There are times when reading-to-learn ultimately teaches you how little you actually know. I now wonder if an entire year should be dedicated to focusing solely on my Irish books, rather than just the month of March.

While that would no doubt lead to much laughter, it might also point me toward “the drink,” which I’ve managed to avoid thus far. The Irish have not had an easy go of it, that’s for sure.

Week 1: Are You Somebody? by Nuala O’Faolain

March comes in like a lion, and this memoir was a fierce way to start the month.

Nuala O’Faolain did not have a privileged life. And she did not live during a simple time. This book is a compilation of columns she wrote for the Irish Times newspaper; her raw honesty is commendable but sometimes hard to read. Born in 1940, Nuala first struggled with an unhappy childhood, and then forced herself to beat a path through the Irish fields to find a more liberated life.

Take a deep breath before reading this one.

Week 2: The Mammy by Brendan O’Carroll

The next in my stack of Irish books promised to be more light-hearted.

Of course it was. It’s fiction.

Irish comedian Brendan O’Carroll penned the tale of newly widowed Agnes Browne as she struggles to raise her seven young wains.

The Mammy tugs at the heartstrings and provides many laugh-out-loud situations. My favorite involved Agnes’s reaction to a nun’s brutish behavior toward the family’s only daughter (hence the inclusion of my wind-up Nunzilla in the Irish books photo at the top of this post).

Week 3: The Wicked Wit of Ireland by Myles Byrne

This was a pre-pandemic gift from Gary, so it was high time I gave it a read.

This is a rollicking rundown of humorous Irish legends, proverbs, jokes, and sayings, with a sprinkling of history and storytelling.

Note: It also expressed the frustrations the natives face in dealing with Americans who fancy themselves clever with the Irish accent. Oops.

Week 4: Dubliners by James Joyce

We headed back into depressing territory with James Joyce’s Dubliners.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I was into the fourth “chapter” before I realized the book is a series of 15 short stories. Many of them depicted a day in the life – or a week in the life – of a resident of Dublin’s fair city.

It took nearly a decade for Joyce to find a publisher for Dubliners, during the early years of the twentieth century. A few of the stories are heartwarming, but many made me extra grateful to have been born so many decades later. ’Twas a tough time and place to live, Dublin, in the early 1900s.

Week 5: Shamrocks, Harps, and Shillelaghs by Edna Barth

To finish off this month of Irish books, I quickly paged through this collection of stories about all things Gaelic.

Written for a middle-school reading level, it’s still worthwhile to get an overview of the symbols, legends, songs, and saints that are associated with the Irish. There’s enough history included to bring to the surface the reason for the embracin’ of the Green (and the drinkin’ of the Guinness). The Irish haven’t had it easy, but have persevered no matter where they go and what they do in this life.

Let’s end the month of March with this lamb of an Irish proverb: A kind word never broke anyone’s mouth.

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