Trekking Trips
Una Carmody
Project manager of Urbana indoor market and cultural manager of Temple Bar Properties
WITH a three-and-a-half month solo trip round the world starting in the US in September, Una Carmody says the weight of each book will obviously determine her choice. She'll begin with the first two books of Anthony Powell's Dance To The Music Of Time series (Mandarin Press). Then she might dip into Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens (Penguin) for a spot of classical holiday reading. Next on her list is The Memoirs Of An Anti-Semite by Gregor von Rezzori (Picador) and finally, to lend an adrenalin rush to her travels, Into Thin Air, an investigation into what happened to a group of Everest trekkers by John Krakauer (MacMillan).
Eamon Ryan
Managing director of Irish Cycling Safaris, shortly to replace John Gormley as councillor on Dublin City Council
Now touring the country with Irish and international cyclists, Ryan recommends Four Letters Of Love by Niall Williams (Picador) for its intimate study of both father/son and father/daughter relationships and its portrayal of Galway "before the gold rush". Another book he plans to read this month is Saul Bellow's latest novel, The Actual (Viking), and a book which he likes to dip in and out of is Reading The Irish Landscape by Frank Mitchell and Michael Ryan (Townhouse).
Beach Seekers
Colm Toibin, Writer
Travelling to the familiar territory of Catalonia, Toibin also plans to spend a few days on the lesser known island of Formentera, the fourth of the Balearic islands (which includes Ibiza, Majorca and Minorca). One of the books he will bring is Road To Santiago, by Dutch author Cees Nooteboom (Harville), which is based on his visits to the small deserted villages of central Spain over a 40-year period. "Everyone's Spain is a different Spain; mine is Catalonia and for me, this central part is terra incognito," he says.
Also in his travel bag will be Terry Eagleton's Crazy John And The Bishop And Other Essays On Irish Culture (Cork University Press). He expects to disagree with a lot of it, while still finding it intriguing, not least for its rigorous scholarly perspective on things Irish. He will also read Eucalyptus by Murray Bail (Harville) - an astonishing story about a man who'll only let his daughter marry someone who can name all the Eucalyptus trees on his land.
Declan McGonagle
Irish Museum of Modern Art director
Heading to the beautiful, long, white, empty beach at Marble Hill in Co Donegal with his family, McGonagle is planning to read Peter Ackroyd's The Life Of Thomas More (Chatto & Windus). His second choice has a Victorian setting - Peter Carey's Jack Maggs (Faber & Faber) - in which a city at the height of the empire reveals its darker soul. By contrast, Blimey! by Matthew Collings (21st Century Books), takes an idiosyncratic view of the London art world over the past 20 years. McGonagle's fourth holiday choice is The Birth Of The Museum by an Australian, Malcolm Bennett.
Liz O'Donnell
Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs
Also going to Co Donegal with her family, O'Donnell's first choice is Dermot Keogh's recently published Jews, Anti-Semitism And The Irish State (Cork University Press) about the experience of the Jewish community and Ireland's official reaction to the question of Jewish refugees. Reflecting on that response now, she believes, provides a real opportunity for the lessons of the past to inform our present policy. Her second choice is Breakfast On Pluto (Picador) by Patrick McCabe, whose work she admires. On a lighter note, she is also looking forward to reading Polly Devlin's Only Sometimes Looking Sideways (O'Brien Press).
Mike Ryan
Consultant chef for the Tour de France
After a potentially exhausting stint overseeing the culinary demands of 1,500 people in three different locations over the these next few days of the Tour de France en Irlande, Mike and his family will leave Isaac's Restaurant in Cork for a spell and head to their annual holiday spot - a beach house in Fountainstown. . . in Cork Harbour.
Once there, Ryan hopes to finish The Mauritius Command (Harper Collins), a novel by Patrick O'Brien, an Irish author living in France. He also plans to dip into The Prawn Cocktail Years, a cookery book by Simon Hopkinson, which he expects will be just as delightful as Roast Chicken And Other Stories (MacMillan) by the same author.
Eamonn Owens
Actor who plays Martin Cahill as a boy in The General and the leading role in The Butcher Boy
His parents haven't finalised the family's holiday plans, but Owens reckons they will be heading for somewhere along the Wicklow coastline, possibly Arklow. His summer reading includes Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (Harper Collins), which was recommended by his brother. He has started it already.
Med Days
David Wheatley
Poet and winner of the Rooney Prize for Literature 1998
Not quite a sun worshipper, David Wheatley is making his way to Genoa for a literary festival. His book bag will include At the Year's Turn, an anthology of work by Irish poets to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi (Dedalus), and The Leopard by the Italian novelist, Giuseppe Tomaso di Lampedusa (Harville Press). He will also be carrying The Selected Letters Of Marianne Moore (Faber & Faber), who Wheatley describes as one of the best American poets of the century and a fascinating letter-writer. He is also reading The Errancy by the contemporary American poet, Jorie Graham (Carcanet Press).
Hilarie Geary
Young Businesswoman of the Year
With her family, Geary is flying to the Algarve this summer. A fan of the thriller/crime genre, she is planning to read whatever P.D. James novel she hasn't yet read. She has also bought Whoopi Goldberg's autobiography, Book, (Little Brown) for a chuckle on the beach.
John Rocha
Fashion designer
Flying to the South of France, Rocha is looking forward to the strong story of a fight against cancer told by Liz Tilberis in No Time To Die (Weidenfeld and Nicolson). He has long admired her - as editor of London Vogue and now of Harper's Bazaar. Another book he is finally getting around to is Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby (Cassell), and admits he may be the only soccer fan on the planet who hasn't yet read it. His third choice might be Sam Smyth's Thanks A Million, Big Fella (Turnaround).
Andy Cairns
Singer/guitarist with Therapy
Heading for the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik for his holidays, Cairns is bringing a selection of contemporary writings: As If by Blake Morrison (Granta), which he describes as a compassionate study of how desensitised we've become to horror in recent times; The Last King Of Scotland by Giles Foden (Faber) which, he says, presents a humane and worrying look at the machinations of any helpless nation when faced with the ego of a terrifying British tin-pot dictator and The Beach by Alex Garland (Penguin), which he describes as Club Med goes Apocalypse Now.
Miriam O'Callaghan
Presenter with RTE's Prime Time
Heading to Spain with her family, O'Callaghan is planning to read Kate O'Riordan's The Boy In The Moon (Harper Collins) about the death of a child which also unravels the relationship between his mother and father. And she hopes to read Quarantine by Jim Crace (Penguin), a revisionist view of Jesus's 40 days in the desert. Her list also includes Toni Morrison's Paradise (Vintage) and Killing Rage by Eamon Collins (Bloomsbury), which she hopes will be a more vivid and dynamic account of life as a paramilitary than Sean O'Callaghan's much-hyped equivalent.
Rural Retreats
Eveleen Coyle
Book publicist and editor
Heading to a rented cottage on an island in Connemara, she hopes it won't be raining the whole time, but she is bringing a vast selection of books just in case, including Gerald Dawe's The Rest Is History, a look at Belfast culture through Van Morrison's lyrics and Stewart Parker's plays (Abbey Press). Having read the first and second books in Cormac McCarthy's trilogy, she is keen to read the latest - Cities Of The Plain (Picador). Michael Longley's latest poetry collection, Broken Dishes (Abbey Press) and Ted Hughes's Birthday Letters (Faber & Faber) will satisfy shorter reading bouts and lighter interludes will find her reading Four To Score by Janet Evanovich (to be published in September by MacMillan).
Ruan O'Donnell
Historian with a special interest in 1798
Spending a week in Wexford town with his young family, O'Donnell hopes to take in some of the 1798 commemorative events there, where he will read The Life Of Theobald Wolfe Tone - memoirs, journals and political writings compiled and arranged by William T.W. Tone and edited by Thomas Bartlett (Lilliput Press). And on another theme entirely, he hopes to re-read the historical novels of Patrick O'Brien, starting with Master And Commander (Harper Collins).
Niall Williams
Novelist
Williams is heading to New York with his family. After a meeting with director Stanley Tucci, who is directing the film version of his novel, Four Letters Of Love, he is heading to a beach house on Long Island. Reading matter will include include City Of The Plains (Picador), the third book in Cormac McCarthy's trilogy, and Philip Roth's American Pastoral (Jonathan Cape). He will also continue Sebastian Barry's The Whereabouts Of Eneas McNulty (Picador), which he is reading slowly to enjoy "the poetry of the phrases".
Stuck At Work
Kay Sheehy
Presenter of RTE radio's summer arts programme, The Main Event
Sheehy admits to being engrossed in reading matter linked to the job, although she is in the middle of Blake Morrison's And When Did You Last See Your Father? (Granta), a deeply personal, honest and respectful account of his father's death. Also on her wish-list is The God Of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Bloomsbury), which she hopes will bring back memories of the time she spent in India last September. To keep up with the times, she is also reading The Story Of The World Cup by Brian Glanville (Faber & Faber).
Anna Manahan
Currently starring in the Druid Theatre's Tony Award winning production of The Beauty Queen Of Leenane on Broadway
With the show running eight performances a week until October, Manahan doesn't foresee much time off. She has nonetheless brought three books with her to New York. A lover of thrillers, the first is The Cardinal Of The Kremlin by Tom Clancy (Fontana). The second is The Senator by Richard E. Burke (Sidgwick & Jackson). Having performed as a special guest at Ted Kennedy's birthday party in Washington, she is particularly keen to read the latter. Finally, admiration of Christopher Reeves's courage and interest in his work as a film and theatre actor attracts her to his autobiography, Still Me - A Life (Century).
Janet Mullarney
Sculptor
Working all summer long, Mullarney has just bought Nadine Gordimer's My Son's Story (Penguin) to re-read. She is also about to read Spending by Mary Gordon (Bloomsbury) which she bought partly because of its beautiful cover but also because it's the story of an artist who has a relationship with her patron. Finally, Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (Faber) is a book she has already started. Set in India (the destination of Mullarney's next winter holiday), he writes about a culture difficult for an outsider to find, let alone understand.
Brian Farrell
Broadcaster and chairman of the Arts Council
Not envisaging a holiday until some time in September, Farrell is nonetheless hoping to get some breaks from his busy schedule to read The War Of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts by Louis Bernieres (Minerva), having been "bowled over" earlier this year by Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Minerva) by the same author.
He is also looking forward to reading the latest collection of essays by the "gifted and highly original writer" Liam de Paor, entitled Landscapes With Figures (Four Courts Press) which he describes as a beautiful book.