Quote.

[mrsronweasley]

I'm rereading At Swim, and every day I am tempted to quote the entire book, just read it out loud, from the highest mountain top I can find, to anyone who will listen, for years and years and years. Instead, I'll settle for quoting little bits, because if ever I was committed to anything, it is to spreading the love. And I get to use this icon almost entirely in context.

~*~

"She made a difference to me, your mother did. I came across her one time and I heard her singing."

"She does always be singing, all right."

"I felt I might belong. I might, God help me, be" --irrational, irrepresible, irresponsible, iron-brained, irascible, irksome, entirely irresistible-- "might be Irish," he said.

~*~

Psst, sidebar.

Comments

[jamethiel]

What is "At Swim"? Who's it by? Sounds interesting.

Because, yes. I just bought a new bookcase, and at present the amount of bookshelf space is GREATER than the amount of books in my house, therefore I must fill it and have books piled 3 deep on the shelves again! It's a rule!

[mrsronweasley.livejournal.com]

Oh! HI! *pounces* (Sorry, I read this book four years ago and have basically made it my mission in life to get everybody to read it.)

SO. "At Swim, Two Boys" by Jamie O'Neill. It's incredible. Buy it. Read it. :D

(It takes a bit to get into the language -and the prologue is way harder than the rest of the book- but it is so worth it, and it is so, so beautiful.)

[jamethiel]

*snigger* That's okay. I want everyone to read P.C. Hodgell's "Chronicles of the Kencyrath", from which I take my lj name. Anyone who's ever read it sees my name and squees "OMG Hodgell!!!!" while the rest of the world looks blank.

And woot! It is available from Dymocks. So I can order it. And will. Now to see if Dymocks is less evil about orders than Borders or Angus and Robertson...

[mrsronweasley.livejournal.com]

Heee! So, you totally know how I feel! *g*

I hope you enjoy it. If for nothing else, at least for the gayness. ;) (Another random quote: "As if a dick up the arse really could make a man of you.")

*cough*

[croupier.livejournal.com]

Oh, God. NEVER ask that question around her.

[kasche.livejournal.com]

*LAUGHS* I had the same, exact reaction. :D

[mrsronweasley.livejournal.com]

Oh, what, are you complaing? ;)

[kasche.livejournal.com]

Nah, I was too busy sniggering ;D

[mrsronweasley.livejournal.com]

BLOW ME.

(Lovingly.)

[bathsweaver.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is nice.

[mrsronweasley.livejournal.com]

It's even better in context! *wheeeeedles* :D

[bathsweaver.livejournal.com]

I...tried it. At the beginning of the summer. But I was having trouble with the voice; it's so distinctive, it's a dialect, really, and I was trying to translate it, rather than absorb it and go with it, and that's not how you're supposed to read it. So I felt guilty and returned it.

But I'm reading your sidebar, and it really is wonderful, so I'm thinking I'll give it another go. Just, this time I won't try to force it. It's not going to make me cry, is it? I can't bear crying; or if it is, it'll at least put me back together at the end, right?

And, randomly,

::loffs you::

[mrsronweasley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I get that. It IS hard to get through (I had that problem, but at the same time, felt an irrisistible pull towards the book. I still can't explain it, but I am forever grateful.) but it's so rewarding, you know? And it gets easier and then it's like riding a wave, so free and beautiful. It's good to take your time with it, too, I think, to savor the language. And yeah, don't force it. Let it come to you. ;)

It's not going to make me cry, is it? I can't bear crying; or if it is, it'll at least put me back together at the end, right?

Uhm. Well. Uh.

[bathsweaver.livejournal.com]

Uhm. Well. Uh.

::laughs::

I've put it on hold again from the library. Just be warned that I *will* come crying to you and get snot all over your shoulder when it breaks my heart.

{hugs}

[bluebrocade.livejournal.com]

My insane sister just demanded requested a christmas wish list by Friday so she can get all her shopping done. I put this book on my list per your earlier rec.

[mrsronweasley.livejournal.com]

\o/ YAY! Hope you enjoy! :D

[entropical87.livejournal.com]

I need to have another go at that book, methinks. I got it years ago - on your rec, strangely enough. What a small world it is. ;)

I started it when I first got it, got a couple of chapters in, and gave up. A combination of it being a bit difficult with the dialect and me being too young for it, most likely. Well, I'm a bit older now and rapidly running out of reading material. Who knows what could happen. *g*

[mrsronweasley.livejournal.com]

I just accidentally deleted the entire text of the comment before posting. GO ME.

1) Holy shit, yo, that's a while back. *g* Awesome. :D

2) I'd say, give it another go, definitely. The dialect will get easier after a while, and it'll lull you into it, I think. I hope. It's just so gorgeous. If I do get that PhD and end a comp lit professor? I am so totally teaching this book in class. \o/

(And then there's MacMurrough, who will forever be the love of my life. It doesn't get much sadder than pining for a fictional, now-totally-dead-anyway gay man.)

[shihadchick.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that bit you quoted? When I got to that, it just killed me DEAD. Ngggggggggh. (Am nearly finished now, will certainly be emailing you when I am to, like, flail and stuff. And then I get to share it with the Eire-ophiles in Hawaii in a month and a bit, too, so... yay.)

[mrsronweasley.livejournal.com]

GOD, YES. It's such a...culmination of feeling for him, you know? That entire night is when he breaks out and begins a new life, it's this...shift. I mean. With (SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T READ PAST THE SCENE) S. "leaving" and M. just...growing into himself, as he should be. He realizes things that night, he faces a few demons, and he finds a new purpose, almost. God. And I forgot about that line up until the very last moment, and it gave me shivers. Again.

And yes please do email, so we can flail and, I suspect, I might have to hold you. Just. YES. *sigh*