“Do I contradict myself?” Walt Whitman famously asked. “I contain multitudes!”

Frank McCourt's brother Malachy also keeps himself busy. His latest book is called "Malachy McCourt's History of Ireland." In it, McCourt puts his own spin on thousands of years of Irish history, from Fionn mac Cumaill to Bertie Ahern and Bono. Not only is this an informative read, but you have to be impressed by the author of a history book who admits in the very first pages that "I came to America at the age of 20 with no certificates to prove that I had ever been to school, far less learned anything there." It is in this roguish spirit that McCourt actually does manage to teach readers many things about Ireland's past. ($15.95 / 413 pages / Running Press)