I (Maura Grace Harrington) am not only the Graceful Grammarian—oh, no, my identity has more facets than two! I am also the Graceful Gael…or maybe the Galloping Gael…or maybe Gaelic Girl. Anyway, what this boils down to is: I’m a proud Hibernophile. Most of my graduate work focused on Irish literature, and I enjoy being involved in Irish events and organizations.

As you can imagine, March (a.k.a. St. Patrick’s Month) is a very busy time of year for me. And since so many of my Irish pursuits come to the fore during March, I feel that I must warn you that you might see the Graceful Grammarian post about some of the exploits of…Gaelic Girl. Don’t worry—I’ll be sure that any Irish-themed post has some connection to writing or language!

I know that a few days ago, I gave you a St. Patrick’s Day gift: a link to my St. Patrick’s Day column from The Catholic Advocate.

Today, in gratitude for your anticipated patience with me as I continue in Gaelic Girl mode for the next couple of weeks, I’d like to give you a two-fold gift. (Mind you, this two-fold gift includes just a hint of self-promotion.)

In December 2013, my colleague Marta Deyrup and I were thrilled to have our edited collection, The Irish-American Experience in New Jersey and Metropolitan New York: Cultural Identity, Hybridity, and Commemoration, published by Lexington Books. Marta and I were fortunate to enlist some truly outstanding scholars of Irish America to write chapters for our book.

While I would LOVE to be able to send a copy to each of you, that is, unfortunately, beyond the realm of possibility at this time. However, the writing in the book is so good, and the content is so interesting, that the least I can do is share the link to the Google Books preview so that you can enjoy a few of the excellently-written sample chapters that are available online. This preview is St. Patrick’s day gift number 2, from me to you.

If you like the preview, you’ll just adore the whole book! So, here comes gift number 3: the discount code! If you order the book here, you can use discount code LEX30AUTH14 for a 30% discount. This is the author discount—the same discount that Marta and I get when we purchase additional copies of the book.

So, Happy St. Patrick’s Month! If I think of any other gifts to share, I most certainly will do so. In the meantime, thanks for your patience with The Graceful Grammarian/Graceful, Galloping Gaelic Girl!