The Collected Room by Kathryn Greeley

As most of you know, I LOVE to read!  And many of my favorite authors are Irish or write about Ireland.  I have shared some previously , like the series from Irish author , Patrick Taylor, that begins with An Irish Country Doctor.

Another Irish author that I really enjoy is Frank Delaney, who has written Ireland, Tipperary, Shannon, and The Last Storyteller.  I have read all of these and highly recommend each of them.

Another of my favorite authors who sadly passed away in 2012 is Maeve Binchy.  Her novels are so “cozy” and easy reading for anyone who loves Ireland.  I just finished her last novel that was released after her death, A Week in Winter.  It was a terrific read and it made me very sad that it was the end of all of the lovely books she has written.  I clearly remember on my 50^th birthday (a short few years ago…!!) purchasing her book Scarlet Feather while in Dublin.

Other favorites are The Copper Beech, The Glass Lake and Tara Road.

Elizabeth Bowen was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1899, the only child of an Irish lawyer and landowner.  Her book Bowen’s Court (1942) is the history of her family and their house, in County Cork Ireland.  I love reading Elizabeth Bowen and some of my favorite of her books that sit proudly in the “collected library” at Chestnut Cottage – The Last September,  The House in Paris, The Death of the Heart, and A World of Love.

And I really enjoyed her book, The Shelbourne, which is about the famous Dublin landmark, the Shelbourne Hotel.  It is a wonderfully evocative account of Dublin life through more than a century.  I suppose this book is so interesting to me because I have had the pleasure of staying at the Shelbourne on several occasions.

Currently I am reading a lovely book about Ireland, called The Girl on the Cliff by Irish author Lucinda Riley.  It is also proving to be a very interesting read!

Hope you will add at least a few of these delightful Irish books to your “collected library”!