This morning we decided to get an early start on St. Patrick’s Day by discussing books by Irish writers. It was our pleasure to welcome Nelson Ritschel to the book show this morning. Nelson is a Professor in the Department of Humanities at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Below are our lists of books, although it was a case of too many books, not enough time! We could easily do another show on Irish writers, with a completely different reading list. Many thanks to all the listeners who called or emailed their suggestions to the show. If you want to add a title to the list, send us a comment!

If you missed the show you can always listen to the show at 7:00 PM the day of the broadcast, or online, anytime.

Nelson’s Picks

The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats
Dubliners by James Joyce
Ulysses by James Joyce
John Bull’s Other Island by George Bernard Shaw
The Playboy of the Western World by J. M. Synge
Charming Billy by Alice McDermott
The Aran Islands by J. M. Synge

Jill’s Picks

New Irish Poets: representative selections from the work of 37 contemporaries edited by Devin A. Garrity (Poem read was “Diamond Cut Diamond” by Ewart Milne
Milkman by Anna Burns
Spill simmer falter wither by Sara Baume
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney Her new novel Normal People will be out in April. There were two articles about her books in THE NEW YORKER. “A New Kind of Adultery Novel” and “Sally Rooney Gets In Your Head” … both well worth reading.
Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor (Also recommended by a listener.)

Listener Picks

The Trick of the Ga Bolga by Patrick McGinley
Tiernan’s Wake by Richard T. Rook
The Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor
The Ginger Man by J. P. Donleavy
A Singular Country by J. P. Donleavy
Sebastian Barry
The Country Girls Trilogy by Edna O’Brien
A Pagan Place by Edna O’Brien
Colum McCann