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Over the years I have been asked about books to read before visiting Ireland (and other countries). From my conversations, it appears there are 3 categories of people who ask this question. Those who want to:
For this blog, I'll give you a list of books that is obviously not complete but books familiar to me. (I’ll recommend some movies in a later blog).
For the book list, I've consulted my own reading experiences, goodreads.com, and the Rick Steve's website. I've read most (OK, some) of the books and noted when I have not.
I have categorized Irish Books and Books about Ireland into a few different groups:
Non-Fiction - History
Non-Fiction - Travel
Trinity - Leon Uris
Time Period - Late 19th Century to early 20th Century (pre-WWl)
Very readable by a very good story teller, the book gives one man's sense of the history and undercurrents behind the history of Ireland during this period leading up to just before the uprising against the UK. Many used books available and reissued new paperback and hardback. It appears not to have an e-reader format.
Redemption - Leon Uris
Time Period: Events leading to the Easter Uprising (1916) through WWI.
Also very readable, but strays a little from telling the history of Ireland and it feels at times a lot like a romance novel.
The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga - Edward Rutherfurd
Time Period: 430-1530 AD
This is very good historical fiction in the Michener style, but takes stamina since it is 804 pages. Despite the weight, this is one of my favorites. Available in many formats including an ebook version.
The Rebels of Ireland: The Dublin Saga - Edward Rutherfurd
Time Period: Cromwell through the Famine
Again, this is very good historical fiction in the Michener style.
This one is even larger, 896 pages. This is also one of my favorites. Many formats available including an ebook version.
Ireland - Frank Delaney
Time Period: Various
This book is very good. It tells the story of itinerant story teller and the effect he had on a young boy. Frank Delaney has written several other books that are now on my reading list. Ireland is only available in paperback but his other books appear to be available in all reading formats including ebook.
The Wild Irish: Elizabeth I and the Pirate O'Malley - Robin Maxwell
Time Period: about the 16th century
I have not read this, but it is at the top of my list. Pirate O'Malley is Grace O'Malley (Gráinne Ní Mháille), a woman pirate, and Irish Chieftain in the 16th Century. She lived very near Westport that is a little over an hour drive North from Galway. I can’t imagine a book about Grace O’Malley that is anything but exciting, fiction or non-fiction. This book is available in several formats including audio and ebook.
Transatlantic - Colum McCann
This book was given to me by a good friend and is written in a unique style ... at least for me. It reads like a series of independent short stories that the author weaves together into an insightful look at the Irish culture and the cultural intermingling of the US and Ireland. I would classify this as a cross between a straight novel, and historical fiction. It's a very short and engaging read. So short, you could read it on the flight to Ireland.
To Ride a Púca - Heather McCorkle
I haven't read this, but it is highly rated on goodreads.com. Heather McCorkle is generally described as "an author of young adult fantasy".
This book is about a Druid girl in Ireland ... not sure of the time period or anything after that. Doesn't appear to be my style. Let me know if you read it and I'll add your comments. Heather McCorkle has several other YA fantasy novels that appear to be based in Ireland. BTW, a Púca is a spirit or ghost from Irish folklore.
How the Irish Saved Civilization - Thomas Cahill
Time Period: Fall of the Roman Empire.
A tough but short and interesting read. I’ve now read this a couple of times since it was first published but I learn more each time I reread it. It tells the role of Ireland in the evolution of Europe from the Roman age to the medieval era. Available in Audio and ebook.
The Islander - Tomàs O’Crohan
Twenty Years A Growing - Maurice O’Sullivan
The Islander and Twenty Years A-Growing are written by two of a group of authors called the Blasket Island Authors. The Blasket islands are a small group of islands just off the Dingle Peninsula. Both of these books are autobiographies and give an excellent insight into the rural Irish culture that is fast disappearing. Both books are a relatively quick read. Think Robinson Crusoe or Swiss Family Robinson, but with an Irish twist. Reading the text is not taxing, so you might get one read on a non-stop from the US West Coast to Ireland.
A Short History of Ireland - Richard Killeen.
This is the book for a "casual historian"
... those who become interested in history during their holiday or vacation. This book is a 2 or 3 hour read ... great for a transatlantic flight with time left for a nap. The book is small enough to easily fit in a purse or backpack and have it easily accessible while seeing the sights in Ireland.
Concise History of Ireland - Maire and Conor Cruise O'Brien.
I have not read this. It is written by a well liked Irish politician. The main complaint online is that it has not been updated with any history since the 70's. This one is out of print. I'm looking for a used copy as it has received very good reviews.
Ireland: A Short History - Joseph Coohill
This is for the "real historians", but it is not too voluminous. It is about 200 pages and at the end of each chapter/historical period it gives an overview of the "schools of thought".
Travel books are a little obsolete with the internet and cell phones, but some people, like me, occasionally want to randomly search through a guide well populated with pictures and information. My favorite group of travel books are the DK Eye Witness Travel Guides. There are several that talk about Ireland:
Ireland (I used this on our 1st trip to Ireland in 2000)
Back Roads Ireland
Another book that we have used is Lonely Planet Guide to Ireland. I'm partial to this one since the cover has a picture of Eyeries Village, the village where my ancestors started on their immigration to Butte, Montana.
I like the Lonely Planet and the Rick Steves website for Irish travel information and ideas (that can't be found here :-) ).
Ireland: An Illustrated History - Henry Weisser
This book was also given to me by a good friend, and it's a very readable non-fiction history book. (Yes, I know this is usually an oxymoron) Of all the Irish non-fiction history books I've read, this one has become my favorite. As the title suggests, it's illustrated with mostly black and white pen drawings. It may be hard to find this book on the web as there are many books with a similar names. I generally agree with the author's treatment of the historical periods (although IMHO he was a little easy on the English for their part in the Great Hunger or Potato Famine). Even his non-historical comments align almost perfectly with my observations. This would be a great prep for your visit to Ireland, or a book that would tie it all together when you return home.
I am definitely not an expert in this area. For those who would like a more in depth analysis, I would point you to Wikipedia. For my research I've looked at the Irish Nobel Prize winners for literature and the more modern authors that have been brought to my attention.
NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS
Samuel Beckett (1969) - I have not read any of Beckett's works except Waiting for Godot, that has a cult following in the US and throughout the world.
Here is an example of some of his prose:
Spend the years of learning squandering
Courage for the years of wandering
Through a world politely turning
From the loutishness of learning
George Bernard Shaw (1925) - Shaw is mostly known for his plays but he was a journalist, short story writer, and novelist. Pygmalion was one of his more popular plays, and the screen adaptation (My Fair Lady) also earned Shaw an Oscar. A couple of famous quotes that you may have heard more than once and not necessarily attributed to Shaw:
”Some look at things that are, and ask why.
I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” (used by Robert Kennedy with an attribution that is mostly dropped)
”I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.”
”We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
”Youth is wasted on the young.”
”England and America are two countries separated by the same language.”
And here are a couple of quotes that I like and had not heard before:
”A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”
”The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
”If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.”
William Butler Yeats (1923) - Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and was a founder of the Abbey Theatre (still operating in Dublin). He was born in Dublin, but had ties to and spent a lot of time in the West of Ireland. For a period of time he had a home near Galway, Thoor Ballylee, but during that period of time he was often a visitor and a guest with Lady Gregory at Coole Estate.
Here is a poem by WB Yeats entitled "A Drinking Song":
Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.
I like most of his poems, but they can be a little dark (OK, a lot dark). Most of the poems I like, I don't "get"... or at least not the complete poem.
Yeats life was quite colorful and reads like a romance novel. He also had a brother who was an accomplished painter and two sisters that were influential in the Irish “Art and Crafts Movement”. He proposed to a woman twice and was turned down and then he proposed to her daughter…a little weird.
Seamus Heaney (1995)
I have to admit that I had never heard of Seamus Heaney before I moved to Ireland. He is a very accomplished poet that has been called "the most important Irish poet since Yeats".
Seamus Heaney died while I was living in Ireland. This was a BIG DEAL in Ireland. His funeral mass was nationally televised and RTE broadcast Seamus reading his own poems for a whole day on one radio channel. Our parish priest put aside his planned homily, and related a story about Seamus Heaney and the local National Boy's School (Public School). He read the poem that caused the school to seek his input on their differing interpretation of the poem. The more I read Seamus Heaney poetry, the more I like it.
Here is one that I like:
Digging
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests;
snug as a gun.
Under my window,
a clean rasping sound
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging.
I look down
Till his straining rump
among the flowerbeds Bends low,
comes up twenty years away
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.
The cold smell of potato mould,
the squelch and slap
Of soggy peat,
the curt cuts of an edge
Through living roots awaken in my head.
But I've no spade to follow men like them.
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I'll dig with it.
In this poem I think he is intermixing his father harvesting turf for their winter heat and harvest potatoes to supplement their food.
OTHERS
James Joyce - Joyce has a cult following all over the world. Joyce's book, Ulysses, chronicles one day in the life of Leopold Bloom. Blooms day, the same calendar day as the book, is celebrated each year with special events all over the world, but particularly in Dublin. Some of the Bloom's day festivities including the eating of "organ meat" for breakfast. I guess I will have to read Ulysses to understand. Other works include Dubliners and Finnegan's Wake.
Roddy Doyle - Doyle has written books for adults and children. I find his work a little hard to read since the works I've read are in Irish-English. Irish literature can be quite dark and from what I've read of Doyle's work he doesn't stray from this trait. Some of the works include:
The Barrytown Trilogy
The Commitments
The Snapper
The Van
Paddy Clarke Ha На На
The Last Roundup
A Star Called Henry
Oh, Play That Thing!
The Dead Republic
Jonathan Swift - Swift was a prolific writer of many styles and was the Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. He is best known (at least by me) as the author of Gulliver's Travels.
Oscar Wilde - Wilde was a flamboyant author who was active in the 1880's and 1890's. He wrote one well known novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray and several plays including Salome and A Woman of No Importance. Wilde died in his late 40's after some time in prison in the UK.
Summary
This is all of my book recommendations. I probably did too much here but I wanted to offer several different styles of books. Pick out the one that suits you and let me know what you thought.
See You in the Pub!
Jet Lag Jack
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