BW10: March footpaths from Dublin to Dorsey

Oscar Wilde - Courtesy of  Sandro Schachner

Time to bid February adieu as we say Dia Dhuit to March. Are you ready to walk in the footsteps of  Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Frank McCourt, and Maeve Binchy?  We're going to follow the footpaths from Dublin to Dorsey, exploring both classic and contemporary authors from Ireland. We have much to celebrate this month including Women's History Month,  Irish American Heritage Month, St. Patrick's Festival, plus International French Language Day,  Forests,  Nowruz Day, World Poetry Day as well as the March Equinox.  

Our author choices of the month are Maeve Binchy and John Connolly who I'll talk about more next week.  Meanwhile, let's take a book tour with Ireland by the Book, Blue Book's Literary Tour, or Culture Trip's Literary Tour of Dublin with Yeats, Joyce and Swift. Learn more about Irish authors through Irish Central's Irish Authors and Writers You Should Know, or Twenty Irish Novels You Should Read Before You Die.  Also check out Goodread's Best Fiction Set in Ireland as well as Popular Irish Mystery Books. 

Our Blossomology challenge takes us back to Ireland's ancient Druids.  Our flower of the month is a three leaf clover plant commonly called a Shamrock. Not to be confused with the rare four leaf clover.  The Shamrock comes from the gaelic word seamróg which means little clover.  The shamrock is the unofficial national flower of Ireland.  Three was an important number to the druids who considered the plant to be sacred.  St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland used the three leaves to explain the Holy trinity.  It became a symbol of rebellion when it was adopted as the emblem for the 1777 Irish Volunteers. The Nationalist's movement in the 19th century used the shamrock and harp as one of their emblems.   

There are a number of directions to go with this challenge. You may choose to spell out the Shamrock or Clover.  Read one book per letter using either the title and/or the first or last name of the author.  Yes, you can mix it up.  You may read a book with the name of the flower, color of the flower in the title, or on the cover.  Another possibility is a book which takes place in the time period or flower's country of origin or has some cultural significance and/or symbolism of the flower.  The choices are unlimited.  

For all our Brit Trippers, whether you are on the Detective or Rebel bus or hanging out with Bertram Wooster, this week we’ll be traveling through Northamptonshire and Rutland, the English counties where George Washington’s ancestors immigrated from. More important it’s the location of Princess Diana’s childhood home.   

Rabbit trails: Peterborough Cathedral

Have fun following rabbit trails and see where it takes you. 

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Please link to your specific post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, leave a comment telling us what you have been reading.   Every week I will put up  Mr. Linky which will close at the end of each book week.  No matter what book you are reading or reviewing at the time, whether it be # 1 or # 5 or so on, link to the current week's post.