Irish Classics and Beyond: Perfect Books for Saint Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick's Day is famous for parades, shamrocks, and a great deal of green. But for book lovers, it's also a perfect excuse to celebrate one of the richest literary traditions in the world.

For a small island, Ireland has produced an astonishing number of great writers. It has given the world four winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature: W.B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, and Seamus Heaney. Its storytelling tradition stretches back to ancient myths and legends passed down by bards, and its writers have shaped poetry, drama, and the novel in ways that still influence literature today. Whether you have Irish roots or simply love a great story, here's a reading list to help you celebrate.

Any tour of Irish literature has to start with James Joyce. His novel Ulysses follows Leopold Bloom through a single day in Dublin, June 16, 1904, a date fans still celebrate every year as Bloomsday. It's famously ambitious, packed with stream-of-consciousness writing and endless references, and it's a genuine adventure for determined readers. If Ulysses feels daunting, Joyce's Dubliners is a wonderful place to begin. This collection of short stories captures ordinary life in early twentieth-century Dublin, and its final story, "The Dead," is often called one of the finest short stories in the English language.

Some of the most famous books in the world were written by Irish authors, even if many readers don't realize it. Dublin-born Oscar Wilde's only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is a thrilling, witty meditation on vanity and morality. Bram Stoker, another Dubliner, gave us Dracula, the gothic novel that created the world's most famous vampire. And Jonathan Swift, who served as dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, wrote Gulliver's Travels, a biting satire disguised as an adventure story that still feels sharp nearly three centuries later. Even Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights has an Irish connection: her father, Patrick Brontë, was born in Ireland.

For memoir lovers, Frank McCourt's Pulitzer Prize-winning Angela's Ashes recounts his impoverished childhood in Limerick with heartbreak and remarkable humor.

Contemporary Irish writing is thriving too. Colm Tóibín's Brooklyn follows a young Irish woman who emigrates to New York in the 1950s, a quietly powerful story about home and belonging. Tana French's In the Woods, the first of her Dublin Murder Squad novels, is a must for mystery fans. Cecelia Ahern's P.S. I Love You became an international bestseller and a beloved film. And Edward Rutherfurd's The Princes of Ireland sweeps through centuries of Irish history in epic fashion.

Looking for something new with Dublin at its heart? Brian Kirk's Riverrun, arriving this November from Library Tales Publishing, is set in a working-class corner of the city and follows a silent teenage boy, his struggling family, and a neighborhood consumed by rumor. Its title even nods to Joyce: "riverrun" is the famous first word of Finnegans Wake.

For younger readers, Saint Patrick's Day brings plenty of festive picture books. Tomie dePaola's Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato is a funny retelling of an Irish folktale. Adam Wallace's How to Catch a Leprechaun invites kids to plot and giggle along, and Natasha Wing's The Night Before St. Patrick's Day brings holiday cheer with a rhyming twist.

However you celebrate, there's no better way to honor Ireland than with a great story. Happy Saint Patrick's Day from all of us at Library Tales Publishing. May your day be filled with good books, great adventures, and a little bit of luck.