Sean's Bar – Athlone – 900 AD The oldest pub in Ireland and one of the oldest in Europe and quite possibly the entire world. The bar dates back to 900 AD when a man named Luain Mac Luighdeach – Luain son of Lewy built an inn close to the old great ford located in what is now Athlone.

To come to life, to recognize one's own separate existence, is also to allow the possibility of its termination, its end. Finnegans Wake not only puns on two meanings of 'wake' but the first word contains both an end ('fin' is French for 'end') and a new beginning ('egan' tells us that everything will start 'again').

While Finnegans Wake is very readable, unlike most books — which are solitary exercises — it is best read aloud and in a group. In-person or online, find your tribe. Every member of a group's experience of the text will be different, as each of us brings something unique to the table.