Ronan O'Driscoll's Blog

If you want to find out how infectious the Cork accent is, here's an interview with myself and Maria Gillen! It was mighty craic!

https://ronanod.substack.com/p/interv...

Interview with Cork-based storyteller and Radio Host Maria Gillen. This is also my first podcast!

https://ronanod.substack.com/p/maria-...

Check out the latest Nova Sociable interview with Halifax author Anne Emery.

https://ronanod.substack.com/p/anne-e...

I had a great chat with Harpist Ellen Gibling about her albums, the life of a musician and how she plays within the Irish tradition. Hope you enjoy!

https://open.substack.com/pub/ronanod...

Here's my interview with award winning Irish-Canadian author, playwright, screenwriter and historian Emma Donoghue. We discuss her latest novel, The Paris Express. She will be visiting Halifax at the end of April as part of the Spring Foreward Literary Festival.

https://ronanod.substack.com/p/interv...

The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Thoroughly enjoyable. Another great read from Emma Donoghue. Fast and cleverly-paced. I happened to be listening the audiobook as well as reading the paperback and when the train was an hour and a half from the station, there was an hour and a half left. As usual, there is deep research lightly worn.

She is such a deft and skilled writer: certain rules you aren't supposed to break: i.e. no head-hopping and no naming characters after yourself (there is a gay couple, one of whom is named Emma) are subtly bent and turned on their head. The cast of characters is much bigger than any of her previous books that I've read. Yet, I felt invested in each one.

There are also a few "stowaways" from the history books who probably weren't on the train, such as JM Synge and one of Gaugin's models. Even the train itself is personified and seems to be a maternal force, giving birth to the 20th century, its progress (movies, cars, science fiction are all mentioned) and its horrors (anarchists, facism - some of the real characters went on to die at the hands of the Nazis, either in the resistance or concentration camps). So much packed into one book, yet it is a quick and engaging read.

Synge is mentioned but I think it is Joyce I felt most reading The Paris Express, especially the chapter in Ulysses where so many streams of consciousness are encountered (Wandering Rocks) and so many Joyce-like characters: exiles, painters and bohemians.

Last of all is the ending, no spoilers but it is built up to from the first page and propels the narrative right to the end. A lot of novels and movies are the aftermath of an event but The Paris Express is all about the lives and events right before. The ending is unexpected (no spoilers!) but shows an alternative to the driving force of modernism.



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For Saint Patrick's day, here's my recent interview with Emma Fitzgerald (https://emmafitzgerald.ca/). It was a great chat about her style of art, books and being from Ireland while also having travelled the world. Hope you enjoy!

https://open.substack.com/pub/ronanod...

Check out my new Substack of Interviews and dispatches primarily from Nova Scotia and Ireland. This is a stack of conversations from the many creative people I am lucky enough to meet. I hope you like it!

https://ronanod.substack.com/

Captain Solitude: One Surfer's Search for the World's Greatest Sailor by R.C. Shaw

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


At times the narrative meanders like the adventure of cycling and surfing around Nova Scotia's south shore. However, there is always some serendipity or insight that makes the voyage worthwhile. I do wish RC Shaw dug deeper into why he felt compelled to undertake what must have been, at times, a gruelling undertaking. Nova Scotia classics like Rockbound, Creighton's Bluenose Ghosts and, of course, Slocum's famous tale are great accompanying material but I felt like there was more that the author wasn't telling us.



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The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Nice quote in the epilogue I'm going to share with my daughter:
"Reading the book [Watson's The Double Helix] made me, as it made Doudna, want to become a biochemist. Unlike her, I didn't. If I had to do it all over again--pay attention, you students reading this--I would have focused far more on the life sciences, especially if I was coming of age in the 21st century. People of my generation became fascinated by personal computers and the web. We made sure our kids learned how to code. Now we will have to make sure they understand the code of life."

Valuable advice and the story of CRISPR and Jennifer Doudna is a tale of hope of for the future at a time when things seems so bleak (Trump coming to power next month)



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