Dear ,

Happy August! A month to drink lots of ice tea and sit in front of the fan.

That's what I remember doing in my childhood and it's about what I did in Spain, except we drink beer there instead of tea....

Did you know that when I was 19 I spent a year in Northern Ireland? Right at the very tip near Giant's Causeway in a town called Portstewart. Ever since, I'e been fascinated with the country. The people are so nice and at that point in 2001, there was little fighting going on. Peace had come to the region and it seemed to my young eyes that everyone was happy about that.

Still, I've always been drawn to finding out more about the why and the how of Northern Ireland. It seems to be a warning tale of how human nature can run away with itself. How we swallow the excuses we want to believe. How hardened we can get in our beliefs. And how difficult it is to understand something unless you go back several generations.

I read Belfast Diary by John Conroy about the 1980s hunger strikes. What I loved about the book was that he went back years before to explain how the men who joined the strike got to that place.

On the plane coming home I watched 'Belfast' with Judi Dench which follows little Buddy through the first days of The Troubles in 1969, which is based on the writers', Kenneth Branagh's, childhood memories. The story is simple, but the movie was nicely done. Clearly it was just one point of view and the point of view of a child at that, but all stories have multiple people living them, don't they? I thought the film was worth seeing.

Another film I watched was 'Reminiscence', which had quite a few plot holes, but anything with Hugh Jackman is worth watching in my opinion. Especially when stuck in a metal tube over the Atlantic.

What movies or books have you read this summer?

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In a few weeks I'll be looking for beta readers for my book Outside the Ring. If you like getting books before they're published to help the author make sure there are no plot holes, be on the lookout for that email!

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Keep reading,

Kat