Eire Forever

"I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree."

William Butler Yeats

Leprechauns. Guinness. Cathedrals & castles. Soda bread. Cottages. River Shannon. Red hair. Concannon. Dublin. Book of Kells. Green hills. Salmon. Story-telling. Waterford.

Irish gifts to all of us.

Other Irish gifts are magical books, music, a movie & a play (to name just a few).

If you are gearing up for a weekend of corned beef (or Irish salted beef) and beer between basketball games, don't forget some of these Irish winners.

Books

Maeve Binchy - Irish author of many novels, such as my own Binchy favorite, "Firefly Summer."

Frank Delaney - You'll be swept away to Ireland with his novels... "Ireland" and "Tipperary."

Mary Pope Osborne - Her Magic Treehouse series is geared for children, but adults who love a good story will enjoy reading Osborne's books, too. This month, read "Leprechaun in Late Winter."

Colm Toibin - I am reading his novel "Brooklyn" this week. The story begins in Ireland and moves to Brooklyn, New York.

Frank McCourt - "Angela's Ashes." Heartbreaking memoir of author's childhood in Limerick.

Samuel Beckett - He wrote more (a lot more) than "Waiting for Godot." Read his "Complete Short Prose 1929-1989."

Irish folktales, including "Clever Tom and the Leprechaun."

Authors - James Joyce, Jonathan Swift.

Movie

"Secret of Roan Inish." Based on a Scottish folktale, this film was tweaked to become a love letter to Ireland. Beautiful photography and magical story. And seals!!

Play

J. M. Synge - "Playboy of the Western World/Riders to the Sea."

Music

Listen to Van Morrison, Irish Tenors, Cranberries or Chieftains this weekend. 

"To be Irish is to know that in the end the world will break your heart."

Attributed to Daniel Patrick Moynihan (and others)