Books, books, books.

I am very much looking forward to this weekend. Or, perhaps I should say, the nerd in me is looking forward to it.

It's the weekend of the Dublin Book Festival!!!

I think that I read somewhere that Irish people read more, on average, than folks in all the rest of the English-speaking countries. I'm pretty sure that's true, and I love the way there are odd little bookstores tucked into corners all over Dublin. There are big megastores, and they are great in their "we've got everything" way. But my favourite bookstore in Dublin -- and I say this as someone with access to the amazing library at Trinity College -- is the Secret Book and Record Store on Wicklow Street, just off Grafton Street. Ooh, I just googled it, and it has a MySpace page. It's a funny place that would be easy to miss. You go through an ordinary looking door and down a longish and rather grimy corridor and then you're in this L-shaped space heaped with the oddest assortment of books, music and customers. The sort of place tattooed guys crossly buy Nietzsche paperbacks in and moms-and-babies go to to pick up second-hand children's books. I love it. I go there several times a week. Usually, I don't buy anything, but they don't seem to mind.

One of the things I most love about the Irish is that most people seem to strive to be eloquent. My greengrocer, for example, is one of the best-spoken people I've ever met, and even those guys you pass on the street who use an expletive for every second word; well, you've got to give it to 'em -- they do inventively. The Irish love language the way people from other cultures love fancy food or wine, I think.

So that's a very long-winded way of saying, well, I am looking forward to the Book Festival :-) I will be taking care of the kids on Saturday again, so I must see if there's anything bookish I can take them to so that I can propose it to their Mom.

I'm also hoping that it's mostly free, as I am saving my pennies for the biggest Spring festival in the world: St Patrick's Day

Exciting times. Oh, and I am getting a little work done too, as well as thinking hard about next year and What The Future Holds.

By the way, my Uncle Joey is now living in Ireland too. He's working in the fishing industry just like he did back home, and living in circumstances I don't entirely understand. I must go down and investigate one of these days because my Mom and Dad are getting very curious!