Two Books This Month
OFF THE SHELF
“Full Tilt ” by Dervla Murphy
We all thoroughly enjoyed this account of the Author’s cycle ride from Ireland to India. Braving hunger, heat exhaustion, unbearable terrain and cultures largely untouched by civilisation, hers is a highly individual account of her journey in 1963. She travelled across nine countries through snow and ice in the mountains and miles of barren land in the scorching desert. The book is based on the daily diary she kept whilst riding through Yugoslavia, Persia, Afghanistan, over the Himalayas to Pakistan and India. She worked with Tibetan refugee children before returning home to Ireland.
Dervla Murphy died aged 90 in 2022 having written over 25 books. She well earned her reputation as Ireland’s most intrepid, respected and fearless travel writer. We scored this book 9/10.
“The Age of Innocence ” by Edith Wharton
This was our book club classic choice for the year. Edith Wharton (1862 -1937) was an American writer who drew upon her insider’s knowledge of upper-class New York Society to portray the lives and morals of the 1870s – ‘A Gilded Age’. It took a little while to get into the story and sort out the various families and their standing in Society. However, after that it became a bit of a page turner. It is a bitter-sweet account of desire and betrayal at a time when society dreaded scandal more than disease. It follows the life of Newland Archer as he prepares to marry the beautiful but conventional Mary Welland. His world is turned upside down when a woman with a past, Countess Olenska, returns to New York after a disastrous marriage. Archer falls deeply in love with her and is torn between duty and passion. No spoilers here, the story continues with the continuing tensions and consequences of his decision.
Edith Wharton was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1921 for The Age of Innocence. We scored this book 8/10.
Patricia Coulthard