March RandomCAT: Luck o' the Irish

March RandomCAT: Luck o’ the Irish



March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day, so I wanted us to focus on Ireland this month.

“Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth.

Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Ireland), which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, in the northeast of the island. In 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just over 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland)

If you can read something set in Ireland or Northern Ireland or written by an Irish Author, that’s mostly where I want to go with this one. If that’s too tricky, I’ll keep it a bit easier for you: read a book with “green” in the title somewhere. Is that too easy? Try for Ireland or an Irish author!

Suggestions:

Set in Ireland:
Fiction
- The Princes of Ireland / Edward Rutherford
- Three Bags Full / Leonie Swann
- Skippy Dies / Paul Murray
- Darkfever / Karen Marie Moning
- PS, I Love You / Cecelia Ahern

Nonfiction:
- Beyond Belfast: A 560-Mile Journey Across Northern Ireland on Sore Feet / Will Ferguson
- Angela’s Ashes / Frank McCourt
- Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850 / Susan Campbell Bartoletti
- My Left Foot / Christy Brown

And a few authors from Ireland:
- Maeve Binchy
- Tana French
- Marian Keyes
- James Joyce
- Samuel Beckett
- Roddy Doyle
- Oscar Wilde

How about “green” in the title:
- Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution / Heather Rogers
- Green Grass, Running Water / Thomas King
- Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution… / Thomas L. Friedman
- Fried Green Tomatoes / Fannie Flagg
- Anne of Green Gables / L.M. Montgomery
- The Green Mile / Stephen King
- Green Darkness / Anya Seton

And don't forget to update the wiki:
http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2017_RandomCAT#March:_-_Theme:

I have a couple of possibilities. It will likely be either of these for me:

- Faithful Place / Tana French
- Scarlet Feather / Maeve Binchy

I will probably pull Danny Boy: The Legend of the Beloved Irish Ballad by Malachy McCourt out of my TBR stash.

I think i'll read Gracelin O'Malley by Ann Moore

Great theme! I am planning on reading The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe, and if I can fit another one in I have a selection of crime stories to pick from - The Dead by Ingrid Black, Divorcing Jack by Colin Bateman and Gallows Lane by Brian McGilloway.

I have works by both Colm Toibin and Colum McCann in my giant Mount TBR, so I'll be choosing something by one of the two. I've been meaning to read Let the Great World Spin for ages, so it may be that one, but since that's the longest of the four I have waiting, it may depend on time. We'll see...

Ooooh...a great opportunity to start the Patrick Taylor series with An Irish Country Doctor!

I'll be reading An Irish Country Courtship by Patrick Taylor, next up in the series for me.

I've been holding on to a copy of the new Tana French. Thanks for a reason to have to read it!

I forgot until just now that Benjamin Black is Irish! I have an ARC of Wolf on a String so that's what I'll be reading.

This works well for me as I already planned to read The Banks of the Boyne by Donna Fletcher Crow and Scandal in Skibbereen by Sheila Connolly. I may have one more Irish one in my plans, but I can't remember off the top of my head.

Sounds like the perfect time to finally read Dancer by Colum McCann - it's been sitting on my shelf since 2014. Time to actually read it!

I'm sure I have several that would fit, but off the top of my head, I know I have Marian Keyes' Sushi for Beginners, so I may go with that.

I've got Teacher Man by Frank McCourt I've been meaning to read, plus I'm at An Irish Country Courtship in that series, and I've been meaning to read an old Anne Enright book.
Excellent category!

Ever since reading In the Woods, I've been meaning to continue with the Dublin Murder Squad series, so I may read The Likeness by Tana French.

YES! I have The Secret Place on deck already, which will work out perfectly for this challenge. :D

I'm planning to read The Mermaids Singing. Not the Hill and Jordan series that I just finished, this book is set in Ireland and America and focuses on three generations of women.

>15 christina_reads: >16 rabbitprincess: Oh man, I wish I had a Tana French to read! The Likeness has the craziest plot and The Secret Place was so good. French keeps getting better and better. Enjoy!

>15 christina_reads: I loved In the Woods and I would recommend it for anyone who hasn't yet read it. I also really liked The Likeness, but not as much. Just wanted to warn you, though, that some people didn't like The Likeness, so hopefully you aren't too disappointed!

I also looked up Faithful Place at my library last night and, for some reason, there are a whackload of holds on it! I really wanted to get to that one next month, but I may have to go with the Maeve Binchy one instead. I did put a hold on it, myself, but I'm not holding my breath that it will come for me in March.

I'm planning to read Human Chain, a collection of poems by Irish poet Seanus Heaney. I just borrowed it from the public library when I went there for our book club meeting this evening.

I do have The Monk Who Vanished, a Sister Fidelma mystery on my wishlist.

>22 Robertgreaves: I recently discovered Sister Fidelma-- love her! I'm hoping to track down a copy of Absolution by Murder, the first book in the series. Sadly, my library doesn't currently carry it but maybe my favorite used bookstore might?

I'm also thinking about reading Druids by Peter Berreseford Ellis (a.k.a. Peter Tremayne)

>23 donan: I got the first 3 in an omnibus Kindle edition, The Sister Fidelma 20th Anniversary Collection

A friend is going to lend me Ireland: A Novel which she highly recommends. Has anyone here read it?

>25 beebeereads: I haven't read it but it's on my "to read" list because a friend recommended it.

>25 beebeereads: I haven't read it either but it's on my shelf - placed there by my brother who recommended it. I will be interested in your comments.

I love this theme. I'm sure there are plenty of options on my shelves, The Irish Princess by Karen Harper, a Rutherford book about Ireland, plus a workmates has recommended The Committments. They are just off the top of my head. I'm sure I would find more if I went for a look.

I'll hope to read the Likeness also.

Being an Irish ex-pat, I have lots of choice on the shelves for this category. I'm planning to read An Irish Country Girl by Patrick Taylor, chosen because it's been on the shelf too long already.

I have quite a number of books on the shelves to chose from - I'll probably pick a mystery:
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
I Hear the Sirens in the Street by Adrian McKinty
Haunted Ground by Erin Hart
In the Woods by Tana French

I'll be reading The Secret Place by Tana French

I did a search in my library using the term Ireland and I came up with quite a few options in addition to Tana French, who seems to be on many lists:
Angel Light by Andrew Greeley
Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth
Conversation Piece by Molly Keane
Harry's Game by Gerald Seymour
Mary O'Grady by Mary Lavin
Time After Time by Molly Keane
The Wild Geese by Bridget Boland
The Wind Changes by Olivia Manning

Add me to the list of people planning to read The Secret Place by Tana French :)

>33 LisaMorr: Oh, I have a Maria Edgeworth to read on my Kindle for March's AlphaKIT -- Ennui. Good to know it will work here too!

I'm probably not going to have time to participate in this, but for anyone wanting some non-fiction I did want to recommend Lawrence Donegan's No News at Throat Lake. He was a member of the 80s band Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, but had a background in journalism. This book is an account of his year working for a little local paper in the middle of nowhere in Ireland, and I thought it was brilliant. It's definitely one I'd love to reread, and I'm quite tempted if I manage to get through the mountain of books planned for March.

>37 raidergirl3: LOL! I love that leprechaun-cat!

>1 LibraryCin: I just noticed the "green" suggestion, and would like to make my own:

Green Grass of Wyoming
This is the third in the My Friend Flicka books, but is not a children's book, nor are the others.

I believe it can be read without reading the first two.

Mary O'Hara writes well of people, their issues, and struggles.

~
Also, though it's not an Irish story, How Green Was My Valley is also a wonderful read.

I've had a book titled Luck of the Irish sitting on the shelves for about 3 years, maybe I can get it read this month?

If you want Irish and green, there's The Green Road by Anne Enright.

>37 raidergirl3: I feel like the person who shares their house with this cat will need to be very cautious, and maybe not sleep for some time to come.

I have completed my first read for this theme with The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCable. This was an excellent but very disturbing read about a boy's descent into madness and violence.

I read High Dive which takes place in Belfast, Ireland and Brighton, England. so will use that one here. Still hope to get more Irish read.

Just finished Ghost Songs: a memoir by Regina McBride. The author was born in Yonkers, moved with her family to New Mexico in her early teens, and as a young adult (after both parents committed suicide within a few months of each other) spent a number of years in Ireland, searching for her heritage. A compelling and ultimately redemptive tale of how we cope with losses in our lives.

I finished Das Mädchen von der grünen Insel, a historical romance about the struggle for independence from England.

I finished An Irish Country Courtship by Patrick Taylor, another book in the "country doctor" series.

I finished The Dead by Ingrid Black, a police procedural set in Dublin.

I finished reading Luck of the Irish by Ruth Adams Knight, a story of a young man coping with family tragedy, with the support of his Irish setter, Lady.

I've finished An Irish Country Courtship by Patrick Taylor, a solid entry in the series. I listened to the audio and couldn't turn it off.

I also finished The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch by Anne Enright. I didn't like it as much as her 3 most recent books but it was very different, an historical account of a real life Eliza Lynch from mid 1800s who became 'wife' of a Paraguayan despot. The writing was still lovely Enright.

Ended up reading A Few Green Leaves for this challenge and was delighted by this book. Probably my favorite Pym novel.

>49 LittleTaiko: Ooh -- I'll have to add that to my TBR.

I liked the satire Ennui by Irish author Maria Edgeworth. Now I am reading short stories by Maeve Brennan...

I finished The Likeness by Tana French for this CAT. Very good. I do like this series.

Scarlet Feather / Maeve Binchy
3.5 stars

Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather are friends and are trying to start a catering business in Dublin. Cathy’s husband, Neil, has young cousins who show up at his rich parents’ place, needing a place to stay, but they rub his parents the wrong way, so Cathy and Neil end up taking them in. Tom’s wife, Marcella, wants desperately to be a model.

There is plenty going on, as this novel follows their lives for one year. There are many characters, and the perspective goes back and forth amongst many of them, but somehow, they are pretty easy to keep straight. I quite like that Binchy often has characters in multiple novels. I enjoyed the book, but problems can be seen coming from a bit of a distance. That is, I don’t think there are really any surprises in the book.

I started reading Northern Ireland author Jan Carson's Malcolm Orange Disappears for the February CATWoman, however as I didn't finish it till March I'm also including it here. It's actually set in the USA (her second book is a collection of short stories based in Belfast, and based on the strength of the writing in Malcolm Orange Disappears I'm now really keen to read that too). 4.5/5.

I finished Castle Rackrent on Friday. Published in 1800, it's described in the introduction as one of the most famous unread novels in English.

Also from the introduction, 'combining the subtle wit of the French tale, the Gaelic cadences of Irish oral tradition, and Gothic intrigue over property and inheritance, Castle Rackrent has gathered a dazzling array of firsts - the first regional novel, the first socio-historical novel, the first Irish novel, the first Big House novel, the first saga novel.'

How all this could fit in 114 pages, which includes a preface and a glossary by the author, is pretty amazing. But on reflection I guess it does! I read this along with the glossary and explanatory notes - the glossary was so much more than a glossary, taking 3 pages to explain the Irish lamentation for the dead, a couple of pages on Fairy Mounts and explaining well and truly what a raking pot of tea is (raised eyebrows...). It's about four inhabitants of the Castle Rackrent, Sir Patrick, Sir Murtagh, Sir Kit and Sir Conolly and how the run their estate.

I picked this up ostensibly to fit in a short 1001 book that also met the March RandomCAT and I'm so glad I did!

>54 LisaMorr: I just went to Amazon and picked up a Kindle copy of Castle Rackrent. I am also slowly working on the 1001 List and your positive review caught my eye, plus the fact that it's only 114 pages!

>54 LisaMorr: 114 pages is definitely an enticement.

>55 DeltaQueen50: I hope you like it!
>56 MissWatson: Go for it!

Starting Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis, who was from Belfast.

COMPLETED Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis. Moving on to the second in the trilogy, Perelandra.

>57 LisaMorr: I did! I finished Castle Rackrent last night.
My version runs only to 56 pages, which makes me wonder how it came to be regarded as a novel. Not at all what I expected, and I sorely missed notes and a glossary, but a great read nonetheless. I think I'll try this again later in a better edition.

I finished a chunkster that fits this category, Donna Fletcher Crow's The Banks of the Boyne: A Quest for a Christian Ireland. 823 pages.

>54 LisaMorr:, >55 DeltaQueen50:, >60 MissWatson: There's a Castle Rackrent group read thread from 2015 here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/190749

Liz provided some very worthwhile explanations and insights, if you're interested.

>62 kac522: Thanks for the link, that was interesting.

>62 kac522: I've added the link to my favorites and will certainly use it as I read the book. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. :)

Finished The Secret Place by Tana French last night. I love this series, always such well-developed characters and complex stories.

I read The Trespasser by Tana French for this CAT and I think it may be my favorite.

Finished Dancer by Colum McCann. This was my first read by McCann, but I'll definitely be reading more of his work in the near future. I also finally got the chance to pick up some Tana French works this week, which I'm excited about :)

>65 lavaturtle: I read The Secret Place for this challenge and I loved it.

>66 RidgewayGirl: I started The Trespasser last night.

I read Finbar's Hotel by Dermot Bolger.

COMPLETED Perelandra and That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis

>62 kac522: Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading that thread.

I also finished The absentee where Maria Edgeworth fleshes out the themes of Castle Rackrent into a coming-of-age story. It has three distinct sections, the first set during the London season, where the hero's parents waste the income from their estates in Mylady's vain attempt to get accepted by the English aristocracy; an Irish earl doesn't really count as an equal. In the second the hero visits the Irish estates incognito and sees with his own eyes how it should be done, and how not, and finally there's a romance with a supposedly unmarriageable (illegitimate) girl, which involves lost marriage certificates and feels like a sop to the fashion for Gothic.

I finished Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. I'll probably finish another book this evening. It's possible I'll finish one more (an ARC) by the end of the month.

I finished The Element of Fire by Brendan Graham, a historical novel about an Irish woman who settles in Boston with her children after surviving the famines in Ireland in the mid-19th century.