Summer has arrived with a lovely weekend of sunshine. While thousands of women around the country gear up for the Women’s Mini Marathon and Leaving and Junior Cert students prepare for the first week of their exams. For the rest of us, however, these next few days are an opportunity to relax and unwind and give us a chance to prepare for what will hopefully be a glorious summer.
One of the most important parts of any summer though is the list of books we promise ourselves to read. Susan spent the past week going through all of the past interviews on ‘Talking Books’ to try and pick out some of the best books we have featured on the show. Join us this Sunday at 7am as Susan looks back on two of the best interviews from the ‘Talking Books’ archives and gives some great reading recommendations; because is there really anything truly better than sitting under a tree or on the beach with a good book in your hand and the sun shining above you?
Rewriting classics
There are some stories that have become so well established that many of us know their tales even if we have never picked up the books. The sagas revolving around Odysseus and Achilles are very well known today, though we may be more familiar with Long John Silver’s search for Flint’s treasure or Scrooge as he stalks the streets of London. So popular and powerful are these stories that they have reached through time to inspire authors centuries, and in some cases millennia, later. While some of these reincarnations are glaringly obvious there are many more modern retellings of old stories that pass us by unnoticed.
Last winter Susan stopped by Trinity College to talk with Professor Eve Patten about some of these iconic works of the past and a few of the stories that they have inspired. Professor Patten took Susan on a journey from Ancient Greece through English fields and factories during the Industrial Revolution to the world of today, tracing the tales as they were retold and reimagined. Join Susan this Sunday at 7am as she looks back at this discussion on the rewriting of classic works of literature. Why do authors tell stories already told? What attracts them to the works of the past? And why is it important that we do continue to rewrite the great tales that came before us?
Writing the biography of a city
With the summer holidays coming into full swing many of us are looking forward to the opportunity to take time out and travel. Whether it’s a short trip to another part of Ireland or a journey across the world to Borneo a holiday offers a plethora of new experiences and the opportunity to delve into local traditions and cultures. Sitting astride the Bosporus where the tides of Europe meet Asia, Istanbul has long been considered one of the greatest cities in the world and a cultural crossroads awash in new and amazing experiences for any traveller.
Well known for his invigorating and beautiful books, Orhan Pamuk is one of Istanbul’s greatest authors. Born and raised in the heart of the city Pamuk has built his literary career around Istanbul, bringing the its warm and bustling streets alive with vivid and descriptive language. Earlier this year Susan spoke with author and poet Michael O’Loughlin about one of Pamuk’s most important pieces of writing, Istanbul: Memories and the City. A biography of a city this book paints a picture of Istanbul as a thing terribly alive, its pulse felt in the ebb and flow of its people and their goings on.
A true Istanbuller Orhan Pamuk became the first Turkish citizen to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006, a fitting prize for a man who has dedicate his literary career to Turkey’s greatest city. Join Susan this Sunday as ‘Talking Books’ revisits her interview with Michael O’Loughlin and the work of Orhan Pamuk. What makes Pamuk such a great author? What is it like painting the portrait of a city with words? And what sort of a world is he painting?
