Book recomendation

I devoured At Swim, Two Boys, but I’m not sure I’d call it “fun”.

I enjoyed reading several Edna O'Brien books while I was traveling in Ireland a few years ago, including her 2013 memoir Country Girl and her 2016 novel Little Red Chairs. Many of her earlier novels are also set in Ireland.

When I think back to Irish literature I really can't recall any that are "fun." Try The Good People by Hannah Kent.

Have you checked RS recommended books for Ireland?

Maurice O'Sullivan's "Twenty Years a-Growing" is about the author's childhood, adolescence and the lives of the Great Blasket islanders.

Not at all fun, but brutal satire: The Poor Mouth by Flann O'Brien. Not as dark and not a novel (play script) is Translations by Brian Fiel. It's about the British Ordnance Survey that anglicized Irish place names.

Not historical, but I found these two a fun way to prep for Irish culture:

• Round Ireland with a Fridge, Tony Hawks
• McCarthy's Bar, by Pete McCarthy

Not sure if I'd call it "fun" exactly, but Milkman by Anna Burns paints a pretty realistic picture of what it was like growing up during The Troubles, at least according to the people I talked to in the North of Ireland in May.

A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry - great historical novel

Not fiction and not depressing, fairly short (230 pp), and easy to read:

How the Irish Saved Civilization, by Thomas Cahill.

“Angela’s Ashes” by Frank McCourt