#ReadingIrelandMonth26 – Rosepoint Publishing

Shamrocks, Blarney Stones, and Wild Irish Tales #ReadingIrelandMonth26

Reading Ireland Month (The #Begorrathon26) had a good run this year, with ebooks and audiobooks read and reviewed. Surprisingly, although Waking the Titanic was supposed to be on Netflix, I gave up looking for it, as it was obviously taken down at some point. Then, in quick succession, we gave up on Derry Girls, Lies We Tell, and The Fall of the House of Usher.

Reading Ireland Month26 - wrap up

Back when I published a number of my grandfather’s books, I tried creating a book trailer or two and made one for Cocos Island Treasure using one of Marc Gunn’s songs.

Of course, I always recommend my favorite Irish podcaster, Marc Gunn’s Irish and Celtic Music Podcast. This year’s St Patrick’s Day podcast included one of his own songs that I thought I’d share.

Years ago, I also posted a St Patrick’s article regarding one of his more interesting poems, The Bonny Bell from Yarn Four.

By now you’ve read my chuckle-fest St Patrick’s Day post that I titled Beans, Beans…(A St Patrick’s Day Revisited). Check it out if you haven’t seen it before. And don’t forget that special Irish Soda Bread recipe from one of our favorite Irish authors, Jean Granger.

We only use Netflix on the internet along with our antenna, so don’t have a large selection of streaming services but did enjoy The Siege of Jadotville. Hope you got to view that or have it on your view list.

Recommendations

I already mentioned the lone movie we were able to get and highly recommend. As always, one of those long-buried stories taken from history worthy of public note, The Seige of Jadotville deserves a look-see.

How to Get to Heaven from Belfast is a fast and furious, bordering on fantasy, dark comedy series, and I suspect, for those who enjoy a unique and wild ride with their whiskey.

The ebooks and audiobooks were a bit of a disappointment, though I enjoyed my ebook copy of Carlene O’Connor’s Murder in an Irish Churchyard.

We do have fun with this every year and it usually gets me out there researching and finding stuff I had no idea was available. Hope you read or listened to one of these books or movies, and if you did, I’d love to know.

Reading Ireland Month 2026

How to Get to Heaven from Belfast – Netflix Series – #darkcomedy – #readingirelandmonth26

How to Get to Heaven from Belfast - Netflix series

Introduction

I am reviewing this movie for Reading Ireland Month. It is hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. Please check out her page for more suggestions on reading, audiobooks, or music on her spotify list and use the hashtags #readingirelandmonth26 or #begorrathon.

title - The Series

While this was billed as three lifelong friends reuniting after the death of an old classmate, I get the feeling that it was more like childhood friends than lifelong and having gone their separate ways are now more strangers than friends. At thirty-something, they no longer have anything in common except for the friend now deceased and the dreadful secret each has faithfully kept all this time. Together they set off for a wake that will take them across Ireland, during which they become fully reacquainted with each other again and gradually realize there was something really off about Greta’s mysterious death.

The series was created by Lisa McGee, who also created the Derry Girls, a series I started for this event and quickly stopped. A Hat Trick production, it was released in February of 2026 by Netflix and is currently available for streaming starring Roisin Gallagher as Saoirse, Sinéad Keenan as Robyn, and Caoilfhionn Dunne as Dara. Natasha O’Keeffe is starring as the elusive Greta.

The genre is set as a comedy and thriller, although I would also add dark comedy and satire.

My Thoughts

Where in the world does the trip take them?

Well, we, who might not be terribly familiar with the scenic locations, get a lovely full tour. I believe it was shot primarily in Northern Ireland: Belfast, County Antrim, and County Down. Loved the rural views as well, the lush green countryside!

How to Get to Heaven from Belfast - Netflix series — Photo courtesy Facebook

After the thrilling hook, the plot devolves into a wild free-for-all action flick with the three of them talking as fast as humanly possible and creating a small language barrier for those of us not familiar with the jargon, idioms, or expressions.

Part of my problem was keeping up with the different scenes, some seeming as if they were coming out of nowhere—wild party dances and freely flowing booze (how did we get here?), or a diminutive platinum blonde and pink hair dressed as a circus doll (?) with a voice to match that I think was worse than anything Dorothy could have dreamed up in the Wizard of Oz.

The three girls from How to Get to Heaven from Belfast — Photo from NPR and Christopher Barr from Netflix

There was a cop who would appear from time to time and cute as he was, couldn’t discern why or what his point was. There were a few appropriate flashbacks to get some backfill, and from time to time focused on one of the three separately to dig deeper into their personality. One had three kids, one was a successful TV show writer…what did the brunette do? Oh, yeah. And was that a statement as well? A blonde, a redhead, and a brunette? Clever.

The main characters were wildly different from each other and wielded a sarcastic, dry wit. There were confusing scenes meant to raise more questions than answers and intentional misdirection. Absolute chaos. Somewhere by episode 3 or 4, the hubby was gritting his teeth or trying to sleep. Still, that’s the same man who’ll watch a chick flick before I will. It’s just one of those…

Is this a cultural statement? Or feminist? Perhaps I’m not the right generation. I don’t know but watched all eight episodes and honestly can’t tell you if anything was settled or not. The characters are wild and a fascinating study (a McGee signature?). If that means there will be a season two, though, I’m not sure I’ll tune in. Will you? Have you watched it yet? All of it?

Reading Ireland Month

The Compound: A Novel by Aisling Rawle #AudiobookReview #readingirelandmonth26 #TBT

GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, THE NEW YORKER, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, OPRAH DAILY, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY

Amazon Best Literature & Fiction

Winner for Readers’ Favorite Science Fiction (2025)

I am reviewing this audiobook for Reading Ireland Month. It is hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. Please use the hashtags #readingirelandmonth26 or #begorrathon if you choose to participate.

Book Blurb:

Lily—a bored, beautiful twenty-something—wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards like champagne and lipstick, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances, and a front door.

Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she’ll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams—but what will she have to do to win?

Addictive and prescient, The Compound is an explosive debut from a major new voice in fiction and will linger in your mind long after the game ends.

My Review:

Boy, can I pick’em. It’s the whole reality show thing and I’m not a fan. Don’t watch them. But Lily has decided to participate in a reality show, one she is familiar with, remembers some of the history, knows or can anticipate what to expect.

I missed that it was a blurred dystopian type world, perhaps sometime in the near distant future. That world outside is crappy. Lily is ready to escape—anywhere. And “anywhere” becomes a vague and obscure feature. She is one of twenty vying to become the last person standing, espousing the mantra “Nothing to lose. Everything to gain. Winner takes all.” She is pretty but vacuous.

The Compound - UK cover — The Compound – UK cover

The narrative captures the support characters through Lily’s eyes with her set of morals (or lack of them), ideologies, thirst, and competition. No one is viewed “what you see is what you get” as everyone might have ulterior motives. Who is next to stab you in the back and step over your body to climb the ladder?

From playing musical beds and graphic details to plotting the next exit candidate, this one left me cold, battling to get through, and tired of the language, the loss of humanity, and any real characters in which I could engage or invest. The call to Lily’s mum at the end did it for me. That’s just sad.

Well, mercy. Maybe you’re a fan of reality TV. This might work for you. Or dystopian? This might work for you. But not a book for me. Shouldn’t have chosen or failed to DNF. Cannot recommend.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Two point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Dystopian Fiction, Dystopian Science Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction
Publisher: Random House Audio
Narrator: Lucy Boynton
Release Date: June 24, 2025

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Aisling Rawle was born in 1998 and raised in County Leitrim in the West of Ireland. She now lives in Dublin. The Compound is her first book.

March is #ReadingIrelandMonth

The Siege of Jadotville – Netflix Movie – #waraction – #readingirelandmonth25

Introduction

I am reviewing this movie for Reading Ireland Month. It is hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. Please check out her page for suggestions on reading, audiobooks, or music on her spotify list and use the hashtags #readingirelandmonth26 or #begorrathon.

The Movie

According to Google, the movie was first a book detailing the 1961 battle called Seige at Jadotville: The Irish Army’s Forgotten Battle. It was written by Declan Power, an Irish security analyst published in 2005. This Netflix film was released in 2016. There are other books on the battle detailing the 157 UN Irish peacekeepers who were grossly outnumbered in the skirmish in the Congo.

My Thoughts

Although the film is a bit slow getting into the story, the storyline becomes quite engaging and the movie well acted. Not exactly the Alamo of Ireland, this is the account of the UN Irish peacekeeping forces facing a vastly outnumbered force (20-1) who not only managed to hold on while suffering no casualties against the Katangese forces (in reality, a mix of hardened European mercenaries with untested locals), but inflicting several hundred casualties on the opposing forces as well as more than one thousand wounded.

While not entirely historically accurate, the movie conveys the “last stand” spirit of the Irish. They defended their position (possibly five days according to internet accounts) until they ran out of ammunition and water, which resulted in surrender and imprisonment until a negotiated prisoner exchange resulted in their release, where they suffered the derisive term “Jadotville Jacks.”

The acting is gritty, hard-bitten, and filled with tension. Cast members included Jamie Dornan, Guillaume Canet, Emmanuelle Seigner, and Jason O’Mara, among many others better known to the Northern European theatre. Jamie Dornan as Commandant Pat Quinlan did an Academy-level job of conveying the brutality, desperation, and power of his position and the decisions he made under terrifying and desperate conditions. It’s the heroics of men plunged into circumstances no one should or could prepare for.

Filmed on locations in South Africa (north of Johannesburg) and Ireland, an honest representation of the atmospherics of the Congo, the look and feel of the battle.

Released by Netflix in 2016 – currently streaming

Genres: Irish, Military Movies, Drama, Movies based on books, movies based on real life…

Watched with the CE, we both enjoyed this one. The CE, being a veteran, enjoys most military movies and we both celebrate St Patrick’s Day, my grandfather being from County Cork and his grandmother from Dublin.

Rosepoint Recommended-5 Stars

There is plenty of action, great acting, tension, emotions, and a lovely epilogue at the end. Yes, the men finally get recognition of their efforts, if too late for some. And, movies based on true stories are history come alive, the best. If you haven’t viewed the film, I heartily recommend it. If you have, I’d love to know if you agree with my sentiments.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Background intro banner above courtesy Military Archives, color pics courtesy Facebook, movie camera courtesy Freepik

Thirst Trap: A Novel by Gráinne O’Hare #audiobookReview #ReadingIrelandMonth26

Reading Ireland Month 2026

Reading Ireland Month (The #Begorrathon) returned for the twelveth year in March and will be my eighth. It is hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. Please check out her page and you’ll find all kinds of suggestions for reading, listening, or music on her spotify list. (Of course, I always recommend my favorite Irish podcast, Marc Gunn’s Irish and Celtic Music Podcast.)

Use the hashtags #readingirelandmonth26 or #begorrathon26 if you plan to participate.

I’ve dug right in and started reading, listening, and viewing all things Irish with some success. I usually try for an ebook or two, an audiobook or two, and maybe a movie or series I can glean from our lone streaming service, Netflix. I previously posted a graphic of my initial list, but I’ve since refined it to note updates.

Today I’ll review Thirst Trap by Gráinne O’Hare

Book Blurb:

Sometimes friends hold you together.
Sometimes they’re why you’re falling apart.

Harley, Róise, and Maggie have been friends for ages. After meeting in primary school years ago, the women are still together, spending their nights on the sticky dancefloors of Belfast’s grungiest pubs. Each woman is navigating her own tangle of entry-level jobs, messy romantic entanglements, and late nights, but they always find their way back to each other, and to the ramshackle house they share. And amidst the familiar chaos, the three are still grieving their fourth housemate, whose room remains untouched, their last big fight hanging heavily over their heads.

The girls’ house has witnessed the highs and lows of their roaring twenties—raucous parties, surprising (and sometimes regrettable) hook-ups, and hellish hangovers. But as they approach thirty, their home begins to crumble around them and the fault lines in their group become harder to ignore. In the wreckage, they must decide if their friendship will survive into a new decade—or if growing up sometimes means letting go.

Brimming with heart and humor, Thirst Trap is an exuberant ode to friendship, to not having it all figured out, and to ordering just one more round before heading home.

My Review:

Okay. Well, that cover, if nothing else, might have been the hint that this book would not be for me and I ignored it.

Maggie, Harley, and Róise are pushing thirty, still share a house and a pet turtle. They had a fourth in their little clique, Lydia, who died in a car crash leaving lingering guilt and grief that now sits somewhere in the gut along with increasing alcohol intake and unsuccessful therapy session angst.

Each are educated and battling a number of little narcissistic quirks; Maggie with panic attacks, Harley the profound pessimist, and Róise, who loves her boss who in turn is clueless.

Thirst Trap by Grainne O'Hare — Thirst Trap cover – UK

It’s a dispassionate insight study of women at odds with facing a mature age and the folly of maintaining an immature stance on life. Too much booze, too many hangovers, unfulfilled love lives, lack of direction, and too few goals or the attainment of any.

Close friends whose friendship should have matured along with their age, but didn’t. They use Belfast’s nightlife as the glue that keeps them together until the reality of the loss of Lyndia’s death anniversary slaps them upside the head.

They have one life, not promised tomorrow, and what are they doing with it?

It’s a lot of tell, not show, but I gotta give it to the narrator, Susan Crothers, who kept the dialogue dynamic with realistic and appropriate voice inflection and kept me listening. Sarcasm, yes, but sarcasm has often been offered as a joke, but in veiled and targeted verbal irony. In this case, not humor, pushing barbed satire. And I didn’t find it that funny.

I realize my problem is probably a generational as well as cultural one with this novel. So, take my comments with a grain of salt and if young, swinging adult fiction is your vibe, go for it.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three Stars

Book Details:

Genre: LGBTQ+, Coming of Age Fiction
Publisher: Random House Audio
Narrator: Susan Crothers
Release Date: November 4, 2025

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Gráinne O’Hare is a writer from Belfast based in Newcastle upon Tyne. She received a Northern Debut Award for Fiction from New Writing North, and was awarded funding by the Arts Council for the development and completion of her first novel. Her short fiction has been published in the London Magazine, Extra Teeth, and Gutter. She has a PhD on eighteenth-century women’s life-writing from Newcastle University. [Photo courtesy Goodreads]

Reading Ireland Month

Reading Ireland Month – The #Begorrathon is Back and We’re All About Irish

Reading Ireland Month

Reading Ireland Month (The #Begorrathon) will return for the twelveth year during March 2026, although this will be my eighth year. It is hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. Cathy is a big supporter of everything Irish. Check out her page and you’ll find all kinds of suggestions for reading, listening, or music on her spotify list. Of course, I always recommend my favorite Irish podcast, Marc Gunn’s Irish and Celtic Music Podcast.

Please use the hashtags #readingirelandmonth26 or #begorrathon26 if you plan to participate.

Yes, we do tend to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in grandiose style in the US with parades, pub specials and green beer, corned beef and cabbage. And as I’ve mentioned before, in “Chicago-land” they turn the Chicago River green. You might think that represents a good-sized population of Irish folks or Irish descendants and you would be right!

I always include the post I wrote years ago following one of our more interesting St Patrick’s Days, titled Beans, Beans…(A St Patrick’s Day Revisited). Check it out if you haven’t seen it before.

I usually try for one ebook a week, an audiobook or two, and again this year looked for movies or series I can glean from our lone streaming service, Netflix. Not that many this year and of the ones listed, only found a few. Perhaps you can find them on your own streamer.

Reading Ireland Month 2026 - Books and Movies

MOVIES

To be viewed in no particular order:

Waking the Titanic – In 1912, fourteen Irish immigrants from Addergoole, County Mayo, embarked on the Titanic’s ill-fated maiden voyage to seek work in America. ‘Muintir Maigh Eo ar an Titanic’ (Documentary)

Lies We Tell

The Seige of Jadotville

SERIES

Derry Girls
The Fall of the House of Usher (mini-series)

Suggested High Ratings Irish-related (Not Found on Netflix)
In the Land of Saints and Sinners
Hard Times

BOOKS

From my local library:

The Burning Soul by John Connelly (CE book)

Murder in An Irish Churchyard by Carlene O’Connor – ebook

I will probably include one of my grandfather’s poems and, of course, Irish author Jean Grainger’s soda bread recipe.

We do have fun with this every year and it seems to get me out there researching and finding stuff I had no idea was available. Hope you’ll enjoy a book or one of these movies and if you do, I’d love to know.

Reading Ireland Month 2022