Nan McCarthy

author of Since You Went Away, Chat, Connect, Crash, & Live ’Til I Die

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One could say the luck o’ the Irish was definitely not in play the night Jean McConville was kidnapped in front of her ten children by a mysterious group of intruders on a cold December night in 1972 Belfast. Patrick Radden Keefe’s “Say Nothing” starts off with the kidnapping then quickly switches gears to thrust the reader’s attention toward the key figures involved in the violent conflict taking place in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s all the way to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and beyond. If you’re not interested in reading about the Troubles then this book is not for you. I admit to being slightly impatient at first when Keefe veered off immediately after the kidnapping, writing in great detail about specific members of the IRA, the British military, the Belfast police force, etc. I stuck with it though and was ultimately compelled to keep turning the pages because 1.) I was finally beginning to understand the why and how behind all those crazy headlines coming from Northern Ireland during the Troubles, and 2.) I *really* wanted to know which of these individuals were responsible for Jean’s kidnapping and disappearance (and why anyone would “disappear” a seemingly innocent, poverty-stricken widowed mother of ten). Keefe delivers on all counts.

If you haven’t been to Loose Park to see the cherry blossoms yet what are you even doing with your life?

Anyone else watching the Ken Burns documentary “Hemingway” on PBS? Part One aired last night, Part Two tonight, and Part Three tomorrow night. Nothing earth-shattering so far but I did enjoy seeing photos of the Oak Park home where he grew up and hearing about his time working as a reporter at the Kansas City Star. Having visited his home in Key West and imbibed in more than a few cocktails at his favorite bar in Bimini (The Compleat Angler), I’m looking forward to seeing mentions of those places in Parts Two and Three. And yet—while the documentary has made me a little more curious about his work, I was never much of a fan. Shown here are the Hemingway novels I read in college some 40 years ago 😱 I wonder if I’d feel differently about his work if I revisited these books today? Since I’m not one to re-read stuff (so many unread books to experience!) it’s unlikely I’ll ever learn the answer to that question. That said, the PBS special is worth a gander if you’re even remotely interested in writing and books.

Feeling pink today 🌸

Happy Birthday McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters, born in Mississippi on this day in 1915. Muddy came to Chicago in 1943 and purchased a home on the South Side in the North Kenwood neighborhood at 43rd and S. Lake Park Avenue in 1954. Waters died in 1983 and the house was at risk of being demolished in 2013. (My husband and I saw the home in the late ‘90s as part of a South Side Chicago Blues Tour but our group was not allowed to go inside due to the unsafe conditions.) In 2020 it was announced that Muddy’s granddaughter Chandra Cooper will be leading the renovation of the house into a museum and community center.

Looking forward to next year, when we can go to the Brookside Parade again 🍀

Bucket List item: sandhill crane migration ☑️

Norton Juster died last night at the age of 91. I was lucky enough to meet him in 2012 along with illustrator Jules Feiffer, both of whom signed my 1971 Scholastic edition of The Phantom Tollbooth. There’s a direct line between this book and my career as a writer. Juster’s love of words and wordplay completely captivated my nine year-old self, and because of him that nine year-old word nerd still lives inside me today.

The weather outside was frightful but our day at the museum was delightful. 🖼

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Blog (31)
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  - Live ’Til I Die (6)
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  - Chat: book one (4)
  - Connect: book two (4)
  - Crash: book three (4)
  - Since You Went Away (Part Four: Fall) (2)
  - Since You Went Away (Part One: Winter) (4)
  - Since You Went Away (Part Three: Summer) (2)
  - Since You Went Away (Part Two: Spring) (2)
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Newest blog post

For the Ones Who Startle Easily

“Nowadays, when I look back on that day my dad died 50 years ago, what strikes me the most is not the memory of my own sadness, but the faces of the people who cared for me.”…

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