the legacy of decades of conflict in her debut.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/25/the-ghost-factory-by-jenny-mccartney-review

93. @CJessCooke’s The Boy Who Could See Demons. Beloved by teenage readers, this powerful novel explores young people’s mental health in the wake of the Troubles and is a vital read at a time when mental health services have been ravaged by austerity.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/15/review-boy-who-could-see-demons-carolyn-jess-cooke

94. Ciaran Carson’s Shamrock Tea is quite the wild ride. Art, philosophy and history mix for a potent, unusual blend.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/apr/14/fiction.reviews

95. Dark and compelling, @berniemcgill’s The Butterfly Cabinet is a gothic take on motherhood and a reimagining of the traditional big house story.
https://www.culturenorthernireland.org/features/literature/interview-bernie-mcgill

96. Seamus Deane’s much lauded novel, Reading in the Dark, which takes in the decades leading up to the start of the Troubles. Working class domestic life intersects with the historical narrative.

97. @jamesgwriter’s collection The Wooden Hill from last year. I loved this wee collection from @Epoque_Press. Great exploration of a variety of conflicts and relationships. Really promising and can’t wait to see what comes next.

98. I’ve been thinking about this novel a lot recently: Sam Hanna Bell’s December Bride. Desire and secrecy predominate in an unexpected story of Irish rural life. I didn’t really appreciate how radical it was when I first read it at University.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/december-bride-a-grim-masterpiece-about-life-in-an-unforgiving-place-1.2105915

99. @KellyCreighto16’s fantastic The Bones of It is a darkly funny novel about the legacy of conflict and masculinity. Brilliantly written and thoughtful.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/kelly-creighton-on-writing-the-bones-of-it-conflict-masculinity-nature-versus-nurture-1.2237259

100. Taking a little break from this list so I thought I’d pause for now on a round number and also one of my all time favourites, Deirdre Madden’s Hidden Symptoms. This is a perfectly crafted short novel of Belfast in the 1980s, faith and grief.

The first 100 now updated as a blog post, hopefully you’ll find something here for summer.
Usual caveat: these are my personal favourites, your mileage and Glaring Omissions

may vary. https://twitter.com/drmagennis/status/1128588189399121923?s=21

https://twitter.com/drmagennis/status/1128588189399121923?s=21

101. Breaking radio silence as this beaut from @NoAlibisPress @NOALIBISBOOKS arrived! Not all Northern Irish but stories from some of my favourite writers from home and away. #stillworldsturning

102. Stopped in my tracks this morning by this wonderful story by @yopopodawn, read on the wireless by Ian McIlhenny. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006tzm

BBC Radio 4 - Short Works, Sonny's Bench

Outside a primary school in Belfast, Sonny waits for his granddaughter.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006tzm

103. @adrianmckinty’s new novel The Chain is within striking distance of being a @FallonTonight Summer Read. Just started it at the weekend and it’s a tense psychological thriller.
More here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jul/08/adrian-mckinty-interview-crime-novelist-the-chain
Vote here: https://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/exclusives/summer-reads#vote

104. This article, on Stewart Parker’s Hopdance, is worth your time. Marilynn Richtarik sets out the context of this novel, which is part campus novel, partly a novel of the body in pain, semi-autobiographical. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/a-portrait-of-the-playwright-as-a-young-man-stewart-parker-s-hopdance-1.3968432

A portrait of the playwright as a young man: Stewart Parker’s Hopdance

The writer’s posthumous novel sheds light on his formative years at Queen’s, acting and losing his leg

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/a-portrait-of-the-playwright-as-a-young-man-stewart-parker-s-hopdance-1.3968432

105. This collection from @Doirepress really is excellent: such a great variety of stories from some of my favourite writers. Thanks to my folks for tracking it down and sending it over so I can be suitably homesick. #belfast #belfaststories

106. Was tidying my office and found this lovely @BlackstaffNI edition of Peter Waring by Forrest Reid, with an introduction by Stephen Gilbert, that I thought I’d lost. A wonderful portrait of emotional complexity and the natural world.

107. Currently rereading @TaraWestBelfast’s Fodder (also available as an ebook) which is a hilarious novel about council estate life and the legacy of punk in Northern Ireland.

108. The Hollow Ball by Sam Hanna Bell, a lesser-known novel about football, betrayal, ambition and working-class life in 1930s Belfast.

109. A cracking novel full of quotable lines (check out my post its!), Una Woods’ The Dark Hole Days. Published in 1984, Colette in her duffle coat in the dole queue is a more realised Troubles protagonist than most.

110. I’ve just returned to Belfast Stories @Doirepress. I’ve recommended the collection before but I really must single out Shannon Yee’s @ReassembledSA brilliantly written story about racism and motherhood in Belfast.

I’ll recommend some of Ciaran Carson’s prose this week, as I only have (the brilliant) Shamrock Tea on my big list so far: https://twitter.com/drmagennis/status/1140510599702601730?s=21

https://twitter.com/drmagennis/status/1140510599702601730?s=21

111. One for 2020, I've had a sneak peek at @beingvarious's new collection *Intimacies* with @FaberBooks and it's really sensational in the way that it explores desire, motherhood and, well, intimacy. https://twitter.com/beingvarious/status/1201555009839734786?s=20

https://twitter.com/beingvarious/status/1201555009839734786?s=20

112. David Park's collection of stories for the BBC on #ParkRun are now available in a lovely little collection, which would make a good Christmas present. As ever with Park, there is beautiful writing, pathos & hope.
Stories: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009zmk/episodes/player
Book: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/a-run-in-the-park-9781526619976/

A Run in the Park

'I loved this book' Daily MailStrangers come together to run. Angela and Brendan are racing towards a wedding day that is increasingly tainted by doubts. Yana runs to free herself from the darkness...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009zmk/episodes/player

113. @michellegallen's #BigGirlSmallTown is a hoot: out In February (thanks @NetGalley and @johnmurrays for the advance) and with the audiobook read by @nicolacoughlan. A distinct new voice in fiction.
https://www.johnmurraypress.co.uk/titles/michelle-gallen/big-girl-small-town/9781529304237/ https://twitter.com/michellegallen/status/1214507849591787521

114. Susannah Dickey’s Tennis Lessons is a startling and complex novel. I don’t want to say too much but it feels vitally important. People will be talking about this one for some time. Out from @DoubledayUK this summer.

115. It was inevitable that I’d love a new Glenn Patterson about love, getting older and Belfast cafes (out March with @HoZ_Books). This is a beautifully bittersweet novel.

116. With a cover as bright and daring as the contents, @rosemaryj77's forthcoming collection from @Doirepress is nothing but a treat (and a shock, in places

). Stick that on your TBR. https://twitter.com/Doirepress/status/1227561499872419840?s=20

https://twitter.com/Doirepress/status/1227561499872419840?s=20

117. Just ordered the new novel from @sheenawriter after reading this fascinating article on writing historical fiction in Northern Ireland: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/i-didn-t-know-how-much-i-loved-and-hated-northern-ireland-till-i-left-1.4187907

Giving this thread of 117 (!!!) novels a little bump in case you need some reading material for your isolation bunker or ideas for your @NOALIBISBOOKS voucher. I've also saved it here as a blog post in case it's easier to read: https://drmagennis.wordpress.com/2019/05/15/northern-irish-fiction-twitter-thread/

Northern Irish Fiction Twitter Thread

https://drmagennis.wordpress.com/2019/05/15/northern-irish-fiction-twitter-thread/

118. I'm really excited about this collection from Brian Moore from @turnpikebooks. This is a good introduction to Moore and his work: http://www.irishnews.com/arts/2020/07/01/news/books-the-dear-departed-a-new-collection-of-stories-by-the-late-great-brian-moore-1990948/ I also look forward to @notsecretGarden and Sinéad Moynihan's Moore at 100 activity: http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/bm2021/

119. Are we due a Caroline Blackwood revival soon? Because I just finished this and it’s quite the suspenseful yarn - a charismatic stranger, perfectly drawn female characters and, like all her writing, darkly funny.

120. Forthcoming - plenty of Northern interest in @sineadgleeson’s short story anthology The Art of the Glimpse from @HoZ_Books. This is going to be a really important, exciting collection by the looks of it!

Pre-order - https://gutterbookshop.com/product/the-art-of-the-glimpse-edited-by-sinead-gleeson-oct-2020/

121. Looking forward to the launch of @JanCarson7280’s second Postcard Stories collection with the @TheEmmaPress via @EastSideArtsBel tomorrow night. Free tickets here and if it’s anything as good as the first one, you’re in for a treat! https://www.eastsidearts.net/event/postcard-stories-2-launch