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In the Good Books

Posted in Biographical, Literature with tags Amazon, An Cailín Ciúin, Claire Keegan, Foster, Irish Times on March 25, 2025 by telescoper

It seems like eternity since I was on sabbatical and had enough time to get stuck in to some reading not related to work. Since I got back from Barcelona last September I’ve lapsed and haven’t read many books since then. I keep reading reviews in the Times Literary Supplement but that’s as close as I generally get.

It’s been in my mind for a while to rejuvenate my interest in literature but last week I had two specific triggers. One was the news that Amazon has opened a dedicated website in Ireland. I view that as a trigger not in a positive way but because it will make life even harder for our excellent local bookshop in Maynooth so I felt I should do more to support them. The other trigger was that the Irish Times published a list of the “best” 100 Irish novels of the 21st Century. When I saw I had only read a few of them, and feel I should read more contemporary literary fiction emanating from Ireland, I decided I should use the list as a guide to help me get back into a reading habit. Anyway, I went to the bookshop last week and bought these six to start with:

These aren’t the top six, by the way. They’re just the ones that caught my fancy while I was browsing in the store.

I’m going to start with Claire Keegan’s novella Foster, as it was this work that inspired the beautiful Irish language film An Cailín Ciúin which I blogged about here. It’s quite short, so it should provide me with a relatively gentle re-introduction to reading. I have’t decided in what sequence I will read the others. It remains to be seen when I can get another six let alone how long it will take for me to read all the books on the list!

Any comments on these books, or indeed any others either on the top 100 list or not would be welcome!

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When is a Professor not a Professor?

Posted in Uncategorized with tags Amazon, Mark Brake, misrepresentation, University of Glamorgan on September 29, 2011 by telescoper

Now that I’m back from panel duty, I notice that Amazon have finally corrected the misleading information on the page advertising a book by Mark Brake. Until a couple of days ago this page stated that the “author” was a Professor at the University of Glamorgan, despite the fact that it’s over a year since he was dismissed from that position. I’m not sure why they have suddenly removed their misrepresentation but now it merely says that Brake is an “academic”. I think that’s misleading too, as to my knowledge he doesn’t have a job at any university; the OED’s definition of the noun academic is

A member of a college or university; a collegian. Now spec. a senior member of a university; a member of the academic staff of a university or college; also loosely, an academically-gifted person.

Does the loose definition apply?

Meanwhile, this is taken from the front page of Mark Brake’s personal website.

Which seems to demonstrate that although Amazon have corrected their error, Brake himself is content to continue passing himself off as a Professor. I wonder how long it will be until this turns into the version that’s advertised on Amazon?