A Little Bit of Irish History from 1916 to 2016

There it was hanging on the Ha'Penny Bridge over the River Liffey yesterday for the 80,000 anti-austerity marchers - and everyone else in Dublin - to see. A message from the past, from James Connolly, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion in 1916. In many ways it is as relevant today as it was during WWII as Ireland groans under the burden of the German-led European Union's insistence that the Irish people pay for the malfeasance of the Irish and German banks who crashed our economy. An election is coming up next week and nobody knows for certain how it will play out. But one thing is clear. A lot of people in Ireland are totally fed up with the ruling elites of both Ireland and Europe.

Disappointing Don DeLillo

Let's be clear, I adore this writer. I have read just about everything he has written and, until this book, I have never been disappointed. And it's not that this one isn't compelling - I'm still slogging through it - but I am actually SHOCK HORROR bored at times and I have SHOCK HORROR skipped pages. At the same time, there are sections that have had me laughing out loud which has not happened with his other books. Brilliant comedic writing. But in so many passages he seems to be aping Joyce, showing off his brilliance with prose to no meaningful purpose, and wasting my precious reading time. This was written in the 1990s. Was he already that famous that his editor wouldn't touch him? I'm a few weeks with him now when normally I read him in a few days. That says it all.