I grew up with the expression "everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day." And I, of course, always wore green. Over the years, I have learned that I actually am a wee bit Irish. My wife, who is African-American, had a maternal grandfather who was a red-haired, blue-eyed man named Hugh Kelly McKee. So, the Irish is one thread we share. Three of my favorite authors are Irish. Two are poets and Nobel laureates for Literature: the amazing Seamus Heaney and the iconic William Butler Yeats. For students of great literature, I agree that my third favorite Irish writer is not in the same league as Heaney and Yeats, but I love the work of Maeve Binchy, who died in 2012. Like many Americans, I became familiar with Maeve Binchy when her bestselling novel, Circle of Friends , became a popular movie. Another of her novels, Tara Road , was an Oprah selection. Maeve Binchy was a contemporary novelist, short story writer, and journalist. For many years, she was a columnist ...