Packy Carty answers 13 questions in a Booker's Dozen.
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PC: I'm currently reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist. Being furloughed, I'm reading voraciously again and this was on the bucket list.
TPQ: Best and worst books you have ever read?
PC: Best book; A Savage War of Peace by Allister Horne about the Algerian Revolution. The parallels with Ireland, the success of the FLN and the savagery that had to be inflicted and endured makes it a must read. At times it reads like a novel. Horne places you in the Casbah or the deep Bled: with his style of writing you can almost smell the orange groves.
PC: Best book; A Savage War of Peace by Allister Horne about the Algerian Revolution. The parallels with Ireland, the success of the FLN and the savagery that had to be inflicted and endured makes it a must read. At times it reads like a novel. Horne places you in the Casbah or the deep Bled: with his style of writing you can almost smell the orange groves.
Worst: Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy. I picked it up second hand on holiday to read on the beach, it was utter shite.
TPQ: Book most cherished as a child?
PC: As a child my favourite book was the Tale of Samuel Whiskers by Beatrix Potter. Now my kids love it.
TPQ: Favourite Childhood author?
PC: My favourite Author as a child was Willard Price and his Adventure series. I think I read all 20 something books in the series.
TPQ: First book to really own you?
PC: First book to own me! A hard one one. I repeatedly read - and referenced having first read it when I was 16 - was Bowyer Bell's The Secret Army. While on Roe a firm favourite of everyone was The Lost Revolution - the history of the Official IRA and the Workers Party. I've read both now several times.
TPQ: Favourite male and female author?
TPQ: Favourite male and female author?
PC: I don't have a favourite Male or Female author, although between reading anything deep like Marx or Lenin I like to read some of Terry Pratchett's Disc World.
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A Berlin Book Tower in memory of the Nazi book burning. |
TPQ: A preference for fact or fiction?
PC: Fact or Fiction, a happy blend of both: factual for learning and understanding, and fiction for escapism. I have Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth and Dune by Frank Herbert lined up to read simultaneously when I finish The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist.
TPQ: Biography, autobiography or memoir that most impressed you?
PC: Biography - Che by John Lee Anderson. I read it at 19 and it set me on the path of socialism. Che remains an inspiration.
TPQ: Any author or book you point blank refuse to read?
TPQ: Biography, autobiography or memoir that most impressed you?
PC: Biography - Che by John Lee Anderson. I read it at 19 and it set me on the path of socialism. Che remains an inspiration.
TPQ: Any author or book you point blank refuse to read?
PC: Point blank refuse anything by Gerry Adams. When I read fiction I read fiction.
TPQ: A book to share with somebody so that they would more fully understand you?
TPQ: A book to share with somebody so that they would more fully understand you?
PC: Liam Mellows by Greaves.
TPQ: Last book you gave as a present?
TPQ: Last book you gave as a present?
PC: There Will Be Another Day by Peadar O'Donnell.
TPQ: Book you would most like to see turned into a movie?
TPQ: Book you would most like to see turned into a movie?
PC: Movies are usually a poor adaptation of the books with the exception of Pontecorvo's Battle of Algiers. I felt Soderbergh's interpretation of Che was spartan. I'd enjoy a silver screen adaptation of something from the Disc World series and I've read recently that is in the pipeline.
TPQ: A "must read" you intend getting to before you die?
TPQ: A "must read" you intend getting to before you die?
PC: Undoubtedly it has to be Ulysses by Joyce. It sits on my bedside locker but I've yet to really take a go at it.
As a footnote, I read endless articles and books on beekeeping.
➽ Packy Carty is an East Tyrone Socialist Republican.
As a footnote, I read endless articles and books on beekeeping.
➽ Packy Carty is an East Tyrone Socialist Republican.
Ché: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson is one of my two favourite biographies, the other being James Connolly: A Full Life by Donal Nevin.
ReplyDeleteThe Ragged Trousered Philanthropist was reputedly both David Ervine and Brendan Behan's favourite book and also the book Tony Benn gave to others as a gift more than any other. These three readers from different but overlapping eras demonstrate that the book is as timeless as it is important.
RTP Yet it is a book I have never read even though there is a copy in the house. Must at some point make the effort as so many comment on it.
DeletePacky - thanks for taking the time to do this. Another great read on Algeria is Wolves In The City by Paul Henissart. When the 1981 hunger strike started and before we got books someone wrote out the whole of Michael Farrell's pamphlet on Algeria on cig papers and smuggles it in to us. I used to read it every day.
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