When people see I’m a redhead, they usually assume I’m Irish. (I’m not.) But this year is the first I can claim being Irish by marriage so I’m excited to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Ireland has no shortage of stories and storytellers, so it’s pretty easy to feel literary on this holiday. For the YA side, the Hub has compiled a list of books inspired by Irish mythology. I’m reading The Scorpio Races right now and loving it.
My own Irish literature suggestions tends to run to the more contemporary. I’ve mentioned before that I’m a huge Roddy Doyle fan, and I recently read his MG novel, A Greyhound of a Girl, which was just as funny and heartbreaking as I hoped. It’s not available in print in the US yet, but you can download it via Kindle. I’d also recommend Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd, which gives readers a fantastic glimpse into life during the Troubles.
Writers Digest also shares inspiration from Irish authors. My favorite quote:
“The good end happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.” –Oscar Wilde,The Importance of Being Earnest
Any other suggestions for Irish reading?
I just finished reading The Scorpio Races last week and was completely blown away! It was just so amazing; the plot, the characters, the descriptions. I think it’s a great example of the strength of consistently-themed analogy descriptions (making all descriptions call to mind images and objects and their relationship to the sea).