Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh

I like drinking beer and whiskey as much as (perhaps even more than) the next person; however, I won't be participating in amateur night on Sunday. I try on Saint Patrick's Day to honor my Irish heritage and celebrate our history and culture.

 

In The Rare Ould Times

In that spirit, I'd like to recommend my two favorite novels set during the Easter Rising and the Irish Civil War. They are both challenging reads, but well worth the work.

A Star Called Henry

by Roddy Doyle  

- Ah there, I said - There’s killing and there’s killing.
- What d’you mean?
- Well, there’s killing and getting caught and there’s killing and not getting caught. And there’s killing the fellas who are paid to catch you.
- The peelers?
- Yep.
- Why would we want to kill them? They’re not so bad.
- Go home.
- I was only saying.
- Go home, I said. - You’re not ready for the fight.

At Swim, Two Boys

by Jamie O'Neill 

It was true what Jim said, this wasn’t the end but the beginning. But the wars would end one day and Jim would come then, to the island they would share. One day surely the wars would end, and Jim would come home, if only to lie broken in MacMurrough’s arms, he would come to his island home. And MacMurrough would have it built for him, brick by brick, washed by the rain and the reckless sea. In the living stream they’d swim a season. For maybe it was true that no man is an island: but he believed that two very well might be.