Books, books, books

Having the time to read a lot during the weekend I first finished off This Charming Man, which was as good as I had anticipated. Some parts in the book even touched me more than I thought it would, so it was indeed a good read.

Probably a year ago or even more than that I bought Ugly by Constance Briscoe when in London. Having read an interview with her in British Marie Claire I was fascinated as so many other by her horrendous and loveless childhood, but never less made her one of the first back women to sit as judge in the UK. I finally started to read the book on my way to Ireland last month and before the plan arrived in Dublin I had finished feeling both distressed and empowered at the same time. Distressed wondering how other human beings can be so cruel to other human beings and empowered by the fact that Constance Briscoe had a dream and she never gave up, regardless of what.

Passing a book shop in Dun Laoghaire a day later I found the squeal called Beyond Ugly which I really looked forward reading this weekend. Unfortunately the book wasn't as good as the first one, leaving me a bit disappointed and wanting to know more about whatever happened to her mother and how she felt when she had children of her own. Nevertheless both books is a great story about survival.

Being a bit of political junkie (Thanks for that epithet Holly) I also bought Great Hatred, Little Room: Making Peace in Northern Ireland by Jonathan Powell at the book shop in Dun Laoghaire. Going up to to Belfast and Northern Ireland the next morning it seemed very appropriate.

Jonathan Powell was the Chief of Staff to Tony Blair and he was very much part of the Northern Ireland Agreement behind the scenes. A diplomat doing all those things we never hear about. I have only read about half of the book, but so far it has given me a lot of insights and background to The Troubles. Most Swedes just know that The Trouble was Protestants and Catholics fighting, but not why they thought.

Also having read Alastair Campbell's diary from the Blair years last summer it's interesting to learn about the same things from another person's point of view. Just like it was reading the memoirs of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright. They all talked about the same things, but so differently.