Books To Read Before Your Ireland Trip
The Best Books About Ireland
Our writers will have you falling in love with Ireland before you even get here.
How I Picked These Books
- Most I've read myself, I've lost hours reading Tana French. I've worked my way through Donal & Rory's cookbooks, although my neighbors can confirm the smell of burning rather than deliciousness. Given my job as a walking tour guide, I buy every history book out there.
- Direct from a Facebook group about travel in Ireland. A member asked "Looking for some good books about Ireland to read". It got more than 200 responses & I've included some of their most popular suggestions.
Travel Guides
Exploring Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way ⭐ My top pick
The single best Ireland travel book I've read. I buy everything that Three Rock publishes. They are so well researched and written by David who has covered literally every blade of grass on the route.
Rick Steves Ireland
Americans love Rick Steves and many of them recommend his book in the group.
Lonely Planet Best Road Trips Ireland
Putting together your Irish itinerary is hard. There's so many options. This book takes care of it for you.
Or contact me if you want personalized help planning your trip.
Ireland: A Luminous Beauty
This isn't so much a travel book as a photography book. It'll whet your appetite for Ireland's beauty and give you some travel inspiration.
Fiction
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan ⭐ My top pick
Short, devastating and perfectly written. Set in a small Irish town in the 1980s. If you only read one contemporary Irish novel before your trip, make it this one. Now a film starring Cillian Murphy.
Normal People by Sally Rooney
The TV series captivated Ireland & the world so you've probably seen it. It's worth reading too.
This Is Happiness by Niall Williams
Niall is the master of writing about rural Ireland. This is set in a small village just as electricity arrives. Funny, warm and beautifully written.
Milkman by Anna Burns
The Irish Times experts voted it the Best Irish Fiction of the 21st Century. That's good enough to get on my humble list.
History
I'll be honest, I'm surprised at how little of our history that visitors to Ireland know. Take some time to learn some before you come. It will make your trip so much better.
A History of Ireland in 250 Episodes by Jonathan Bardon
⭐ My top pick
Some history books are a slog to read. This one isn't. Everything you've ever wanted to know about Irish history in digestible episodes.
The Dublin Pub: A Social and Cultural History by Donal Fallon
I just bought this one myself and can't wait to read it. Fallon is a well known podcaster in Ireland and I love his way of telling stories. Should be superb!
The Famine Plot by Tim Pat Coogan
Coogan is the great popular historian of Ireland. You might get hooked, his books on De Valera and the IRA are equally compelling.
The Immortal Irishman by Timothy Egan
The story of Thomas Francis Meagher, an Irish revolutionary, transported to Australia, escaped to America to become a Civil War general. It reads more like a thriller. A New York Times bestseller for good reason.
We Don't Know Ourselves by Fintan O'Toole
The best single volume account of modern Ireland I've come across. Covers the country's transformation from the 1950s to now. Fintan is Ireland's leading newspaper columnist.
Irish Non-Fiction
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe ⭐ My top pick
The most recommended book in every Irish travel group on the internet. About the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It's chilling, it's educational, it's essential.
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Set in Limerick in the 1930s and 40s. A story of poverty, Catholicism, survival and dark humour. A classic for a reason.
How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill
How Irish monks preserved European learning during the Dark Ages among other things Popular with American readers in particular, maybe so they can boast about Ireland to their friends of Italian or other origins.
McCarthy's Bar by Pete McCarthy
A travel writer follows a rule: never pass a pub with your name above the door. Funny and affectionate. RIP Pete.
A Course Called Ireland: A Long Walk in Search of a Country, a Pint, and the Next Tee by Tom Coyne
If you've ever dreamed of spending a few months traveling around Ireland playing golf at our wind blown courses, this is the book for you.
Crime & Mystery
Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series are the page turners to read on the flight to Ireland. It's a short flight anyway, it'll seem shorter with Tana’s books.
In the Woods
Start here. A detective investigating a murder in Dublin's suburbs, haunted by something that happened to him as a child in those same woods.
The Likeness
A woman is found dead, identical in appearance to the detective investigating her murder. Strange, atmospheric, brilliant.
Work through the series in order. You won't stop.
Cookbooks
Irish food is so underrated and sometimes scorned, but only by those who haven't been here. Bookmark this page because I promise that after you've tasted our food, you'll want to cook it yourself.
Ballymaloe Cookery Course by Darina Allen ⭐ My top pick
The definitive Irish cooking bible. Ballymaloe in Cork is the most famous cookery school in Ireland and Darina Allen is its matriarch. If you visited Ballymaloe on your trip, this is the book to bring home.
The Irish Cookbook by JP McMahon
McMahon runs Aniar in Galway, which is one of Ireland's Michelin-starred restaurants so he knows what he's talking about. 480 recipes covers every Irish dish imaginable. Another one for the coffee table.
Fresh by Donal Skehan
This lives on my kitchen counter. It's simple everyday cooking from one of Ireland's most popular food personalities. 15 minutes meal territory and a good intro in meals we make in Ireland today.
Master It by Rory O'Connell
This is my second most used book. I dip into it for techniques. Rory O'Connell teaches at Ballymaloe and this is his masterclass in technique. A serious book for people who want to actually learn to cook.
The Complete Irish Pub Cookbook by Parragon Books
The basic and popular pub dishes done easily. Everything you ate on your trip and want to recreate at home. An extremely popular book.
The Classics
Ireland's literary legends. Not much more needs to be said about Joyce etc.
Dubliners by James Joyce
Short stories set in early 20th century Dublin. The best entry point into Joyce, and one of the finest collections of short fiction in the English language. Humblebrag alert, I bought my copy at the James Joyce Museum in Dublin.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Not set in Ireland, but Wilde is one of ours and this is his masterpiece. Read it before you visit his statue in Merrion Square.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
One that surprises people, Stoker was a Dubliner. I just read it recently in my mission to read all the classics. Loved it.
The Kindle
I'm giving the Kindle a section of its own because it has transformed my travel. I read a lot and I travel a lot.
But I hesitated before buying a Kindle because I was a traditionalist, I wanted the book in my hand. Then one day I tried my friend's Kindle and OMG, I absolutely adore my Kindle Paperwhite.
I use it every single day of my life. My cost per use of my Kindle is infinitesimally tiny. The battery lasts forever. I load up the books.
I cannot recommend it any higher! Buy it here.
Get the Kindle Unlimited for all the books that you can read.
