556 ratings | 368 reviews | avg rating:4.28

Ronan’s Year In Books

Ronan’s 2024 Year in Books

Take a look at Ronan’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

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Ronan O'Driscoll’s Followers (17)

Ronan’s Bookshelves

to-read (168)
currently-reading (4)
read (587)
on-hold (9)

Ronan’s Friends (67)

Caileigh (thebookpear)

967 books | 835 friends

Majenta

2,718 books | 3,525 friends

Aerin

2,234 books | 362 friends

Erin

1,384 books | 947 friends

Jacquelyn

2,325 books | 141 friends

Y C

480 books | 9 friends

Dan Stratton

856 books | 43 friends

Anthony Ryan

317 books | 784 friends

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2025 Reading Challenge

2025

READING

CHALLENGE

Ronan O'Driscoll has read 21 books of his goal of 1!

2100%

Ronan O'Driscoll

Goodreads Author

Born

in Southport, The United Kingdom

Website

https://ronanodriscoll.com/

Twitter

ronanodriscoll

Genre

Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Fiction

Member Since

January 2011

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Originally from the West of Ireland, Ronan O’Driscoll moved to Chicago as a teenager in the 1980s. He returned to Ireland to study at University College Dublin where he graduated with a Masters in English literature. Ronan has traveled a good deal: to Europe, America, Africa, Japan and Canada. His second book, Chief O'Neill, recounts the fascinating life story of Francis O'Neill (1848-1936)-- the Irish-American police chief who saved Irish music.

Ronan currently lives with his wife and family in Canada. His first novel, Poor Farm, describes the experience of an autistic boy on a 19th-century Nova Scotia poor farm. Both his works of historical fiction are carefully researched stories from the past, still relevant and compelling for today’s re ...more

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Combine Editions
Ronan O'Driscoll’s books

Average rating: 3.94 · 36 ratings · 8 reviews · 3 distinct works

	Poor Farm 3.88 avg rating — 25 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Chief O'Neill 4.29 avg rating — 7 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Porch to Porch: A Maritime Haiku Anthology by Blanca Baquero (Editor), Lindsey Harrington (Contributor), Rose Adams (Contributor) 3.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2024	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

69 posts
Ronan O'Driscoll's Blog

Interview with me!

If you want to find out how infectious the Cork accent is, here's an interview with myself and Maria Gillen! It was mighty craic!

https://ronanod.substack.com/p/interv...

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Published on July 02, 2025 04:57

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Ronan is Currently Reading

Ronan O'Driscoll is currently reading

The Bright Sword

by Lev Grossman (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Sep 25, 2025 07:05PM

Ronan O'Driscoll is currently reading

Bel Canto

by Ann Patchett

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jun 15, 2025 04:39AM

Ronan O'Driscoll is currently reading

Animal Person: Stories

by Alexander MacLeod

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Mar 16, 2025 03:34PM

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Ronan’s Recent Updates

Ronan O'Driscoll wants to read The Raven Scholar (Eternal Path Trilogy, #1) by Antonia Hodgson (Goodreads Author) Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee in Readers' Favorite Fantasy	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 20, 2025 05:22AM · like
Ronan O'Driscoll rated a book it was amazing Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI by Karen Hao	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 05, 2025 04:03AM · 1 like · like
Ronan O'Driscoll rated a book it was ok Anthem by Noah Hawley (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Didn't get too far with this one, lost interest not because of the bleak premise but because of the sense of it's own cleverness. It's too bad because I really liked Alien:Earth (which Hawley wrote) but didn't get much here. ...more
Nov 02, 2025 03:22PM · 1 like · like · see review
Ronan O'Driscoll rated a book really liked it Arkwright by Allen M. Steele	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The first part with a retrospective on famous authors from the golden age of scifi was the best, although a missed opportunity exploring the cold war implications of these writers. The final section, 100s of years in the future, is the limpest and fe ...more
Nov 02, 2025 03:14PM · 1 like · like · see review
Ronan O'Driscoll and 70 other people liked Mogsy's review of Arkwright: "5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2016/04/05/a... First thing I did after finishing this book was go to YouTube and pump my fists to the main theme of Star Trek Enterprise. I know that opening sequence has long been divisive a" Read more of this review »
Nov 02, 2025 03:13PM · see review
Ronan O'Driscoll wants to read Grave Empire (The Great Silence, #1) by Richard Swan (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 21, 2025 07:57AM · like
Ronan O'Driscoll rated a book really liked it Katabasis by R.F. Kuang (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I was much more impressed by Katabasis than the previous Babel. The love story held it together much better, as did the magical universe based on paradoxes. I hoped Hell was a bit more described, rather than largely skipped over (there's a lot to say ...more
Sep 28, 2025 04:13PM · like · see review
Ronan O'Driscoll is currently reading Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI by Karen Hao	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 25, 2025 07:06PM · like
Ronan O'Driscoll started reading The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 25, 2025 07:05PM · like
Ronan O'Driscoll rated a book liked it The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1) by Scott Lynch (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Got a bit long-winded but the premise was good.
Sep 25, 2025 07:05PM · like · see review

More of Ronan's books…

Ronan’s Quotes

“Non est ad astra mollis e terris via" - "There is no easy way from the earth to the stars”
― Seneca

tags: latin, philosophy, stars

1147 likes

“Am I crazy?" she asked. "I feel like I am sometimes."
"Maybe," he said, rubbing her forehead. "But don't worry about it. You need to be a little bit crazy. Crazy is the price you pay for having an imagination. It's your superpower. Tapping into the dream. It's a good thing not a bad thing.”
― Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being

tags: imagination, mindfulness

235 likes

“She smiled. “Life is full of stories. Or maybe life is only stories. Good night, my dear Nao.”
― Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being

tags: life

116 likes

“Le vent se lève! . . . il faut tenter de vivre!
L'air immense ouvre et referme mon livre,
La vague en poudre ose jaillir des rocs!
Envolez-vous, pages tout éblouies!
Rompez, vagues! Rompez d'eaux réjouies
Ce toit tranquille où picoraient des focs!”
― Paul Valéry, Le cimetière marin / El cementerio marino

314 likes