books and movies about Ireland

Our RS guide (Stephen McPhilemy) recommended these two during our tour:

Derry Girls TV series (avl on Netflix)
Comedy of HS girls growing up during the troubles in Derry. Funny. Use subtitles until you get used to the accent and slang.

Black '47 (film)
- famine/revenge movie. Bleak. You’ll learn about “soupers”.

Happy travels

Edit: I loved "The Banshees of Inisherin".

We did the tour in July. Two films that may be referenced a lot on the trip (some sights) are Ryan's Daughter and The Field with Richard Harris. The Field won an Academy Award, and is based on a revered play by John B. Keane.

I am fond of the author Roddy Doyle, who has written ward winning novels, mostly in Dublin. Some of which were made into movies (The Commitments). The film Belfast directed by Kenneth Branagh if you want to a slice of life during the Troubles.

Derry Girls was mentioned, and then there is Bad Sisters.

I've read every one (!) of Carlene O'Connor's 17 books. They are "cozy murder mysteries" and all take place in Southwest Ireland in a fictional small town. Other towns and cities are mentioned often. The main character is a female who winds up trying to solve a murder, while the police would like her to go away (very common theme in British movies/books). The first in the series is Murder in an Irish Village. I've downloaded all of them from my local library and read them on a tablet. The books really do give a feel for the area and culture.

My wife and I took the RS 7 day Ireland tour and enjoyed it very much. You will too!

We took the RS Best of Ireland 14 day in 2017. When we were in Dingle we stayed at the fabulous MIlltown House. Because it was my birthday, our guide assigned us to the best room in the house... The Robert Mitchum room, where he stayed while making a movie. Of course really who knows who Robert Mitchum is anymore, but I did because once when we were staying at the beach in SoCal in the 1990's, Robert Mitchum was also checking in to our small hotel, and he sat down in the lobby next to me and chatted me up. So I'll say Ryan's Daughter (circa 1970) filmed in Dingle. I guess I've now stayed in two of the same hotels as Robert Mitchum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quiet_Man

Another good mystery book was "The Searcher" by Tana French. It is set in Southwest Ireland in a small town. Wikipedia says: "Cal Hooper, disillusioned with his work as a Chicago police officer, moves to Ardnakelty, a small rural village in Western Ireland, to live a more quiet life. Cal is befriended by his talkative neighbor Mart Lavin and twelve-year-old Trey Reddy, an outsider in Ardnakelty. Trey convinces Cal to investigate the disappearance of an older brother, Brendan.", etc... There is a lot of interaction with the locals, and you learn about small town life, pubs, etc... I really enjoyed it, and the follow-on book, "The Hunter".

David already mentioned two of my favorites, "Derry Girls" and "The Banshees of Inisherin." Derry Girls is hysterical and the Banshees of Inisherin is ... well it's hard to describe but it's very interesting and very good. They're well worth watching in their own right but will also give you a taste of Ireland.

If you like crime dramas, watch the series "Blue Lights" on BritBox which is about the Belfast police and the crimes they solve. It's an excellent series.

Well I was just getting ready to post this and did a quick search and actually found Rick's list of movies and books about Ireland. So you may just want to go ahead and look at it. Here it has a lot of options: https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/ireland/books-movies

I’ll suggest this for your consideration, even though it’s an autobiography, not a novel. Back in 2011, during our bicycle tour down the western side of Ireland, while I continued to stay in Dingle and rode out to see the Blasket Islands, my husband rode farther south, to see and climb Skellig Michael. That also involved reserving a seat on a small boat captained by Des Lavelle, who is a legend in that part of Ireland.

He’s now in his 90’s, and wrote his autobiography, Island Boy, three years ago, and I bought the book as a present for my husband, who’s talked about him over and over since our trip 14 years ago. If you’re not going to get to Skellig Michael, or Des’ home, Valentia Island on this trip, his book will be the next best thing, and it’ll be a little like sitting in a pub and having a chat with a long-time Irish mariner and adventurer. I got the book through Amazon.