You all are great. Thank you so much. This will keep me busy for the next several years! If anyone else has anything to add, please do so.

Roddy doyle is great as well as Joe O'Connor (Sinead's brother) His books on the Irish Male abroad & at home and others are laugh out loud books.

Whoredom in Kimmage was probably one of the most innaccurate and ignorant books I read in years. I started the book before I came to Ireland and did not find any of the horrible stereotypes portrayed in the book to be true. Thank goodness!

I always like the books of quotes from Oscar Wilde. Very witty and funny.

Bartholomew Gill writes mysteries set in Ireland.

Ken Bruen's, The Guards is a literate and entertaining detective story that takes place in Galway.

Hi Bess

Here's a link to the previous thread O'Reilly mentioned:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...en_name=JJBhoy

When you go into it you'll find another link to yet another thread on this subject - this should keep you going!

Jim

I second Colm Toibin, Roddy Doyle, Joseph O'Conner, and of course Round Ireland with a Fridge.

Other titles:
Divorcing Jack, and anything else by Colin Bateman
At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill
Fat Lad, Glenn Patterson
The Eggman's Apprentic, by Maurice Leitch
Titanic Town by Mary Costello

Other authors:
John McGahern
Seamus Deane
Frank Ronan
Jack Holland (nonfiction)

Enjoy

Ger, how could you leave out Joyce Cary....

The Poor Mouth, Flann O'Brien - superbly funny.

I'm currently enjoying a series of books by Christine Breen and Niall Williams, a couple who relocated from Manhattan to County Clare. They are: When Summers in the Meadow, The Luck of the Irish: O Come Ye Back to Ireland: Our First Year in County Clare; Our Life in County Clare; Pipes Are Calling: Our Jaunts Through Ireland

William Trevor's books
Sister Fidelma mysteries by Pter Tremayne
Bartholomew Gill's mysteries
"Daimons" Nina Fitzpatrick
Lyn Hamilton's "The Celtic riddle: an archaeological mystery"
John Brady's 'Inspector Matt Minogue' mysteries
"The Dalkey Archives" or ANYTHING Flann O'Brien
The list really is endless.......

I saw a reference to this thread when I was researching for the trip we took this past March. I went searching for it tonight in order to add to it. I've skimmed the responses and haven't seen any mention of Erin Hart. I'm in the middle of her second book, "Lake of Sorrows". Her first is "Haunted Ground". I highly recommend them to anyone interested in Ireland. They're mysteries and the forensic stuff can get a little intense at times (sort of like the gory scenes in C.S.I.!). But the detail and "feel" for Ireland is just fantastic.

I should keep quiet about Angela's Ashes in Limerick.
The locals are sensitive about the picture it paints of the place and think that a lot of it is a pack of lies.

Personally, I hate these "It were terrible, we only had a clog apiece, me mam were a tart and me dad were a drunken layabout" books.
There seem to be a lot of them around nowadays.

IRELAND by Frank Delaney.
Excellent!

All of the mysteries by Peter Tremayne, set in 6th-century Ireland. Also "The All of It," an excellent novel by Jeannette Haien.