Máiría Cahill answers thirteen questions in a Booker's Dozen.


TPQ: What are you currently reading?

MC: Currently rereading Mal O'Doherty's Fifty Years On as I'm launching it on Monday in Belfast.

TPQ: Best book you have ever read?

MC: I thought Martin Dillon's book The Dirty War was a good read, or Anna Burns' Milkman. This is hard - Tolkien's Lord of the Rings for sheer imagination.

TPQ: A must-read before you die?

MC: War and Peace. I bought it in a charity shop for 50p years ago and it has been looking at me ever since.

TPQ: A preference for fact or fiction?

MC: It depends what mood I'm in. I devour political books, but like some downtime also. Lee Child or Steve Cavanagh for escapism.

TPQ: Favourite female author?

MC: Marian Keyes, or Maya Angelou.

TPQ: Favourite male author?

MC: Fiction wise it's probably Steven King. I couldn't pick a non fiction one.

TPQ: First book you ever read?

MC: Up And Down. My parents read to me every night so that's the first one I remember.

TPQ: Favourite childhood author?

MC: Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl. Hands down.

TPQ: Any book you point blank refuse to read?

MC: No. I'll read anything.

TPQ: Any author you point blank refuse to read?

MC: I can't think of anyone I would refuse to read at all.

TPQ: Pick a book to give to somebody so that they would more fully understand you.

MC: I'm hoping to write one myself that will do just that.

TPQ: Last book you gave as a present?

MC: I buy books every month for my daughter. This month's was David Walliams.

TPQ: Book you would most like to see turned into a movie?

MC: Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry.

Máiría Cahill is a writer and activist. Follow her on Twitter @mairiac31

Booker's Dozen @ Máiría Cahill

Máiría Cahill answers thirteen questions in a Booker's Dozen.


TPQ: What are you currently reading?

MC: Currently rereading Mal O'Doherty's Fifty Years On as I'm launching it on Monday in Belfast.

TPQ: Best book you have ever read?

MC: I thought Martin Dillon's book The Dirty War was a good read, or Anna Burns' Milkman. This is hard - Tolkien's Lord of the Rings for sheer imagination.

TPQ: A must-read before you die?

MC: War and Peace. I bought it in a charity shop for 50p years ago and it has been looking at me ever since.

TPQ: A preference for fact or fiction?

MC: It depends what mood I'm in. I devour political books, but like some downtime also. Lee Child or Steve Cavanagh for escapism.

TPQ: Favourite female author?

MC: Marian Keyes, or Maya Angelou.

TPQ: Favourite male author?

MC: Fiction wise it's probably Steven King. I couldn't pick a non fiction one.

TPQ: First book you ever read?

MC: Up And Down. My parents read to me every night so that's the first one I remember.

TPQ: Favourite childhood author?

MC: Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl. Hands down.

TPQ: Any book you point blank refuse to read?

MC: No. I'll read anything.

TPQ: Any author you point blank refuse to read?

MC: I can't think of anyone I would refuse to read at all.

TPQ: Pick a book to give to somebody so that they would more fully understand you.

MC: I'm hoping to write one myself that will do just that.

TPQ: Last book you gave as a present?

MC: I buy books every month for my daughter. This month's was David Walliams.

TPQ: Book you would most like to see turned into a movie?

MC: Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry.

Máiría Cahill is a writer and activist. Follow her on Twitter @mairiac31

8 comments:

  1. Disappointing, seemingly cobbled together in a few minutes. A little elaboration wouldn't take much time and would give more of an insight.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Christopher - again, that is how I like them to be. Simple, straightforward, an economy of words to match the sparsity of the questions - which I spent some time whittling down. I am not sure we need more insight and the cut off point has to come somewhere. When I came up with the idea, I had hoped for basically one word/sentence answers. Your more elongated responses gave me an idea of the scope for broadening out. Ultimately, I have settled on both type of answers, long and short. I feel the focus should be on what the responder wants to say rather than on what the reader wants to hear. If we find it interesting, fine and if not, just as fine.


    Thanks Máiría.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fair enough AM. Coming from my background in underground music, I always loved reading what bands were listening to as they would wax lyrical about them and portray them as a kind of portal to another world, and it left a big impression on me where you would become a kind of preacher, spreading the good word to those who would be interested.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AM
    I think CO may suspect the answers are a bit of a cheat to the reader... anyone could name a book title to sound sophisticated without ever having read it... MC may not have the skill and finesse as a reviewer that we can expect from CO but come on there ought to be some elaboration of the reader of these blogs is not left with a sense that the contributor being interviewed is a bit of a pretentious phoney.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Christy - it is a very light take and not a cross examination. I don't feel the need for any elaboration, nor intended any from the outset. I had wanted the answers to be as snappy as the questions, and did not want it to turn into an interview. Christopher elaborated in his and showed how it could run in a different direction. Both work equally as well. No one yet has struck me as coming across as a pretentious phoney.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Am

    I may have been a tad strong. After reading CO's interview maybe I was expecting too much.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Christy - I am not sure everyone appreciates just how light hearted it is meant to be. People who respond are free to be as long or as short as they wish. There is no one right way to do it. When I came up with the idea I thought it would not be demanding n people's times and expected them to spend about ten minutes max on it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Christy - give it a stab for me if you get a minute.

    ReplyDelete