Can anyone recommend a good Irish book to read?

musiclovingman

I'm in the mood for Irish stories. I'm currently finishing Sophisticated Boom Boom by John Kelly which is very entertaining and recently read An Evening of Long Goodbyes by Paul Murray before that which is fantastic. Any other suggestions for modern Irish fiction out there?

p.pete

Have you read Trinity by Leon Uris - highly recommend it

Von

Well Remembered Days - Arch catholic Eoin O'Ceallaigh's century long battle against the cancer of liberalism, by Arthur Mathews
Mondo Desperado - insane collection of short stories, by Patrick McCabe.
Eight Ball Boogie - crime fiction thing, by Declan Burke who works for the same bastard I do.

luckat

That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern
A Goat's Song by Dermot Healy
The Speckled People by Hugo Hamilton
Just for a start.

blahblah

'Angelas Ashes' and the follow up 'Tis' by Frank McCourt


though its not fiction

MrNuked

A Star called Henry by Roddy Doyle was superb I thought.
The Salesman by Joseph O'Connor good but depressing.
The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe v good too.

tHE vAGGABOND

anything by tim pat coogan for a bit of history

Blitzkrieger

Angels by Marion Keyes. An english writer living in ublin

Ajos

All Summer by Claire Kilroy

Zachary Taylor

Dubliners - James Joyce (I cannot reccomend highly enough)
and since I'm on the topic and today's the day,

Ulysses - James Joyce (I cannot get further in one go than about 100 pages, like some kind of hill in 'Nam, but with pages, but now that the Leaving's almost over im going to try again, and I would advise you to do the same)

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

erm, a bit old but
john d. sheridan - the rest is silence

great book

simu

Edna O'Brien's The Country Girl (not sure of exact title)- fascinating portrayal of being a teenage girl in rural Ireland in the 1950's. Also her Girl with Green Eyes(title?) explores attitudes to sexuality in 1950's Ireland quite well.

William Trevor has written some really cool stuff based in Ireland too, his short story The Ballroom of Romance is especially poignant.

Some one's already mentioned Joyce but to add to the Joyce list, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is an cool Bildungsroman.

If you speak Irish, I recommend Pádraig Ó Cíobháin - has many excellent novels and short stories to his name.

kamobe

The Farm by Lough Gur by Mary Carberry.

This is a true story about a little girl who grew up on an Irish farm in the years after the famine. It's a nice insight into Irish society at the time...

Thanx 4 The Fish

Angela's Ashes.

Tis.

Both by Frank Mc Court, both very good.

BEAT

The best book you'll read in my opinion and its a true story to boot,

'Bortsal Boy' by Brandan Behan


It is my favorite book...it's tells about the time he spent in prison as a boy for his involvment in the IRA back in the day. It's a great read, I defy you to say you didnt love it after you've read it

Jannemi

To get an idea how does the irish think, I would read a book 'Around Ireland with a Fridge' by Tony Hawks.

It's a book about drunken bet, and it is funny.....

- Janne

SweetBirdOfTruth

jamie o'neill http://booktalk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?50@AtSwimTwoBoys@.2cbe5f92/

Kappar

'Jackie Loves Johnser OK!' then its follow-up 'Two Birds; One Stoned" both by Neville Tompson

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books-uk&field-author=Thompson%2C%20Neville/202-7307382-7409442

sceptre

Some excellent recommendations above. Haven't read them all so I might take a wander into Easons in the next few days.

I'll toss in a decent compilation of John B Keane short stories on to the list (if such a thing exists - I've two or three old compilations by the Mercier Press). Well worth reading, almost the match of Roald Dahl's (unless you're from Listowel, then they're obviously far superior:D)

whiskey

The Ginger Man

JP Donleavy