Ireland in mind

In this part of New England, it's impossible to avoid St. Patrick's Day madness. Parades and green beer seem to be at the center of most celebrations. It's the day, they say, when everyone's a little bit Irish. I try to resist both the commercial hype and the overly-romanticized "ye olde sod" stuff. Still, I've visited Ireland several times, and once March hits, I want to put a peat brick in the fireplace (bad idea) and read a book that has an Irish setting.

Readers more literary than I will gravitate to Yeats and Joyce. Me, I like the bleak and the quirky. Here are two of my favorites:


Peter Behrens has written a sweeping historical saga that takes us from the famine days in Ireland, to England, and then on to Canada. It's the story of Fergus, who at the age of eight loses his home and family and must make his way in the world alone. It's a little bit Dickens, and very reminiscent of one of my favorite novels, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston. It's not a quick read, but you'll want to savor every sentence along the way.




Three Bags Full is one of the most original books I've read lately. I resisted this, I admit, thinking that it would be overly sweet and charming. It is, after all, about sheep who solve a mystery. But Leonie Swan has managed to pull it off brilliantly. She manages to balance the cutesy (a detective ewe named Miss Maple), with the witty (the black sheep named Othello). As the sheep investigate the murder of their shepherd, they entertain us with pointed observations about the humans that surround them. (Yes, they "talk", but only amongst themselves). It's a fun, quirky read that's also very well written.

Need an appropriate-themed snack while you read? Here's a recipe for the brave:
Guinness Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate-Honey Sauce
No, I haven't tried it, but this year I just might.

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We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Titles link to LibraryThing, a social networking site that allows you to catalog your home library. They also link to various online purchasing options. Here are the books from this post:

The Law of Dreams by Peter Behrens, Random House Trade Paperback, $13.95
ISBN: 978-0-8129-7800-1

The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston, Anchor Trade Paperback, $15.95
ISBN: 978-0-385-49543-1

Three Bags Full by Leonie Swan, Doubleday/Flying Dolphin Press Hardcover, $22.95
ISBN: 978-0-385-52111-6

(all information is for the U.S. editions).