My life in books: Women of magic deserve more than a ‘witch’ label
Ellen Ryan says the term 'witch' was meant to invoke fear or, at best, obstruct the truth of who these women were and what they achieved.
Ellen Ryan is the author of the award-winning children’s book .
by Henry Miller, an autobiographical account of a bohemian life in Paris in the 1930s.
I find it both liberating for its raw fluidity of thought and rejection of perfectionism, yet depressing for its ugly, misogynistic caricaturing of women.
by Nussaibah Younis, about a heartbroken academic who takes a UN job in Iraq, leading a deradicalisation programme to reform ISIS brides.
It’s a serious topic turned on its head and the most risqué, laugh-out-loud book I read in years.
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by Mona Asad, about a woman on an MFA programme at a New England university. It is a wonderfully weird and clever satire on academia and female friendship, yet I struggled with the characters.
by Marita Conlon McKenna. Aged 12, this book about the famine rocked me.
by Sinéad O’Hart. One of my favourite parts of the day is reading bedtime stories to my eight-year-old.
When I find a book that makes her laugh out loud and want to discuss the characters’ choices, it’s a great rush.
by Louise O’Neill is about a time in her life when she thought she had everything she wanted, until her relationship ended.
At times it does make me sad for the world our daughters will inherit. But it is also deliciously shallow, funny, and full of hope.
by Eckhart Tolle. I was in my 20s and burnt out when I found this. Through Tolle’s teaching, I learned to ‘observe’ the noise in my mind, and not take it too seriously.
by Rebecca Beyer; by Lora O’Brien, and by Jezmina Von Thiele.
I wrote because I felt it needed to be written. It’s a testament to all the women of magic who deserve more than a ‘witch’ label; for centuries, the term was meant to invoke fear or, at best, obstruct the truth of who these women were and what they achieved.
by the late Irish Manchán Magan. He had such a powerful way of connecting us to our environment, to our language, to ourselves.
trilogy, particularly . The only film I can think of that might be better than the book.
Halfway Up the Stairs in Greystones, Wicklow. It is more than a bookshop — it is a cultural hub and at the heart of our children’s community.
Chaos, but I’m skilled at scanning for the right spine.
Copious amounts of tea and coffee, and chocolate doesn’t hurt, either.
I’ve enjoyed the vulnerable yet resilient Sally in by Liz Nugent and the polite-but-takes-no-prisoners Sybil Van Antwerp in by Virginia Evans. I love duality in a character.
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