august-september 2026 books...

A Century Of Poetry (Rowan Williams): Another early morning/read out loud book. A hundred poems from a hundred years (Williams was keen to point out that they’re not intended to be the ‘best’ poems – simply ‘good’ poems which, in his view, “open the door to some fresh, searching and challenging insights about the life of faith”) and I read them (out loud to myself) on a daily basis over a 100 days (with Williams’ own reflections accompany each poem). I’m a great admirer of Williams and, while I found some of the accompanying notes quite helpful, I also felt (for me, at least), they were often much more than I needed (eg. two pages of detailed notes/sermon on each brief, half-page poem) and I ended up trying to focus on the poems themselves – which, in all honesty – I generally found pretty disappointing. Perhaps, given my own labouring faith journey, I expected too much? All in all, not for me I’m afraid. 
Night Swimmers (Roisin Maguire): I came across this novel by chance. 50-year-old Grace lives alone in a coastal village in Northern Ireland… filling her days with wild swimming, fishing and quilting. She’s quite a character – grumpy, irascible and sharp-tongued! A father arrives for a week, grieving the recent death of his infant daughter, but becomes trapped there by lockdown… he’s joined there by his 8-year-old son (who is deaf and with whom he has struggling relationship). A rather beautiful story evolves… mental health and marital struggles, compassion, community, loneliness and nature. I really enjoyed it (with one or two reservations)… and particularly loved the Grace character.
Up Late (Nick Laird): Yet more read-out-loud-early-morning-poetry. I hadn’t previously come across Laird, but really enjoyed this collection of his poetry/musings. In particular, I loved his piece that formed the title sequence ‘Up Late’ – a profound meditation on a father’s dying, written over the course of his final days. Incredibly powerful and hugely moving.
Sorolla And The Paris Years (Ed. Blanca Pons-Sorolla+Maria Lopez Fernandez): My good friend Tony introduced me to the work of Spanish artist Joaquin Sorolla, 1863-1923 (after I’d posted a note about the British artist Harry Watson on FB). Very embarrassingly, I have to admit that I knew virtually nothing of his work (I know!) – despite the fact that he was an internationally-acclaimed artist who produced some 2,200-3,000 paintings during the course of his career (not to mention more than 20,000 drawings+sketches – including nearly 2,000 oil sketches!!). Thanks to our neighbour, the Central Library, I’ve now read this illustrated book about his life and his art (during his time in Paris) – which, I have to say, I thought was quite wonderful: confident brushwork and dazzling colour. Sorolla visited Paris for the first time in 1885 (shortly after turning 22) and he went on to flourish there – winning prizes and exhibiting in prestigious galleries. A very impressive and illuminating book on a brilliant artist.
This Is Happiness (Niall Williams): I read this on the recommendation of my very good friend Tony - big thanks Tony, AGAIN! (I’d begun to be somewhat melancholic in my observations about the world!). It’s a novel that recounts the story of the 17-year-old Noel Crowe (written from the perspective of now-78-year-old old man) who, after dropping out of the seminary, finds himself back in Faha, a small Irish parish “where nothing ever changes, including the rain”. The book is full of wonderful phrases, observation, humour and sadness – like many from Ireland, Williams definitely ‘has a way with words’! One reviewer described it thus: “Williams has the eye of a poet and the raconteur’s knack for finding a tale in the most unpromising nook of everyday life, as a now-adult Noel, summoning the Faha of his nostalgic imagination…”. It’s a beautiful, uplifting novel which I enjoyed immensely – one of those books you just don’t want to end.