My life in books: ‘I loved reading books to my two children when they were younger’
Bestselling author, documentary maker, journalist, and broadcaster Barry Cummins' new book 'Buried Secrets: The Murder of Tina Satchwell and a Journalist’s Journey into Ireland’s Most Chilling Cold Case' is out now.
Barry Cummins is a bestselling author, documentary maker, journalist, and broadcaster.
by Arthur Edward Guinness is a fascinating history of the porter, the family, and Ireland.
is a collection of short stories by Kate Atkinson, my favourite author.
And by Stephen Breen and John Hand is one of many Irish crime books I’ve been reading back over lately.
I’ve always loved autobiographies of famous people — by Burt Reynolds and by Andre Agassi stand out as two I very much enjoyed.
by Louis de Berniéres. I started it years ago, and was very much enjoying it, then something happened to distract me and I never went back to it, but I will this summer.
by Gene Kerrigan, published in 1996, the year I began working as a journalist. It is still the best true crime book ever written in Ireland.
by Janet and Allan Ahlberg — I loved reading books to my two children when they were younger. and by Julia Donaldson are up there too.
by Timothy Knatchbull. The book is a very moving account of being on a boat which was targeted by an IRA bomb in 1979 off the Sligo coast.
Timothy’s twin brother Nicholas was killed, as was teenager Paul Maxwell, and Timothy’s grandparents Lord Mountbatten and his grandmother Lady Brabourne.
by Eoghan Murphy. An insightful account of how a politician decided it wasn’t meant to be a job for life.
I read it at a time I was beginning to think about life beyond RTÉ, after more than two decades as a journalist with the broadcaster.
by Gene Kerrigan and Pat Brennan.
I read this gem when I was a younger journalist, and it taught me that an Irish investigative journalist will never be out of work.
I had the honour of later working with Pat Brennan in the RTÉ News department. She was one of my great bosses.
Behind the scenes in RTÉ. I think a lot of people would buy that.
by Kate Atkinson.
by Friedrich Duerrenmatt which was adapted for the screen as starring Jack Nicholson, and directed by Sean Penn.
It is a stunning film that touches upon criminal and moral issues that are emotive and impactful.
Barker and Jones bookshop in Naas is an oasis of calm. The ILAC centre library run by Dublin City Council has a special place in my heart — it’s where I spent hours in previous decades searching microfiche of old newspapers, long before digital versions were available.
Neither, but colour coded — that’s my wife’s doing, and it looks well for Zoom calls too.
Cup of tea in the back garden, or beer on holiday.
Jackson Brodie, the battered-by-life ace detective brought to life so wonderfully by Kate Atkinson in a number of her books.
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