I'm not a fan of James Joyce either. I've tried but I just can't do it. However, my favorite movie of all time is based on a short story from his collection The Dubliners. The movie was director John Huston's last film, The Dead (and no, despite the title it is not a horror movie). It stars his daughter Angelica Huston. Last time I looked it was not out on DVD yet, but you might catch it on television, since it is shown from time to time, or you might find a used video tape. I keep an old player just for those rare, wonderful movies that have never been released in DVD from.

I know you asked for books, but this was based on a book, and I promise you that it is quite wonderful.
Rosefolly

Hi ginny12-I think it is great that you will be seeing Ireland. We went two years ago and it was a beautiful trip for my family. I would recommend reading Pete McCarthy and Frank McCourt.

I haven't read it for ages, but Leon Uris's book Trinity was a favourite of mine.
I went to Ireland in 2008 and absolutely loved it. The people are so friendly, the driving was easy, there is so much to see and the countryside is both beautiful and clean.

Betweem?

We went to Kinsale about three years ago. The food was wonderful. But, ye gods, the prices were high!

If you want Irish novels, well, you've got Colm Toibin, or William Trevor, or Sebastian Barry, or Bernard Mac Laverty - and those are just novelists who've been Booker shortlisted and I've read and enjoyed.

Ginny, you may be interested in Anthony Trollope's first novel, The Macdermots of Ballycloran, which I happen to be currently reading. Trollope lived in Ireland for 16 years, beginning in 1841, so he covers the time period you're interested in. He also wrote four other Irish novels: The Kellys and the O'kellys, Castle Richmond, Eye for an Eye and The Landleaguers.

Edward Rutherfurd has written two long novels about Ireland. One is The Princes of Ireland and the other is The Rebels of Ireland. If you are not familiar with his work, he writes somewhat similarly to James Michener, beginning with an ancient family and following it and others who interact with it down through the centuries.

A wonderful book is 'Ireland' by Frank Delaney, it is quite magical the way he weaves Irelands history with some very readable fiction.

Can highly recommend.

Pretty much anything by Roddy Doyle. Very contemporary.

Alice Taylor's books about the west of Ireland (I'm thinking Galway but I can't remember for sure) are charming. Some of them are memoirs, such as The Village and some are novels and collections of short stories, set mostly in early- to mid-twentieth century.

I want to second rosefolly's suggestion of the John Huston-directed film of "The Dead." I can watch it over and over. There are some things added to it that are not in the original story, such as a recitation of a Lady Gregory-translated Gaelic poem that is so strangely wonderful that I have tried to memorize it. Alas, my ageing memory is failing me at the moment, so all I can say is it's so very Irish.

Ginny, I enjoyed several trips to Ireland some years ago. Which parts will you be visiting? I read the light fiction of Maeve Binchy etc. and particularly wanted to see Dublin and the Museum housing the Book of Kells. I bought some of the glass 'worry monks' from the souvenir shop there. They were faces inspired from carvings at Jerpoint Abbey, the size of a large coin and they were ideal for gifts!

ginny, I would go for a couple of books detailing Irish history; both by the respected writer Robert Kee. Ireland: A History and The Green Flag tracing Irish nationalism since the time of Brian Boru. They would both give you an 'oversight' into how/why the country is as it is and help sort out the myths from the truth.
I think Alice Taylor's books are set in mid-Cork; all very gentle tales of a country childhood.
As Martin mentions Ireland has become mega-expensive. My DD, on a recent visit, found the prices were higher than those charged in central London. The Celtic Tiger has recently had its claws drawn, and various scandals have seriously rattled both Church and Govt . . . but you will be given a very warm welcome and the people always enjoy meeting folk from the US. Remember to take an umbrella and a warm jacket/coat if visiting the countryside, it is wetter and cooler than England. ;-)

What a lot of excellent suggestions, and quite varied.

Thanks for the recommendation of "The Dead". I looked on Amazon and it is now out on DVD. The first issue was missing ten minutes but they re-issued it in the full version--you can read the details on the Amazon reviews. I will get it from the library.

Your book suggestions are intriguing and I will probably dive into the historical fiction and then pick up on contemporary work.

We're going to Dublin for a week and will then take another week to explore the nearby counties of Meath, Westmeath, Offaly etc. These are the areas I have so far identified as the origins of my ancestors--what hard work that is. No family memories as it was my great-great grandparents who came to NY and, if they ever looked back, left no record of it. All the official records just say "Ireland".

May I recommend a book? "The Killing of Major Denis Mahon''--non-fiction and a gripping account of a murder in mid-19c Ireland that illuminates much that was going on at that time. Author is Peter Duffy.

Thanks again and always ready for more.

Vee, I was posting as you were so just saw your comments. Wetter and cooler than England...wow. Last July, I was in Yorkshire and the Lake District, and it was very cool indeed. Of course, we had a cloudy, cool summer here in Massachusetts as well so I didn't miss a thing.

I wonder if the economic downturn will affect prices in Ireland. It has done so here. Of course, incomes have gone down as well so I guess it's a wash.

Ginny, when we were in Ireland the weather was cool but mainly fine - we were pretty lucky.
While in Dublin, I would strongly recommend a visit to the Chester Beatty library - it was a gift to the city from an American, and it has the most amazing old books, including Egyptian papyrus, Japanese and Chinese books, Arabic books, Books of Hours. It was one of the best things we saw in Ireland, and it's free to get in.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chester Beatty Library

When I was in Dublin, it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained. Everything was grey and sodden and miserable. Plus the house we were staying in was very cold and I had to sleep in a kid's bed.

But apart from that, it was fun. :-)

I haven't been to Dublin for many years. We went to the newly built Abbey Theatre and saw an 'all in Irish' production of Dion Boucicault's The Shaughraun which was rather lost on us. During the interval the foyer was invaded by a herd of small and very dirty beggar children. "Gis a penny Mister" to a large American who looked down at the child carrying a grubby baby "Now tell me why I should give you a penny?" A manageress appeared "Jesus Mary and Joseph will you be getting out of here right now before I call the garda." We also found ourselves among a group of cheering men, watching a fight, in the best shopping street of the city. Things must have changed and become more touristy since then.

I'm sure we can have unfortunate experiences in any country, even our own. Let's move the conversation back to books. There must be many others to add to the list.

ginny the things I came across in Dublin were in no way to me 'unfortunate experiences'. I found them to be a 'real' view of a genuine vibrant living society. I am sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. I would hate to just have a guide book look at anywhere I visited of the "It's Tuesday, so we must be in Rome" variety. And I don't remember it raining even in the fascinating peat-bogs of County Tipperary.

OT Vee, I agree with you about the unusual events that make for a memorable holiday experience. Someone once said that if a holiday goes wrong it should then be called an adventure! I have found that to be good advice. The trip to Norway, a birthday treat I planned for my husband, became an adventure when we spent the return voyage shut in our cabin enduring a force eleven gale and a bread and cheese snack rather than the romantic dinner in the ship's best restaurant. Amusing in retrospect!

I enjoyed the Mammy books by Brendan O'Carroll and the Irish Village books by Patrick Taylor. (Read them in order).

OT annpan, I think if I had been in a force 11 gale on the high seas, even bread and cheese would have been too much for me. ;-)
A very popular Irish TV series which has been equally enjoyed in the UK is Father Ted. Tales of three priests and their housekeeper set on remote 'Craggy Island' off the west coast. I don't know if it has been shown in the US. My DS watches endless re-runs on DVD and they still make him laugh.

If you like mysteries, you might want to take a look at the Sister Fidelma books by Peter Tremayne (who is a historian). They draw up a convincing image of Ireland in the 7th century and the ones I have read had some good descriptions of weather and landscapes.

And if you like romances, Nora Roberts has written some good ones set in Ireland.

Vee, we adore Father Ted! Both my DH and I were raised Catholic, so we find the series hilarious (you should hear my Mrs. Doyle impression *vbg*). It has been on TV in the US, but we liked it so much we bought the DVDs.

As a big fan of Nora Roberts (at least her older stuff -- I haven't been too thrilled with the last few books), I'll second Netla's recommendation for her romances set in Ireland. My favorite is the Born In trilogy -- Born in Fire, Born in Ice, Born in Shame. I thought her Jewels of the Sun trilogy was very good, too.

Vee,

What a fascinating time, with the beggars at the Abbey and the fight in the streets! The stuff from which the most interesting writing is made. Hope it hasn't simmered down to some kind of touristy place where everyone behaves as they think they oughter. But I can't imagine that it would.

Saw an Irish production of O'Casey's play THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS in London a few years ago. About the Easter rising, 1916 - rivetting and so moving.

I write it out in a verse:
Macdonaugh and Macbride
And Conelly and Pearce
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly,
A terrible beauty is born.

WB Yeats

Can you hear the funeral drum for the martyrs beating slowly through that, 2 beats per line? Yeats's poetry encapsulates all aspects of Ireland, from it's beauty through its legends to its politics in the early part of the 20th century. He writes a lot from and about Sligo. His ideal and idealised woman, Maud Gonne, married one of the martyrs of the 1916 rising, Macbride. She was a very violent woman and on the side of bloody revolution, which Yeats didn't really approve of, though he adored her.

Dido

ginny, for books about Irish history, I liked very much Thomas Cahill's "How the Irish Saved Civilization", and "The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog" by Patricia Monoghan, the latter about ancient Celtic myths and culture.

Dido, W.B. Yeats is near the top of my list of favorite poets.

Don't forget Frank Delaney's 'Ireland' if you want some wonderful Celtic myths, a magical read.

This is a great thread, thank you. My husband and I are visiting Ireland in September. We lived there for 3 years in the mid to late 80s (for business) and haven't visited since the early 90s. My friends from there, who visited us two years ago, tell me we won't even recognize the place.

If you are interested in cooking/cuisine, look for the cookbooks from the Ballymaloe House. We ate there for all special occasions when we lived there, and stayed a few nights when we visited. Myrtle Allen's Ballymaloe House from 1990 has some interesting stories and comments with each recipe.

Just finishing up "Brooklyn" by Colm Toibin which is a novel in the 1950's about a young girl with few job prospects in her village/town in provincial Ireland, but is offered the chance to go to Brooklyn to live. Fascinating talking about the Irish immigrants in Brooklyn, but also the Irish way of life in Ireland back then.

Plus it's really well written...

Going to Ireland yay! Going without preconceptions yay! going without reading any books yay!

inkognito, I think it might be wise to take a map. At least you wont land up like the winner of the Wisconsin Mulligan's Milk-Maid Dairy competition. The first prize was a trip to Ireland and on her return she said she was surprised to see so many buildings around Dublin as she was expecting green fields. Or the US Angry Pop Star who told the waiting press at Belfast airport that she was disgusted to see the Union Flag flying from public buildings. She set back cross-border relations by at least 7 minutes. :-)

How many books would those two have to read veer, can they read? I know a lot of people who would get lost even with a map, especially with a map!

The point I was trying to make is that not all Irish people have alcoholic abusive fathers or ran around bare foot as a child neither is this essential to tell a tale of Ireland. If ginny touches the Blarney stone while there she can make up a few stories of her own.

inkognito, as a result of the Irish diaspora I think the entire English speaking world has heard all those stories, especially after a night of good crack. Are you suggesting that some of them may be untrue? ;-)
I feel, should ginny choose to kiss the Blarney stone, she will need to have the patience to stand in a long queue and not be a vertigo sufferer.

I have just dived into a great book 'Carolan's Concerto'
by Caiseal Mor. Set in Ireland 18th century. I quote from the cover "A JOYOUS ROMP FULL OF MUSIC AND MAGIC TO WARM YOUR HEART AS WELL AS ANY FINE WHISKEY". It has captured me already!!

Weird this, but just walking across campus from my car to the office, and came across a monument that I've never paid much notice to. Finally read the inscription, and it claims to have a chip of the original Blarney Stone that was found on campus when they were doing construction...

My question: how would a piece of the *original* Blarney stone suddenly be found buried in the wilds of West Texas?

Sounds like a tall tale to me (like a ten-gallon hat)...

Thank you, Inky, for making the point about oft-repeated stereotypes, now rather tiresome.

Ginny, I hope you will tell us about your trip, when you return!

I bumped this thread up because next summer we'll be going to Ireland, for a fortnight. We'll take our daughter and a friend of her at eden-hill in Mallow near Cork,. There, they will have some English in the morning and horse riding lessons in the afternoon, alternatively. (If there hadn't been horses involved, we wouldn't have been able to convince Laura to have English lessons ,trust me). Once dumped the girls , my wife and I are going to drive around the island., The first days just around there, just to be sure the little girls are at their ease. I'm not concern about my daughter, she's used to be away from us since she was seven , (now she's eleven) , and started boy scouts camp out. Every time she comes back home , usually she says "can't understand why a few kids get homesick in the evening, they see their parents the whole year don't they? What's the matter for ten days?", but for the other girl it's the first time she'll have been away from home for more than a couple of days.
Anyway, afterward we will head north following the coast as far as Gallway , then even further north as far as the top then Dublin and Cork again. Eventually We'll fetch the little angels, in order to come back home.
So I would like to read something about Ireland, what I would like is: an old fashioned travelling books and some readable historical ones, plus , for good weight an historic novel set over there.

I am in no hurry, August is six month away

Following Ireland and similar tags on librarything I selected

Lonely Planet Ireland (Country Guide) by Fionn Davenport
Round Ireland In Low Gear by Eric Newby
Freewheeling Through Ireland: Enfield Pedals the West Coast by Edward Enfield
Ireland : A Novel by Frank Delaney

And rereading this thread I was intrigued by these ones

Trinity by Leon Uris
The Macdermots of Ballycloran by Anthony Trollope
The Princes of Ireland and and The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd
Ireland: A History by Robert Kee
"The Killing of Major Denis Mahon'' Sister Fidelma books by Peter Tremayn
The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog" by Patricia Monoghan

I'm going to check them out

I recently read and enjoyed McCarthy's Bar by Pete McCarthy. He's Anglo-Irish and in this book he covers a trip that took him to various corners of Ireland, always stopping in any McCarthy's (or MacCarthy's) Bar he came across.

Magical Ireland, I love to read any book with Ireland as the location, I am at the moment reading my third book by Irish author Jennifer Johnston, all set in Ireland!!
Also not long ago I discovered Irish author Edna O'Brien, again all set in Ireland.

I can highly recommend 'Ireland' by Frank Delany, lots of Irish history mixed with some intriguing fiction.

june, I haven't read anything by Edna O'Brien for many years, but remember thinking how bleak her outlook (in the'60's) was. Have her 'modern' books a more 'upbeat' feel to them?

Here is a link that might be useful: Edna O'Brien

Veer,
Re Edna O,Brien, yes the three that I have read have been quite darkish, this I do not mind.

Do try Jennifer Johnston, she has a real touch of magic in her writings, plus her books are not too long.!!!

I'm leaving for Ireland very soon now and can't tell you how excited I am. I also can't believe that both the Queen and the President decided to visit when I'm there. They must have been reading this thread....:)

There have been so many good books suggested here. What I'd really like now is a suggestion for a good mystery to keep me busy while flying steerage on the plane.

I found an American author, Erin Hart, who has written three good mysteries based in different parts of Ireland. Unfortunately, I read all three already but can recommend them to you. Read them in order.

I checked out the website stopyourekillingme.com but don't see anything that grabs me. Don't like blood and gore or hardboiled detectives.

So my last plea for some good mysteries set in Ireland!

Pauline McLynn, who played Mrs. Doyle in "Father Ted" has written a series set in Dublin about a female detective, Leo Street. They are best read in order. "Something for the Weekend", "Better than a Rest" and "Right on Time"
You might like to check her website for a synopsis of the books to see if they suit you.

A woman named Leo? Stranger things have happened...but thanks--will check her out.

I also found an author, Bartholomew Gill, who wrote a series of mysteries set in Ireland. Modern-day. One is particularly praised, Death of a Joyce Scholar, and set in Dublin. Will see how he does and let you know, if anyone is interested.

I am not a mystery reader, however the novel that I am reading at the moment is set in Ireland "Dandelion Soup" by Babs Horton, the back cover does say "a number of interwoven mysteries from the past gradually unfurl to rekindle old hatreds - and restore old passions", not the type of mystery that you are after I am sure, however I am enjoying as it is very Irish.!!!

Not a mystery, unless you consider the odd-ball characters mysteries in themselves, but I am thoroughly enjoying Taylor's "An Irish Country Doctor" set in rural Ulster of the 1960's.

I am reading a wonderful book called "To School Through the Fields" by Alice Taylor. The subtitle is An Irish Country Childhood and the book is a memoir, a series of sketches of people and places where the author grew up early in the 20c in County Cork. It's so well-drawn and a bit like All Creatures Great and Small re Yorkshire.

It's a very short book but she wrote several others that I'm looking forward to. We had a thread here for a long time about books that make you feel good and this certainly is one of those.

I also loved the Alice Taylor book and found it the best in the series.
Enjoy your trip. We have had very dry weather for weeks here but bring an umbrella just in case. I'm sure you have been made aware of this, and without wanting to get political, do just take extra care as there is a very small but dangerous group of 'Real IRA' extremists planning to kill policemen and 'upset' the Queen's visit to Dublin.

Vee, I'm glad you liked the book too. I hope you know how much I enjoy your posts here. But please forgive me if I say it isn't necessary to say something extremely negative every time you mention Ireland. I have not said anything up til now but feel it would be wrong to ignore it any longer. Let's keep the focus on books and reading and leave old prejudices behind.