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Get the featured set of Essential Reading, our top picks of what to read, and get free shipping on anything else you order.

Essential Reading

Item EXIRE57. Buy these 2 items as a set for $32 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
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The Aran Islands

The Aran Islands

by J.M. Synge | Tim Robinson

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 208 PAGES

A much-loved turn-of-the-century account of the islands (as contrasted with mainland Ireland), drenched in the Celtic soul of the Irish. (IRE26, $15.00)

The Pirate Queen, In Search of Grace O'Malley and Other Legendary Women of the Sea

The Pirate Queen, In Search of Grace O'Malley and Other Legendary Women of the Sea

by Barbara Sjoholm

  • HISTORY
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 355 PAGES

Tales of plucky female pirates and explorers in the North Atlantic. Long interested in women and seafaring, Sjoholm journeyed from Ireland out to the Shetland and Faroe islands, Iceland and Norway collecting folk-tales, stories and historical accounts of these remarkable seafaring heroines. (IRE135, $16.95)

 
A Traveller's History of Ireland

A Traveller's History of Ireland


by Peter Neville

  • HISTORY
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

From the Celts to the Norman invasions and modern-day Ireland, this short history is highly recommended for those who would like a brief overview of the Emerald Isle through the centuries. (GBR39, $14.95)

How the Irish Saved Civilization

How the Irish Saved Civilization


by Thomas Cahill

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 236 PAGES

This best-selling history tells the generally unknown story of Ireland's preservation of classical learning in the Dark Ages. (IRE07, $15.95)

In Search of Ancient Ireland

In Search of Ancient Ireland


by Leo Eaton | Carmel McCaffrey

  • HISTORY
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

This spirited, illustrated history, the companion to a PBS documentary series, traces the foundation, archaeology and legends of ancient Ireland from 9000 B.C. to 1167 A.D. with style and substance. (IRE222, $16.95)

Ireland, A Concise History

Ireland, A Concise History


by Maire O'Brien | Conor Cruise O'Brien

  • HISTORY
  • 1985
  • PAPER
  • 192 PAGES
  • OUT OF PRINT

With its lively, even-handed tone and hundreds of photographs, this grand history by scholar and statesman O'Brien conveys the essence of the Irish experience. (IRE20, $19.95)

Magnum Ireland

Magnum Ireland


by John Banville

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2005
  • HARD COVER
  • 256 PAGES

This evocative collection of 250 photographs captures the people, landscapes and changing face of Ireland from the 1950s to the 21st century. (IRE170, $60.00)

A Course Called Ireland

A Course Called Ireland


by Tom Coyne

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES
  • NEW

Not just a quest to play every seaside course in the Emerald Isle (60 by the time he got to Ulster), Tom Coyne's entertaining portrait of Ireland, its people, pubs and quirks illuminates "Uncommon Acts of Irish Hospitality." (IRE251, $16.00)

McCarthy's Bar, A Journey of Discovery in Ireland

McCarthy's Bar, A Journey of Discovery in Ireland


by Pete McCarthy

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

A droll account of McCarthy's encounters on a bar-hopping jaunt from Cork along the west coast to Donegal. His motto, assiduously followed, was never to pass up a bar with his name on it! (IRE168, $16.99)

Seafaring Women: Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female Stowaways, and Sailors' Wives

Seafaring Women: Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female Stowaways, and Sailors' Wives


by David Cordingly

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2007
  • PAPER

A fascinating survey of women who went to sea, as wives, crossdressing cabin boys or even lighthouse keepers, during the age of sail. (OCE94, $17.00)

Seamanship, A Voyage along the Wild Coasts of the British Isles

Seamanship, A Voyage along the Wild Coasts of the British Isles


by Adam Nicolson

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 192 PAGES

Nicolson offers an engrossing account of a coastal voyage from Cornwall, along the western coast of Ireland, out to the Faeroes and to Orkney in this brief hymn to the sea. (GBR561, $13.95)

Stones of Aran, Labyrinth

Stones of Aran, Labyrinth


by Tim Robinson

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 528 PAGES

In the second volume of Robinson's journey through Ireland's Aran islands, the poetic mapmaker turns inward to follow the labyrinthine coast of the largest of the islands. (IRE249, $22.95)

Stones of Aran: Pilgrimage

Stones of Aran: Pilgrimage


by Tim Robinson | Seamus Heaney

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 395 PAGES

A richly layered hymn to Arainn, largest of the Aran Islands, Robinson's adopted home. (IRE227, $18.95)

For the Love of Ireland, A Literary Companion for Readers and Travelers

For the Love of Ireland, A Literary Companion for Readers and Travelers


by Susan Cahill

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 458 PAGES

Organized geographically, this rich anthology introduces Ireland through the words and lives of such luminaries as James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, Frank McCourt and Samuel Beckett. (IRE77, $15.95)

Irish Fairy and Folk Tales

Irish Fairy and Folk Tales


by W.B. Yeats

  • LITERATURE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 380 PAGES

Edited by the Nobel Prize-winning poet who spearheaded the Celtic Renaissance in the early 20th century, these enchanting stories introduce a cast of changelings, ghosts, mermaids, demons, saints, priests and fairies. (IRE04, $16.00)

The Hill Bachelors

The Hill Bachelors


by William Trevor

  • LITERATURE
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

No one writes better short fiction than William Trevor. This collection of 12 stories captures the life and people of rural Ireland. (IRE42, $15.00)

The Pirate Queen: The Story of Grace O'Malley, Irish Pirate

The Pirate Queen: The Story of Grace O'Malley, Irish Pirate


by Alan Gold

  • LITERATURE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

Gold's rousing tale of grace O'Malley, starring the 16th-century Irish pirate, as bold as she is beautiful. Gold sets his seafaring tale in Ireland and England from 1544 to 1588, the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. (IRE215, $14.00)

Wild Decembers

Wild Decembers


by Edna O'Brien

  • LITERATURE
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

A haunting novel of clan enmities and forbidden love in rural Ireland. Few writers have as sure a sense of place as Edna O'Brien, whose lyrical prose builds inevitably toward final tragedy. (IRE94, $13.95)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

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