There are writers who make you feel cleverer for reading them, and writers who make you feel seen. Kathleen MacMahon manages both, which feels a little unfair, frankly, but we are choosing to admire it rather than resent her!

Her latest novel, Other People’s Lives, is exactly the kind of beautifully observed, emotionally intelligent fiction we love at Chapters: friendship, marriage, motherhood, family, memory, regret, and all the complicated choices people make when they are young, only to find those choices still tapping them on the shoulder decades later.

So naturally, we wanted to ask her ten very serious literary questions. By which we mean: what was the first book she bought herself, which books does she think everyone should read, does she Google herself, and what gets her on the dance floor?

Her answers are, pleasingly, everything we hoped for. Judy and Bunty annuals bought with Christmas money from her granny. A refreshing lack of book snobbery. A firm belief that “story is everything”. Hardy, Fitzgerald and Nabokov. A thousand-page Western recommended with total conviction. The Cure on the dance floor. Tea and coffee, but at different ends of the day, which is frankly the only sensible answer.

And, most importantly, she describes Chapters as “a book safari”, which we are now considering having printed on T-shirts, mugs, tote bags, staff aprons and possibly the front door.

Kathleen’s answers are full of the warmth, intelligence and quiet humour that make her writing so compelling. She reminds us that books are not about showing off. They are about pleasure, story, discovery, community and the glorious possibility of walking into a bookshop for one thing and leaving with something entirely unexpected.

Which, as mission statements go, will do very nicely.

1.     What is the first book you bought yourself?

 

I remember buying Judy and Bunty annuals with the money I got from my granny at Christmas. I can still remember the hours and hours of reading pleasure. My family were never snobby about books. We were encouraged to read anything we wanted.

 

2.     If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

 

Story is everything. Pretty language is all very well, but writers are essentially storytellers. The rest is icing on the cake. 

 

3.     Did publishing your first book change your writing process?

I wrote my first novel in secret, so I was outed with publication. I found it much harder to write after that, because I had expectations to meet. I’ve been trying to shed them ever since!

 

4.     What were you most wrong about when you imagined being a writer?

 

I thought it would be lonely, but there’s actually a great community of book people in Ireland and beyond. It’s not just other writers but also booksellers and librarians as well as publishing people. We all encourage and support each other. 

 

5.     Which 3 books do you think everyone should read?

 

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy is about as good a story as you’re going to find. Everyone should read Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby because it’s so sad and beautiful. Finally, I recommend Nabokov’s short stories, because he writes like a god.

 

6.     Do you have a favourite book to gift and if so, what is it?

 

I often give people Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, because it’s so hugely enjoyable. A thousand pages of adventure and romance, as two Texas Rangers drive a herd of cattle from the Mexican border to Montana.  I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t love it.

 

 

7.     What song always gets you on the dance floor?

 

In-Between Days by The Cure.

 

8.     Tea or Coffee?

 

Both, but at different ends of the day!

 

9.     Do you Google yourself?

 

Absolutely not.

 

10.  Why do you love Chapters?

 

It’s always a thrill going into Chapters, because the stock is so big and varied. I invariably find myself buying something I didn’t expect, whether it’s a vintage Penguin paperback or a gorgeous hardback of a favourite author at a bargain price. Chapters has that sense of adventure for the reader – it’s a book safari!