Gabriel Byrne, the actor and cultural ambassador, told In My Library two years ago that Colm Tóibín was “one of our greatest writers,” describing his novel “Brooklyn,” about a young woman who leaves Ireland for America, as “the dilemma of everyone who’s torn between two places, belonging in neither. It’s a stunningly beautiful, simple love story.” Now Tóibín’s work is on Broadway: His “Testament of Mary,” adapted from his novella, stars Fiona Shaw in a wrenching performance as a mother who wants very different things from her son than his followers do. These days, the former altar boy divides his time between Dublin and Manhattan, where he teaches at Columbia University. Here are four books he’s read lately and loved.
The Passage of Power
by Robert Caro
It’s the most recent of his LBJ books, the one that deals with the assassination of John Kennedy. But there are other extraordinary sections, one about the arrival of Kennedy in the Senate and Johnson completely misreading him . . . Caro has a dramatist’s eye and can really tell a story. This is the kind of book you bring to bed and hope you get the flu.
The Flame Throwers
by Rachel Kushner
The opening 30 pages are as good as it gets: about a young woman, an artist, on a motorbike in the desert, trying to break speed limits and create art at the same time. While it’s set in the ’60s, the politics could be now. The sentences have a lovely toughness to them. You can hear echoes of Don Delillo in the way she writes.
Constance
by Patrick McGrath
Patrick’s father was the medical superintendent of Broadmoor, the prison in England where mad murderers are sent. Patrick was brought up there, and he writes clear, rational sentences about people of unsound mind and the chaos they cause. This novel’s just out; his “Asylum” is a sort of masterpiece.
Portrait of a Novel
by Michael Gorra
Obviously he’s been teaching and writing about “Portrait of a Lady” all his life, and he tries to put himself into Henry James’ mind as “Portrait” is being created. He’s steeped in knowledge that he tries to impart to anyone who can read. It’s like going to a book club and finding one person so smart, you’re interested in everything he has to say.