Alice Sebold and Sinéad O'Connor

Two inspiring women.

Alice Sebold wrote a little book called "The Lovely Bones" that took the literary world by storm -- one of those books that was a word-of-mouth smashing success. What makes the book so unique is its perspective, because it's told from the point of view of a girl who is murdered in the opening chapter...she narrates from heaven as she watches her family deal with the aftermath of her unsolved disappearance and death. While the subject matter is devastating, the writing is wonderful -- fluid and spare.

I went to see Alice Sebold read from her new book last week at a bookstore in Dublin's city centre. The new book is about a woman who kills her mother -- also in the opening chapter. So she doesn't really write cheerful novels... But it was an inspiring evening for me, as I listened to her talk about her writing process. It was fascinating to hear her say that she didn't find the voice of the narrator in Lovely Bones for a couple of years after she'd started writing the book...so I asked her what she did write about, given the importance of that element of the novel. She said she has these obsessions that she writes about and out of the obsession comes the voice and then the rest of the story falls into place. So unusual -- just like her books I guess. Her obsession that created Lovely Bones was about voiceless dead girls, who disappear with their untold stories. And Almost Moon was almost in reaction to the "Hallmark" style portrayal of mother-daughter relationships.

I have no segue to move to Sinéad...:)

I have listened to Sinéad O'Connor since I was 14...I played her album "I do not want what I haven't got" about a million times and found her sad soul-searching songs comforting in those lonely teenage years. "Black Boys on Mopeds" was the first song I ever learned to play on the guitar. I have always loved her voice -- it's so powerful, honest, and emotionally raw.

To see her in her hometown was too good of a chance to pass up, so I headed out last night in the wind and rain and ventured to the city centre to the Olympia theatre. I didn't recognize her when she walked on stage. Dressed in a baggy man's suit with a white collared shirt and clunky shoes, I thought she was a man...one of the band. Watching her made me realize I've only ever really seen her face -- that famous face with huge eyes, perfect skin, and shaved head is all you see on her album covers and videos. I thought her body would match her face and be delicate, feminine -- the reality is that she's surprisingly gawky, awkward, and boyish. She's a bit knock-kneed and kind of duck-footed. For all her years on stage, she's shy to the point of not being able to look directly at the crowd, and dances in a shuffling, self-conscious way.

But that voice, that amazing voice, was all that mattered. And because of the size of her body of work I didn't bother hoping she would play anything from that album I listened to so many years ago, so I was thrilled when she opened with two songs from it, then did three more during the show, and sang a solo acoustic version of "Black Boys on Mopeds" in the encore. Wonderful.