10. Before the Storm 📚 Beano Niblock
Niblock’s new collection looks back at a pre-Troubles time. Examining the mundane security of living in a tight-knit community while also embracing a childish wonder at the world, it acts as both a eulogy for and examination of a period and group of people relegated to history. Carly Mitchell provides illustrations throughout with them set in 2024 and acting as a contrast to Niblock’s poems which have a sense of optimism undergirding them. Running to 20 pages, this is another magnificent collection from Niblock. He’s tapping into an area of Belfast literature that needs more exploration.
9. Flowers Blooming Fire 📚 Alexander Kattke
The reader is whisked along a variety of hellish landscapes where the narrator contemplates nature, humanity, violence, school, childhood, isolation and the idea of a saviour. All of which are bookended with quotes (some real, some fictitious, some pseudo-inspirational) which demonstrate the absurdity and intellectual banality of using quotes as a philosophy and how “motivational” quotes are self-aggrandising advertising in the wrong set of circumstances. Bizarre, humiliating, brutal and unforgiving, this is a heavy and intense work that certainly won’t be for everyone.
8. The War Against The Past: Why the West Must Fight For Its History 📚 Frank Furedi
Throughout the book, Furedi discusses many aspects of this conflict, starting with Greek culture being vilified because of slavery, the reduction of complex historical figures to “bad guys”, the idea that culture equals exclusionist white supremacy and even a change in language to combat sexism which divorces family members from each other. At times taxing, at times infuriating and at times enlightening, this is a book that should act as a springboard for further conversations about history, how we teach it and how we need it.
7. Port Awful 📚 Mather Schneider
Listed as a short story collection, Schneider has compiled an engaging, pointed and humourous read where the various narrators operate as taxi drivers, janitors, porters and photo developers who enjoy alcohol a little too much for their own good but, crucially, all of them are recognisable people. Ordinary working-class types, some with a devotion to Henry Miller. Schneider’s writing style is direct but occasionally tinged with humour and pathos. The characters aren’t necessarily desperate, but they have accepted their place and simply try to survive without going mad.
6. To Ease My Troubled Mind: The Authorised Unauthorised History of Billy Childish 📚 Ted Kessler
Having recorded (roughly) 150 albums of garage rock, punk, calypso and spoken word as well as authoring (roughly) 100 books and countless works of art, Childish is a prime example of an outsider artist. As a celebration of nearly 50 years of independence, To Ease My Troubled Mind does a sterling job of celebrating the work of Billy Childish, examining the milieu that he found himself in at the start of his career and lauding him for finding a variety of outlets for his artistic impulses. Inspiring, insightful and intriguing.
5. Ripcord 📚 Nate Lippens
Less of a novel and more a series of paragraphs where characters reappear eery now and then, Ripcord is a very 21st-century novel but with the beating heart of a Gen Xer behind it. The narrator is jaded, cynical, beat down by life in the new century but flashes of defiance can appear every now and then. Reduced to part time bartending, being “the other” man in a passionless but comfortable affair and digging out his old Lydia Lunch and Exene Cervenka records, the narrator is engaging in his alienation and disdain for the modern world. A 21st century look at a timeless and universal issue.
4. Military Intelligence Reports (August 1969 – January 1970) 📚 Captain James Kelly/Angela Clifford
A hugely controversial incident in Irish history, the Arms Trial of 1970 remains a Rorschach test: to nationalists/republicans it was the final proof that the south would kowtow to the British and, for unionists/loyalists, it was evidence that Articles 2 and 3 of the constitution were not rhetorical. How accurate these reports are, who knows? But, as period pieces, they are undoubtedly fascinating. Closing with a denunciation of Jack Lynch, a reiteration of the stances took by the Irish Communist Organisation and a defence of Captain Kelly, Clifford deserves praise for compiling these reports.
3. The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America 📚 Coleman Hughes
Having recently gone viral after his appearance on American talk show 'The View' (as well as an attempt by TED to suppress his TED Talk), Hughes has been making the case for colour blind thinking for many years now and has ruffled the feathers of those invested in identity politics due to it being their livelihood. This book is a rallying cry for those alienated by society’s descent into hyper racial thinking but who still believe that a better world is possible. Running just over 200 pages, this book should be compulsive reading for everyone.
2. Teddy Boys: Post-War Britain and the First Youth Revolution 📚 Max Décharné
By the early 50’s, there had been a revival in Edwardian fashion and working-class kids were spending a fair bit on Edwardian suits. Add in the DA’s for haircuts and the Teddy Boys were born. All of this makes for an enthralling and fascinating read. Going through contemporary news, Décharné clearly had a blast writing this book and his enthusiasm rubs off on the reader. What is a genuine surprise is that the Ted look actually predates the arrival of rock n roll in Britain by a year or so. Beforehand, cultural commentators seemed unsure of what the youth were actually listening to.
1. The Disappeared: Forced Disappearances In Ireland 1798-1998 📚 Pádraig Og Ó Ruairc
One person who has been doing their bit over the last two decades to separate truth from revision has been Padraig Og Ó Ruairc. I am quite content to declare this an important book about the Irish struggle for independence and one that emphasises that (as Toxic Holocaust once sang) war is fucking hell, helps fill gaps in our knowledge about certain periods of Irish history, allows for a better understanding of why they occurred, makes us realise that such actions were not an aberration within Irish republicanism and demolishes the “good old IRA playing fairly” myth.
⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.
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