Week 3 round up for Reading Ireland Month!

Happy St Patrick’s Day everyone! We’re over halfway through March and it’s hard to believe that week three of Reading Ireland Month is now done.

This week I concentrated on short story collections and loved all three collections that I reviewed:

• Happiness by Mary Lavin
• Catholic Boy by Rosemary Jenkinson
• After Rain by William Trevor

I also looked at some short story collections by Irish writers that will be published in 2019 and shone a spotlight on the stories of my good friend and Reading Ireland Month co-host Niall McArdle.

This week, yet again, you have all been fantastic in reading and sharing posts about work from Ireland – it’s been great to see. If I have missed your post this week, do share a link in the comments.

Remeber, if you are posting for Reading Ireland Month, link your post up to the Linky on my Master Post or use the hashtag #readingirelandmonth19 on Twitter and I’ll be sure to read and share.

Here are some great posts from the past week:

• Nancy Elin posted about Irish playwrights Philip McMahon and Abbie Spallen this week, along with posts about Seamus Heaney’s collection Field Work and a post this morning for St Patrick’s Day.
• The Ludlow Ladies Society by Anne O’Loughlin – Fictionophile
• Return to Robinswood by Jean Grainger – Rosepoint Publishing
• Quentins by Maeve Binchy – Carla Likes To Read
• The Trespasser by Tana French – Deviously Devious
• Belinda by Maria Edgeworth – Juliana at The Blank Garden
• Mr Salary & Colour & Light by Sally Rooney – Rachel at Pace, Amore, Libri
• Treading the Uneven Road by ML Brown – Rosepoint Publishing
• Hibernian Readings – Chris at Calmgrove
• The Springs of Affection by Maeve Brennan – JacquiWine’s Journal
• A Modest Proposal and Other Satrirical Works by Jonathan Swift – Chris at Calmgrove

This week’s giveaway was a copy of The Granta Book of Irish Short Stories, edited by Anne Enright and signed by the woman herself and the Begorrathon Helpers, despite messing about, were once again on hand to choose a winner – so congratulations to Rachel!

Next week will be Non-Fiction week for Reading Ireland Month. I’ll be taking a wee break tomorrow to enjoy the long weekend here in Northern Ireland, but will be back on Tuesday with more reviews and one final giveaway!

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your St Patrick’s Day – if you are looking for some Irish themed entertainment, why not learn how to speak proper Northern Ireland slang with one of my most popular posts from last year. Alternatively, if you need a soundtrack for your Irish themed activities, you can check out our Spotify playlist here or instead, treat yourself to a play of My Lovely Horse!

Ah go on…ye will…