The Art of Reading Book Club with Colm Tóibín | Episode 1 'Small Things Like These' by Claire Keegan

Welcome to the The Art of Reading a monthly book club hosted by Colm Tóibín, the Laureate for Irish Fiction. We invite readers everywhere to join us on the last Thursday of every month.
The first Art of Reading book club features Colm in conversation with Claire Keegan about her latest work Small Things Like These.
Each month our Laureate will discuss a novel by an Irish writer, highlighting outstanding Irish writing and celebrating the reader and book clubs. The selected titles will include new work by contemporary Irish writers as well as novels from the past that the Laureate wishes to bring to a new generation of readers. Readers, book lovers and book clubs everywhere are invited to join in the Art of Reading with the Laureate, to read these outstanding books and to engage in reading in a deep and focused way.
#TheArtofReading #ArtsIreland

[@eleanorzissou]

Kudos to Claire Keegan for keeping on in this trainwreck of a monologue. He‘s desperate in putting his points into her, longing for her validation, which she gracefully gifts from time to time. I‘d love to listen to her musing about her craft without someone else trying to make his points.

[@susanschmidt5742]

Totally agree! I kept asking myself, who is the interviewer and who is being interviewed. Colm crossed lines with his persistent opinions and not allowing her to speak.

[@robertamesse3980]

Thank you, Colm AND thank you Claire Keegan!

[@moirataylor9072]

Mesmerising and hugely informative. Thank you, Both.

[@OShaughnessyC]

Very profound! Thanks to both for this excellent discussion.

[@kathleenhill3264]

Wonderful conversation! Thank you.

[@guzinayan5373]

❤Thank you. That was amazing.

[@ronanconnor169]

She is a talent

[@gavinmacarthur7989]

Keegan's point about 'going in rather than going on', about bad storytellers and bad conversationalists who 'go on and on' (around 7 minutes in), diluting instead of increasing, is completely lost on Toibin, who is falling over himself to get through his checklist of observations and attempts to 'put a few things in your head', as he says himself. Unfortunately, Keegan is consigned/resigned to playing the part of the listener for much of this piece. The trope of the 'good man' is in full play here, but not in the way that Toibin imagines.

[@Pigletpronto]

Pretty halarious Colm , is it about you or Claire. You’re like a fella in her book !

[@larykleeman]

Claire is such an astute writer. I find Colm (as well as another male interviewer of Claire's ) irritating. For some reason, these male interviewers want to press their ideas instead of really listening to Claire.

[@Pigletpronto]

I’m thinking about it more, this interview is so difficult to follow because one has to get through so much of Colm’s literary-ness , who it is not about. A majority is the artist sitting there while he talks. It’s actually very very Irish art world figure’s de rigeur - in my estimation/ experience , awful warble on. So obvious it’s an arts council production, it’s so up their arses . 12.45 finally Claire’s there - saying she feels she’s more a servant than a squire. Wow. Facinating . Contrast this interviews format to the booker prize interview, where it’s all Claire & silent written questions, far shorter but at least it’s her. If Colm wants to write an essay about her go ahead, but this is wrecking my head.