St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner, so it feels right to go ahead and dedicate a column to my favorite Irish writers. There are many, too many, as the Irish punch well above their population when it comes to literary acclaim. When Mrs. Biblioracle and I visited Ireland last summer, at our first hotel in Cork, there was a bespectacled picture of Yeats on the complimentary water bottle in the room.
In addition to Yeats, we have Jonathan Swift, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and James Joyce, all Irish, all legends.
I shall stipulate to the genius of all the above so as not to take up precious column inches saying the obvious. Instead, here are some of my favorite contemporary Irish writers and why I find them so compelling.
Longtime readers know that I am a Sally Rooney-head, having read and enjoyed all her novels and the way she interprets the lived experience of the millennial generation of her home country. Her most recent book, “Intermezzo,” is a profound exploration of grief and love focused on two brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek. But as fine as that book is, my favorite remains her first, “Conversations with Friends,” a taut and talky little tale about two mostly aimless young women (Frances and Bobbi) who find themselves insinuated into the lives of a more glamorous older couple.
Paul Murray has produced two of my favorite “big books” of the last 15-plus years, “Skippy Dies” (2010) and “The Bee Sting” (2023). “Skippy Dies” is infused with a John Irving-esque spirit, as the nearly 700-page tale kicks off with the death of Daniel “Skippy” Juster during a donut-eating contest at an Irish boarding school. Funny and sentimental (in a good way), the book still sticks with me. “The Bee Sting” is a kaleidoscopic telling of the lives of the Barnes family as they face the challenges of the Great Recession. Father Dickie, mother Imelda, kids Cass and PJ each get a chance at the novel’s helm, building to a climax that is tense and unforgettable.
I was, admittedly, a little late to Claire Keegan, mistaking the slim shape and greeting card styling of her books for something slight, maybe even a little Hallmark Channel-ish, but this is why you don’t judge a book by its cover. In her novella “Small Things Like These” and the collection of stories “So Late in the Day,” Keegan explores difficult moral dilemmas without descending into preachiness. Written in such an unadorned style, her novels seem like not much is being rendered until you realize great emotion has somehow accrued.
Finally, we have John Banville, who writes under two names, John Banville and Benjamin Black. John Banville writes moody, atmospheric, character-driven dramatic meditations where we see people attempt to untangle the things that bind them to a past that is damaging their present lives. “The Sea” is my favorite Banville.
Benjamin Black is a persona Banville adopted so he could produce crime novels without attaching the weight of his literary reputation. “Christine Falls,” the first Benjamin Black book, published in 2006, centers Quirke, a pathologist in 1950’s Dublin. In the novel, Quirke follows a trail starting with the dead young woman of the title, and some shady behavior by his own brother, Malachy, a local obstetrician, who Quirke catches changing the cause of death. The gloom is thick, and Quirke is an unlikely hero. This is literary noir at its best. Several years back, Banville started putting his name on the Black books, but I still like to think of Black and Banville as two parts of a whole.
Book recommendations from the Biblioracle
John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.
1. “Want to Know a Secret?” by Freida McFadden
2. “Inspector West Leaves Town” by John Creasey
3. “Women’s Murder Club” by James Patterson
4. “Assumption” by Percival Everett
5. “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro
— Virginia K., Chicago
I want a good mystery, but also something that is maybe a bit different. Or, why not just go classic? “The Talented Mr. Ripley” by Patricia Highsmith.
1. “So Far Gone” by Jess Walter
2. “Nexus” by Yuval Noah Harari
3. “Homo Deus” by Yuval Noah Harari
4. “Our Share of Night” by Mariana Enriquez
5. “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin
— Dan O., Chicago
I’m inspired by one of the authors on Virginia’s list, but I’m choosing a different specific book, “The Trees” by Percival Everett.
1. “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson
2. “Sayonara Slam” by Naomi Hirahara
3. “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt
4. “The Adventures of Sally” by P.G. Wodehouse
5. “Bear Island” by Alistair MacLean
— Biff G., Valparaiso, Indiana
A rather varied list from a previous Biblioracle customer. I’m going with a novel with a funny and irascible narrator who gets himself into some trouble, “Barney’s Version” by Mordecai Richler.
Get a reading from the Biblioracle
Send a list of the last five books you’ve read and your hometown to biblioracle@gmail.com.
John Warner is the author of books including “More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI.” You can find him at biblioracle.com.
