Angela's Ashes

    This is the obvious choice for the best book to read before going to Limerick. It has been the result of much attention recently, and even draws a number of people to Limerick each year based solely on their experience with reading the novel. Published in 1996, the book is a memoir by Frank McCourt, who lived in Limerick in the 1930s and 40s. Born in Brooklyn in 1930, McCourt moved with his family to Limerick in 1934, and the memoir focuses on the events that occurred to him as a child there. The novel is known for its realistic and harsh description of his family's impoverished life and the series of tragedies that happen to them. The book's title, "Angela's Ashes" refers to McCourt's mother, Angela, who is the one who keeps the family together, enduring an abusive husband and the deaths of many of her children. The book is also a coming of age novel, and describes McCourts transition from child to young adult.

    The book won many awards, including a Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1997, as well as a National Book Critics Circle Award in 1996. The novel is also known for being the basis of a movie of the same name, which was released in 1999, and essentially presents the same material that is described in the book.