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Bust out your best green outfit and enjoy some corned beef and cabbage, it's St. Patrick's Day! We've had staff pick their favorite related reads.
Book River
Book River Items

The Quiet Man (1999)

by Republic Pictures Home Video

Fabulous performances by John Wayne & Maureen O'Hara, where a retired American boxer returns to the village of his birth in 1920's Ireland. He falls for the spirited Irish sister of the bullying local Squire. A classic! — Janet, Fiction, Movies & Music


The Ancient Magus' Bride, Volume 1 (2015)

by Kore Yamazaki

Heavily inspired by Irish/Celtic folklore. — Eugene, Circulation


Angela's Ashes : a Memoir (1996)

by Frank McCourt

This was one of the first memoirs I ever read and this Pulitzer Prize winner was an excellent place to start. Frank McCourt, the son of two Irish immigrants, tells his poverty-stricken family's story in Angela's Ashes, from where he was born in Brooklyn and after they move back to Ireland. — Sarah, Digital Services


Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato : an Irish Folktale (1992)

by Tomie DePaola

Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potatoby Tomie dePaola is fun picture book retelling of an Irish folktale about the laziest man in Ireland who is as lucky as he is lazy. His wife hurts her back and can’t harvest the potatoes and it looks like he will go hungry all winter, until one morning he traps a leprechaun who grants him one wish: all the potatoes he can eat. What could go wrong? DePaola has illustrated over 270 books and you can’t mistake his appealing artwork in the illustrations for this book. A great story to read around Saint Patrick’s Day! — Gail, Hanover Park Branch


The Fugitive (2001)

by Warner Home Video

Exciting, spell-binding murder mystery that keeps you on the edge of your seat. It takes place in the Chicago area. There is a scene showing the Chicago St. Patrick's Day parade and the river being turned green. — Carol, Fiction, Movies & Music