Angela's Ashes

If you haven't read this book and enjoy audiobooks, this is a fantastic one to listen to. Frank McCourt narrates this autobiography of his childhood growing up in Ireland. His thick Irish brogue is charming and his tale transports you to the dirty streets of Limerick. Living in the lane, children went without proper shoes, food, and were plagued by the guilt ingrained in them by the Catholic church. His child-like style of narration is endearing as he introduces us to the people in his life: his father, a man who spends all his wages on pints and comes home most evenings singing Rody McCalley and Kevin Barry, making the boys get out of bed and promising to die for Ireland; his mother, who tries to support her broud of boys by scrounging for coal on the roads, begging at priests' doors, and getting used items from the St. Vincent Paul Society; his strict but supportive school masters; and his rambunctious brothers. You'll fall in love with this scrappy young Irish boy who survives typhoid and eye infections, who dreams of one day coming to America.