In England and in Ireland, not confessing

I confess: I just finished reading a book that isn't on The List.  Last night, I finished A Course Called Ireland by Tom Coyne, a non-fiction work about the author's trip golfing around Ireland.

My reasons for straying from The List, is simply a way of continuing my dedication to reading and in the long run, I hope to only help my quest of reading all one hundred.  While I have been reading Ireland the past two weeks, I've also made my way through two thirds of my current List read; The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. The idea of reading two books, allows me to switch between the two and almost pitting the two read against each other.  If I finish one chapter from book A, I can move on to book B.  Sort of like having two salesmen competing against each other while still trying to reach the same goal.

Back to A Course Called Ireland, it's simply a fantastic read about Coyne's four-month journey around the Emerald Isle.  Not only did he walk the nearly 1000 holes he played while there, he also walked from course to course, covering over 1,100 miles, doing a circumnavigation of the island.  While obviously aimed at the golfer in the crowd, the book talks more about the country, the characters he meets, and his experiences off the course, opposed to focusing on the actual golf.  It's well written, it's interesting, its unique and thoroughly enjoyable.

As for the other book I'm reading right now, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, I'm nearly finished and hope to do so this weekend.  So far, it's a very good read and despite the story being set in the South during the depression, it isn't a downer at all.