{"id":153,"date":"2003-10-24T12:18:04","date_gmt":"2003-10-24T16:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=153"},"modified":"2010-07-10T22:17:52","modified_gmt":"2010-07-11T02:17:52","slug":"top-50-irish-novels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=153","title":{"rendered":"Top 50 Irish Novels"},"content":{"rendered":"

The James Joyce Center<\/a> co-sponsored a contest with The Irish Times<\/a> voting on the best Irish novels. They had a predetermined list of books which the voters could choose from.<\/p>\n

So while the outcome may be a bit predictable – it’s also a cream-rising-to-the-top list, which pleases a literary elitist such as myself.<\/p>\n

I haven’t read a lot of these books. I have read most of the Top 10 –<\/p>\n

The only exceptions are:<\/p>\n

John McGahern’s “Amongst Women” which my father assures me is tremendous.<\/p>\n

I also haven’t read Flann O’Brien’s “The Third Policeman”, although I adored “At Swim-Two-Birds”, which was the URL of my old blog. That signifies nothing, just thought I would mention it to show its omnipresence in my life.<\/p>\n

I also haven’t read any John Banville – which will probably shock my father – who is a huge fan. Am I right about that, dad?<\/p>\n

Patrick McCabe’s “Butcher Boy” seems misplaced on the Top 10.<\/p>\n

I read it. It was interesting and all – but to beat out other Irish books, such as “Lion, Witch and Wardrobe” or Francis Stewart’s “Black List Section H”??<\/p>\n

William Trevor is another author I’ve never read.<\/p>\n

Here’s the list of the Top 50:<\/b>
\nJames Joyce Ulysses <\/u>(1922)
\nJames Joyce A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man<\/u> (1916)
\nJohn McGahern Amongst Women <\/u>(1990)
\nFlann O\u0092Brien At Swim Two Birds <\/u>(1939)
\nOscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Grey <\/u>(1891)
\nJonathan Swift Gulliver\u0092s Travels <\/u>(1726)
\nFlann O\u0092Brien The Third Policeman <\/u>(1967)
\nBram Stoker Dracula <\/u>(1897)
\nJohn Banville The Book of Evidence <\/u>1988
\nPatrick McCabe The Butcher Boy <\/u>(1992)
\nJames Plunkett Strumpet City <\/u>(1969)
\nC. S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe <\/u>(1950)
\nEdna O\u0092Brien The Country Girls <\/u>(1960)
\nSamuel Beckett Molloy <\/u>(1951)
\nPatrick Kavanagh Tarry Flynn <\/u>(1948)
\nBrian Moore Judith Hearne <\/u>(1955)
\nElizabeth Bowen The Last September <\/u>(1929)
\nLawrence Sterne Tristram Shandy <\/u>(1760)
\nJennifer Johnston How Many Miles to Babylon?<\/u> (1974)
\nKate O\u0092Brien The Land of Spices<\/u> (1941)
\nSamuel Beckett Murphy <\/u>(1938)
\nJohn McGahern The Barracks <\/u>(1963)
\nMaria Edgeworth Castle Rackrent <\/u>(1800)
\nRoddy Doyle The Woman Who Walked Into Doors <\/u>(1996)
\nSeamus Deane Reading in the Dark <\/u>(1996)
\nWilliam Trevor Felicia\u0092s Journey <\/u>(1994)
\nJennifer Johnston The Captains and the Kings <\/u>(1972)
\nWilliam Trevor Fools of Fortune <\/u>(1983)
\nMolly Keane Good Behaviour <\/u>(1981)
\nColm Toibin The South <\/u>(1990)
\nSam Hanna Bell December Bride <\/u>(1950)
\nSomerville and Ross The Real Charlotte <\/u>(1894)
\nBrian Moore The Emperor of Ice Cream <\/u>(1965)
\nEugene McCabe Death and Nightingales <\/u>(1992)
\nJames Stephens The Charwomen\u0092s Daughter <\/u>(1912)
\nKeith Ridgway The Parts <\/u>(2003)
\nJ G Farrell The Siege of Krishnapur <\/u>(1973)
\nAidan Higgins Langrishe Go Down <\/u>(1966)
\nFrancis Stuart Black List, Section H <\/u>(1971)
\nCharles Maturin Melmoth the Wanderer <\/u>(1820)
\nChristopher Nolan The Banyan Tree <\/u>(1999)
\nJohn Banville Birchwood <\/u>1973
\nJoseph Sheridan Le Fanu Uncle Silas <\/u>(1864)
\nGeorge Moore A Drama in Muslin <\/u>(1886)
\nGeorge Moore Esther Waters<\/u> (1894)
\nThomas Kilroy The Big Chapel <\/u>(1971)
\nWilliam Carleton The Black Prophet <\/u>(1847)
\nDeirdre Madden The Birds of the Innocent Wood <\/u>(1988)
\nHugo Hamilton Surrogate City <\/u>(1990)
\nSean O\u0092Reilly Love and Sleep <\/u>(2002)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The James Joyce Center co-sponsored a contest with The Irish Times voting on the best Irish novels. They had a predetermined list of books which the voters could choose from. So while the outcome may be a bit predictable – … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[35],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16316,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions\/16316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}