Get first N primes in a list

firstNPrimes.py

import math
import itertools

# number of primes to generate, beginning with 2, 3, 5, ...
N = 100

def firstNPrimes(N):
    primes = [2]
    prime = (x for x in itertools.count(2) if not any ([x%y==0 for y in range(2, int(math.ceil(math.sqrt(x)))+1)]))
    for n in range(1, int(math.ceil(N))):
        primes.append(next(prime))
    if N > 0:
        return primes
    else:
        return []