James Joyce might be too heavy for your taste -- a bit like drinking Guinness in the morning. But there are lots of other Irish authors to choose from. According to Ireland's Independent, the #1 book of the decade was John Boyne's "Boy in the Striped Pyjamas," the YA novel about a German boy at a World War II concentration camp. (Love that European spelling.)
Other possibilities: "'Brooklyn" by Colm Toibin
"Let The Great World Spin" by Colum McCann
"The Sea" by John Banville, or his latest, "The Infinities"
'"The Gathering" by Anne Enright