Recommended Books & Films

Fiction

Ireland is one of the most written about places in the world. You've probably been reading about it all your life. If you're especially ambitious, you could bite off James Joyce's Ulysses, a classic to be certain, but a famously impenetrable one. Some Joycean classics that are a bit easier to dip into include Dubliners, a book of short stories about the titular city, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Dive into the absorbing books and plays of Brendan Behan by finding a copy of Borstal Boy, his breakthrough semi-autobiographical book about growing up as a member of the I.R.A. Also good is his play Quare Fellow.

If you're headed out into the Irish countryside, you might want to pick up a copy of W.B. Yeats's Collected Poems, since the view you're about to see is the same one that inspired him.

Of modern writers, among the best-loved are Maeve Binchy (Dublin 4); J. P. Donleavy (whose book, The Ginger Man, about a drunken Trinity College student, was banned by the Catholic church); Roddy Doyle (whose book The Commitments, about aspiring Irish musicians, became a top-grossing film); and Jennifer Johnston, who addressed the tension between Protestants and Catholics in How Many Miles to Babylon? There are also Edna O'Brien (The Country Girls) for bawdy laughs, Flann O'Brien (At-Swim-Two-Birds) for hilarious writing about writing, and Liam O'Flaherty, whose The Informer is a tense thriller about a veteran of the civil war.

Nonfiction

Two excellent books by Tim Pat Coogan, The Irish Civil War (Seven Dials, 2001) and The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal 1966-1996 and the Search for Peace (National Book Network, 1997), are essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the complexities of 21st-century Ireland. For a look at modern Ireland, try John Ardagh's Ireland and the Irish, or F. S. Lyons's Ireland Since the Famine. To understand more about the Famine, try Cecil Woodham-Smith's The Great Hunger. It's viewed as the definitive, dispassionate examination of what really happened.

Film

Although lots of movies have been made about Ireland, not very many good movies have been made about Ireland. Here are a few exceptions. Michael Collins (Neil Jordan, 1996) is a fine biopic about the Irish rebel, filmed largely on location. Nora (Pat Murphy, 2000) is a good biographical film about James Joyce's fascinating and long-suffering wife. Maeve (John Davis/Pat Murphy, 1982) is widely viewed as one of Ireland's first proper independent films. It addresses the lives of the young amid sectarian violence. Veronica Guerin (Joel Schumacher, 2003) is a dark, fact-based film with Cate Blanchett about a troubled investigative reporter. Bloom (Sean Walsh, 2004) is a brave adaptation of Ulysses with Stephen Rea. Intermission (John Crowley, 2003) has Colin Farrell talking in his real accent, in this Irish romance.

Music

Music is inescapable in Ireland, and if you hear a band play in a bar and you like them, we strongly advise you to buy a CD from them, as you'll be happy you did when you get home. Here are a few top Irish bands you're not likely to see playing in a bar anytime soon. Damien Rice (O) -- he did play in bars until he became a superstar a couple of years ago. The Irish folk singer Christy Moore (Live at the Point) is still widely viewed as one of the greatest ever. Barry McCormack has been winning accolades from critics for his We Drank Our Tears. David Kitt is one of Dublin's top songwriters, and you cannot go wrong with his The Big Romance. The Frames have been playing on the Dublin scene for years, and you can join their devoted followers by buying Set List. Finally, Adrian Crowley's When You Are Here, You Are Family, is a warm and delightful folky album well worth having in your collection.