Des Dalton answers 13 questions in a Booker's Dozen.
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TPQ: What are you currently reading?
DD: I have three books on the go at the minute. One is fiction - Legacy of Spies by John Le Carré. It is set in the aftermath of the Cold War. In flashback it tells of the intrigues and betrayals within the intelligence services on both sides of the ‘Iron Curtain’. It would make you paranoid, or even more paranoid.😀 The other two are biographies. One is a biography of T.E. Lawrence, Lawrence Of Arabia by Jeremy Wilson. He is a fascinating character. His story also gives an interesting perspective on the European, and in particular the British role, in shaping the Middle East post World War 1. The legacy of all that is unfortunately something that people continue to suffer from today. The last one is a biography of the Fenian James Stephens, The Fenian Chief by Desmond Ryan. It is an old one that I have threatened to read for a long time. I intend to read the more recent biography of Stephens by Marta Ramón, Provisional Dictator at some stage.
TPQ: Best and worst books you have ever read?
DD: The best would be On Another Man’s Wound, while the worst, thankfully I think I have managed to erase from my memory.😀
TPQ: Book most cherished as a child?
DD: That would be a copy of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which I still have to this day.
TPQ: Favourite Childhood author?
DD: 😀This may come as a surprise to some people but that would be Enid Blyton; I was addicted to the Famous Five books. When I was a little older it would be Mark Twain, I would still have a soft spot for him.
TPQ: First book to really own you?
DD: This would have to be Ernie O’Malley’s On Another Man’s Wound. I was 14 when my mother brought it home for me one day knowing I had a huge interest in the whole 1916-23 period. Walter Macken’s The Scorching Wind was my introduction and only later did I discover the direct influence that O’Malley’s story had on Macken. I hadn’t heard of O’Malley before this but from the first page he had me gripped. From there I discovered his account of the civil war, The Singing Flame, which I would recommended to anyone trying to get inside the psychology of the anti-treaty side, or indeed any revolutionary facing the unravelling of their hopes and ideals. O’Malley is a gripping writer, such a pity he didn’t produce more or turn his hand to writing a novel. Himself and Peadar O’Donnell are probably the two finest writers to emerge from the revolutionary activists of that period. Those two books set me out on a road of discovery and fascination with that period that has never left me. It would be true to say that O’Malley confirmed in me beliefs and ideals that have shaped me as a person.
TPQ: Favourite male and female author?
DD: My favourite male author as above is Ernie O’Malley. When I first told Marisa McGlinchey I was doing a Booker’s Dozen for TPQ she asked me who my favourite male and female authors were and when I eagerly answered Dorothy McArdle she replied “do you want to try that again?”. And so my answer to my favourite female author would have to be Marisa McGlinchey.😀
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A Berlin Book Tower in memory of the Nazi book burning.
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TPQ: A preference for fact or fiction?
DD: I enjoy fiction and will get caught up in a really well written novel with a strong story, however it would have to be fact. I am obsessed with history from as long as I can remember. I will devour anything historical or political. Particularly modern Irish history, but also European and world history and politics. This probably does not surprise anybody who knows me or has been unfortunate enough to have asked me some point on Irish history.
TPQ: Biography, autobiography or memoir that most impressed you?
DD: Simon Sebag Montefiore’s two volumes on Stalin, Young Stalin and Stalin: Court of the Red Czar, fascinating and terrifying in equal measure.
TPQ: Any author or book you point blank refuse to read?
DD: No, I don’t believe there is. 😀Unless you count airport pulp fiction.
TPQ: A book to share with somebody so that they would more fully understand you?
DD: On Another Man’s Wound for all of the reasons given above.
TPQ: Last book you gave as a present?
DD: 😀That would probably be a true crime book for a friend who is a positive ghoul when it comes to serial killers and murder.
TPQ: Book you would most like to see turned into a movie?
DD: I would love to see The Singing Flame. It would have everything and would give a timely insight into a conflict whose legacy is still with us almost 100 years later.
TPQ: A "must read" you intend getting to before you die?
DD: I will cheat here and say two. One is James Joyce’s Ulysses. I had to read it when I was doing my degree. I’ll confess I got bogged down and didn’t finish it. Still managed to bang out a couple of essays on it. Seriously though, I would like to read it in full as I think it is a book that would reward the effort. The other one is Tolstoy’s War and Peace, both as a literary endeavour and a feat of physical endurance.
TPQ: Last book you gave as a present?
DD: 😀That would probably be a true crime book for a friend who is a positive ghoul when it comes to serial killers and murder.
TPQ: Book you would most like to see turned into a movie?
DD: I would love to see The Singing Flame. It would have everything and would give a timely insight into a conflict whose legacy is still with us almost 100 years later.
TPQ: A "must read" you intend getting to before you die?
DD: I will cheat here and say two. One is James Joyce’s Ulysses. I had to read it when I was doing my degree. I’ll confess I got bogged down and didn’t finish it. Still managed to bang out a couple of essays on it. Seriously though, I would like to read it in full as I think it is a book that would reward the effort. The other one is Tolstoy’s War and Peace, both as a literary endeavour and a feat of physical endurance.
⏭Des Dalton is a long time republican activist.
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