October 29, 2023 MOLLY MALONE

 Back in the day.....I would go out til 3:00am--get up -- go to work--REPEAT. Thought nothing of it. How times have changed---Was out Friday and Saturday night til 11:00 and I'm fried. It's going to take me a week to recover. Might even have to take a nap today. Times sure have changed. Don't think I could stay up until 3:00am even if I wanted to. I am literally in bed on school nights by 9:00. PATHETIC. My husband says--nothing good happens after 11:00pm and he's probably right BOTH literally and figuratively speaking--At least in my case. HA! I just finished a WONDERFUL book. A real keeper by an Irish writer named Niall Williams called This is Happiness. The narrator of this brilliant novel is 78 year old Noe Crowe. Noe tells the story of a summer he spent with his grandparents, Ganga and Doady, on their farm in the tiny, rural village of Faha, County Clare, Ireland. It was 1958 and Noe was 17 years old when his parents sent him to Faha after a failed attempt at the seminary. Soon after his arrival, the rain stopped and Christy McMahon arrived from the electric company to pull Faha out of the dark ages. Christy also has an ulterior motive for coming to Faha--he's looking for his long lost love.  Christy and Noe strike up a friendship after Christy becomes a lodger in Noe's grandparents home. This is a story of small town life, with all its quirks and warts, on the brink of change with the coming of "the electricity." Noe Crowe, the narrator, takes the reader on a sentimental journey back to a time of innocence, to rediscover old friendships, love and family. This story is hilarious, beautiful, heartfelt, nostalgic AND the characters are well crafted--and unforgettable. If you enjoy Irish literature--this 400 page book is definitely for you--if not give it a try--you won't be disappointed. 

October 22, 2023 FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

 Been having trouble finding the right book lately. I've opened several books, read a few pages and said UGH. Just haven't found what I'm looking for? Not sure I even know. So I decided to get myself to Book Barn this weekend and buy a pile of books. Hopefully one of the eight books sitting on the table in front of me will BE THE ONE.  It's funny--sometimes I read books like some people eat potato chips AND then I have a dry spell. It's not good for me. I REALLY need the escape. Right before the Great Book Drought-- I read a book I really enjoyed called The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch. The main character in this epic is Rosie, a college student who emigrated from Russia to England with her mother under mysterious circumstances. Soon after her mother dies, Rosie gets an opportunity to go back to Russia  to learn about her family. She has few clues other than a porcelain doll collection. The book then flashes back and forth between the present and the early 1900s where the reader learns about the saga of the women in her family amidst the history of Russia including the wars and the Great Purges. I really enjoyed this book but be warned that the names were hard to follow--keep a list so you don't get confused. The plot is also intertwined  and can be confusing at times.  Even with all that said, the book was super interesting--about 400 pages that flew by. Happy Reading. 

October 8, 2023 DON'T FEAR THE REAPER

 

Talk about a blast back to the past. When's the last time your went into an Elks Club, Polish Club, Moose Club?  I highly recommend it. Felt like I went through a time warp AND it was a good thing. When's the last time you spent $14 on a round of drinks? Or $16 for a pasta dinner with apps and dessert?? OKAY--so the carpet, curtains, air conditioners, microphone system haven't been updated in 70 years......Who cares......$14 for FOUR drinks? It's a no brainer. The only thing missing was a jukebox. That would have made it perfect. Seriously though--they definitely need to RAISE prices so that they can make a few changes. New carpeting and curtains would be high on my list but who am I?? OR just maybe they like pretending it's still 1960--anything's better than 2023 right? Just finished a book that took me back in time called We Keep The Dead Close:  A Murder At Harvard by Becky Cooper. Becky Cooper was a student at Harvard in 2009 when she first heard about the death of Jane Britton. Britton was a graduate student in the Archaeology department at Harvard in 1969. On January 7, 1969, the day Britton was to appear for her finals, she was found brutally murdered in her Cambridge apartment. The murder was never solved and became a cold case until Cooper became obsessed with getting the case reopened. Cooper, an amateur investigator, chased down leads decades old, re-interviewed possible suspects, and gathered "circumstantial evidence" making several people prime suspects in her investigation which I found highly questionable. This book is a LONG journey back to the past that jumps around and around. I think Cooper tried to do too many things--including spending oodles of time on the Old Harvard Boys Club as one professor is a suspect in the case. This 500 page book could also be 250 pages shorter but that's just my opinion. Try it for yourself and let me know what you think.