Pat Walsh's writing is intelligent and engaging
584786
Anyone with an interest in the very deep and seductive country of Indonesia will find this collection of essays and poems immensely satisfying. Pat Walsh's writing is intelligent and engaging. Fulfills every requirement of a good book: makes one think, feel, and want more.
2189067
Dan Flaherty is a well-rounded and prolific writer who has tackled a wide variety of non-fiction topics.  "Fulcrum, an Irish-American Novel," an epic story of post-WWII Irish-Catholic Boston, is his debut work of fiction.

This book is a treat for any reader who's a history buff, a sports nut, or a descendent of Irish immigrants (so three for three here!).  It is especially wonderful for any proud, loyal Catholic who longs to see his Faith celebrated in print rather than denigrated and scorned, as it so often is these days.  Flaherty weaves many of the Church's teachings, tenets, and traditions into his engaging tale, as well as stories about the saints, and a reader will come away with a deeper understanding of what it means to be truly Catholic.  Most movingly, the author's deep devotion to the Blessed Mother--a trait shared by many of the Irish-Catholic characters who populate the book's fictional Boston neighborhood known as "Shamrock"--is ever-present.  It is Mary who gives strength to Flaherty's characters, holding them together like the metal links between the beads of a rosary.

This ambitious work of historical fiction evokes an era when families were big, Mass attendance was high, and vocations were flourishing in neighborhoods like Shamrock.  It makes a Baby-Boomer Catholic like myself nostalgic for days gone by, but so much is packed into the pages of "Fulcrum" that it is sure to resonate with readers of all faiths and ages.  This book includes a wholesome love story (between a pretty red-headed lass named Bridget, and Danny, an upstanding lad who is a Boston College football star), a hotly contested baseball season (Go Sox!  Boo Yankees!), a fierce political battle (between an old school-style mayor and a progressive challenger), and a large cast of Irish-Catholic characters (saints and sinners all) who can trace their roots right back to the Old Sod.  The well-drawn characters have hurdles to overcome and difficult decisions to make, and their Catholic Faith is what guides them.

Female readers will enjoy "Fulcrum" for a number of reasons; for me personally, it was the tender rendering of the mother-child bond throughout the novel that was most touching.  But it is very much a guys' book as well, filled with a host of strong male characters and lots of detailed play-by-play football and baseball action.

My only beef with "Fulcrum" is that there are some unusual punctuation choices (mostly regarding quotation marks and commas) that I found somewhat distracting at first, along with other typos.  But editing issues aside, Flaherty's writing is powerful--especially when he talks about matters of Faith in general, and about Mary, the Mother of God in particular.

"Fulcrum, an Irish-American Novel" is a compelling tale by a talented writer, a nice thick book you can curl up with and really sink your teeth into.  Slainte, Dan Flaherty!
491544
Annie of London is a sophisticated new adult novel from an author who is obviously well-acquainted with corporate America, its memes and ironies. Annie Smithton is an intelligent, well-educated young woman on the verge of a promising financial career. As I savored the lush writing, I couldn't help but be reminded of another novel, a beloved classic. I have since confirmed the parallel with the author and found that Annie of London is, indeed, a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice. (Yes, please.)
  From that perspective, there are so many opportunities for it to be great, and the author takes advantage of every one of them. Gentlemen aboundeven the alcoholic character is more self-destructive and dysfunctional than violent. Theres more passion than sex, thanks to all the sexual tension thrown in. Andwhile the failures in communication that put the characters at risk of being completely undone by their pride have been updated to reflect the modern-day settingits almost frightening how little difference these technological advances actually make in the vast scheme of things. It doesnt matter that Annie blogs while Elizabeth Bennett bundles off hand-written correspondence. Theyre both still highly affected by the perceptions of society.
  Which is why youll enjoy the story even if you aren't a big Jane Austen fan. The parallels are as subtle as shadow puppets on a cave wall; make of them what you will. And, of course, Annies journey centers less around who shell end up with and more on her desire to strike a balance between career and love. Certainly, a relatable theme for this day and age.
  If you're looking for a smart, layered romance that bucks the formula of professional-woman-in-a-male-dominated field, you won't be disappointed with Annie of London.
1561777
Any fan of Law and Order or NCIS will love this book.
For that matter, anyone who is drawn to tautly written murder stories will love this book. Those of us who reside in or are familiar with central New Jersey will find a special connection to the story, but the plot could unfold anywhere and at any time.
I didn't know what to expect when I picked up Loose Ends (this is the authors first novel and he is in his 70s). What I discovered upon reading was that Mr. Watts long career as a private investigator and previous training in law enforcement provides a rich first-hand knowledge and foundation for creating a terrific read. He does a brilliant job of taking the reader behind the scenes, sharing a realistic view of the investigators mindset and thoughts, while informing the reader about how the judicial scene can play out at the intersection of politics and the law.
Theres nothing loose about Loose Ends. The prose is tightly and intelligently written and the plot or story line is informative, entertaining, and enjoyable. The story is well paced, and once I started reading I could not put it down.
I am left waiting for this authors next novel. I hope that Mr. Watts uses his obvious and insightful experience as a long-time P.I. to craft a new adventure featuring this books protagonist, Mack Mackey.
1712682
This Irish writer has done it again only this time he's switched POV. Now it is Sean Ryan's wife Isabel who is the heroine in the third "puzzle" edition and it turns out to be a very smart move. Women readers especially will enjoy the female perspective, the inner turmoil, the conflict and the rending of her heart as she faces some terrible decisions regarding her husband and her son.
I liked the pace, the short snappy descriptions, the fact that New York comes alive in front of your eyes. I also liked the very disturbing blood letting! Tension is well maintained in this author's hands. He knows how to turn up the heat and keep you guessing.
All in all another great read from this accomplished Irish crime writer - how does such a small country keep turning out such compelling talent?
4281040
Fabulous read.  While you may or may not agree with Pat's conclusions or socio-political perspective, you cannot deny that he is a smart, incisive and powerful writer.

The historical perspective alone is worth the effort to read this cover to cover.
1344873
Andrea Kayne Kaufman is a funny, intelligent author who has a great sensitivity about the frailties of the human heart. Kaufman is also a naturally gifted and passionate storyteller who allows readers immediate emotional entry into the lives of the characters she creates.  "Oxford Messed Up" is an engaging-read-in-one-sitting book that displays Andrea's many talents as writer.  It takes a level of skill and experience to create a believable, engaging, sensory work of fiction from a topic such as mental illness.  Andrea does this so well.

"Oxford Messed Up" does an excellent job raising awareness of how individuals with OCD actually might actually suffer in the world.  Andrea creates a believable character in Gloria, allowing readers to follow her fears, anxieties, hopes, dreams through her love of Van Morrison, poetry.  I liked the fact that his book clearly integrated a very informed perspective of mental illness and proper treatment mental illness and proper treatment (CBT, Exposure Therapy) within the context of an engaging and intriguing love story.

It's difficult to find fictional accounts of OCD sufferers that don't turn OCD into some flippant joke.  I think of Jack Nicholson in "As Good as it Gets" or the character Adrian Monk on "Monk".  These fictional accounts typically focus on one particular element of OCD, painting the sufferer as the circus freak.  It's hard to find accounts that show the entire process of internal suffering, therapy, healing and recovery. I like that Andrea skillfully included Gloria's mental struggles in a more holistic and realistic framework.

I see this book as a great resource for individuals with OCD -- for themselves or their families  It's a great way to begin discussion about an illness that is still a bit taboo to discuss. This book is also something that readers will simply enjoy as a good story -- one infused with poetry, music, and hope.  You can step inside someone's world of pain and be greeted with hope, optimism, and recovery.  Thanks for this journey, Andrea.
3620219
I thought this book was going to be a mystery, and it borders on being one, however as someone else pointed out it crosses genres and was much more.  The story is very engaging, and the plot moves quickly, much as a thriller does. But this is no thriller.  It is witty and funny in places -- I laughed out loud several times while reading it.  It is intelligent, which is a refreshing change from so many authors today.  Plus the characters are well-developed so you start caring about them.  And it has a sense of place.  I can think of very few "mysteries" I would say all that about.  It most reminds me of my favorite mystery writer, Donna Leon, and that says quite a lot.  I thoroughly enjoyed the story (which others have outlined and I will not repeat) and hated when it ended.  I recommend it highly!
4564512
Quinn Hillyer is a brilliant writer who made his name years ago as a leading journalist, editor, and commentator. Now he applies his sharp wit and writing skills to a lovely, well done book that is highly relevant to today's political turmoil. Highly recommended.
3721006
great  anything written by Pat Conroy is worth the time
1096967
Patrick Egan's books really touch me. His flair for capturing the human experience never fails to surprise me. To say that his writing is insightful, sensitive, intellectual, and captivating would be merely scraping the tip of the iceberg. Surprisingly, he accomplishes all of this while fitting in a sense of humor and an attention to detail- yet remaining somehow concise.

Try out his work and see for yourself. You won't regret it - I didn't.
3813958
Bryan Mealer is an engaging writer. He can turn the most boring subject into a closely-weaved, touching story.

I was never a football fan, having been a track and cross-country runner myself in high school. The football players always mocked us for not being the big-ticket item. I thus developed a dislike for the sport that tended to create bullies and felons.

Years later and working for the local school district, I have learned to develop a new love for the sport, for reasons Bryan Mealer describes in this book: it's a way for a few talented poor boys to make it big.

I enjoyed this book very much for its history and sociological aspect. I've read a few sports-related books lately and this one best weaves the town, the history and its diverse people together. It makes for interesting reading. Politics desegregated the town and yet many old feelings lingered long after the 1960s civil rights riots happening across the country. The Muck rats learned early that their "blackness" could intimidate white players.

Coaches, players and parents are described in this book. Names that still pop up on google searches like Kelvin Benjamin, Davonte Allen, Jamarious Rowley, Jessie Hester. Devoted moms like Johnnie Ruth who died of cancer before her son could play in the NFL are profiled, and a touching story of a cheerleader who does well in life is also described. Mealer knows that these stories all intertwine to make the town's football team all the more victorious. Every person profiled is driven to succeed because they know that otherwise they are stuck in black muck poverty that without athletic talent is nearly impossible to get out of.

Over the years the town continues to make headlines not so much for its star talent, but for its drugs, crime and high AIDS rates.

And despite all the personal stories, there are also chapters on football, on high school football regulations and some game decisions that ended changing the course of history. Sadly, despite the raw talent found in Belle Glade, FL, neither the state university nor the NFL have helped the living conditions of the people there.

For football fans this may be the best there is, but for readers more interested in the behind-the-scenes stories, "Muck City" makes for a very interesting read.
1896381
I happen to love character-driven fiction, and Walshs greatest strength by far is characterization. Her fascinating plunge into the depths of her very shallow and well-drawn characters is fascinating, as is the extent to which they understand themselves  and dont. As I read I couldn't help but feel that the story was building quite competently towards an appropriate conclusion, the exact nature of which I really couldn't guess as I was reading, and I was not disappointed. Quite honestly, I couldn't stop reading it, and when it was over, I did feel as if Id witnessed a poker game in which one character had outplayed the other.

That said, the novel is not without its flaws. It would have benefitted from less revelatory interior monologue and more conflict-driven scenes that explode the tensions in the characters lives so that I could have experienced some of those revelations for myself. Walsh is definitely capable of this, and this capability really begins to show over halfway through the book. When I finally read the first real conflict-laden scene  full of drama and angst and subtlety  I wanted to shout out, Yes! There it is! The argument between James and Karen about 2/3 of the way through  and the way it both demonstrates and challenges James character  is brilliant. From this point on, the careful groundwork Walsh has laid is put to the test, as though shes finally realized her characters are solid enough to let them act  something they could have done far sooner  and her scenes start to take on more weight, more momentum, and more significance. After this point, the characters internal observations seem appropriate and just right. Its like after so much (necessary to do but unnecessary to reveal to her readers) character development work Walsh finally found her stride. I kept reading because I had hoped, and suspected, this would happen, and I was not disappointed.

The story, and its many acute, and sometimes disturbing, observations about the relationship between the sexes, lingers. I would probably buy another book by this promising author, in the hope that she gains an even greater mastery of her craft.
2169566
In 1998, private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro were hired to find a missing four-year-old girl named Amanda McCready.  Even though she was raised by an unfit mother, Amanda has miraculously grown into a self-possessed, mature, and highly intelligent sixteen-year-old.  However, suddenly Amanda disappears, and her Aunt Beatrice begs Patrick to find her again.  He does not jump at the offer, partly because he has enough on his plate.  Patrick and Angie, who are married and the doting parents of a precocious little girl, are deeply in debt.  Angie isn't working and Patrick desperately needs full-time employment with health benefits.  However, the one position he has a chance of landing is with a company whose executives value the bottom line above morality; Patrick has done jobs for them that left him feeling tarnished.

"Moonlight Mile" is an exciting, funny, and fast-paced novel.  The dialogue is energetic and sassy, the plot is ingenious, and Lehane's snappy prose has never been better.  When Patrick sees how much Beatrice has aged, he thinks to himself, "These days, fifty might be the new forty but in her case it was the new sixty."  The beleaguered Beatrice uses emotional blackmail to sway Patrick, claiming that he owes Amanda big time because of the mistakes he made that ruined her life.  He disagrees, but circumstances change, and Patrick decides to take the case.

The author takes us on a thrill-ride in which Patrick goes toe to toe with vicious Russian hoodlums, psychotic drug dealers, and the arrogant and obnoxious father of Sophie, Amanda's seventeen-year-old friend.  There are other off-beat characters, such as Bubba, Patrick's buddy who is "built like a bank vault door and had not even a passing acquaintance with fear."  In spite of Bubba's support, Patrick soon finds himself in over his head.  He knows that if he pursues this matter to its conclusion, it could prove costly.  However, once he is committed, he is all in.  The McCready case, which has already drained Patrick psychologically, pushes him even further to the edge and forces him to take stock of the man he has become.  "Moonlight Mile" has more than its share of profanity and violence, but there is also a great deal of satirical humor to enliven the proceedings.  This is an absorbing and satisfying mystery in which Lehane examines the meaning of parenthood, marital love, self-respect, integrity, and justice.
3775270
Joan Walsh gives us a wonderful gift.  I have admired her work as a journalist and political commentator.  She has this knack of going into the vortex of the most touchy issues and giving us a great deal of information, reason and most of all empathy.  In this book, she takes the turmoil of American politics through her own personal journey.  An honest account of a trajectory of one of our best political thinkers and public voices.

Even though I typically cringe at personal narrative, Ms. Walsh manages to combine the political with the private into a great tapestry of our times.  The title seems to make people squirm, but then again, Ms. Walsh makes us face the reality of race in America in a time when we heard that we reached a post racial era.  We are still working on the issues at a personal and a public level.

What Ms. Walsh does is take away the demonization and oversimplification of race from the left and the right, and asks us to bring it into a new era.  It is not cured.  If we let this discussion stay in the margins and among the extreme voice, we will miss the opportunity to recognize the real economic issues we face while we fight the unspoken demons of our past and present.

I always enjoyed her clear and eloquent writing.  Her writing is meant to clarify and inform, not confuse, muddle or obfuscate.  Smooth to the eye and the brain.

Not all struggles are the same, but we have to accept that no group is endowed with all the suffering privileges and no group is endowed with all evil.  Only if we accept this will we work towards empathy, what Ms. Walsh calls a scarce resource.
4805514
Cecelia Ahern is the daughter of Ireland's former prime minister.  She came to prominence in her own right with her NY Times Bestseller, "P.S. I Love You."  Ahern continues her exceptional writing with her latest offering: "The Book of Tomorrow."

Following the death of her father, teenage protagonist, Tamara, moves with her almost catatonic mother from Dublin to a remote village that is the ancestral home.  Bored out of her mind, she picks a book from the book mobile that serves her rural area.  The book turns out to a magical blank diary that predicts the future one day at a time.  Using this literary device, the author places Tamara in a number of situations in which she needs to choose whether to act to alter the future or accept what has been written as a "fait acccompli."  Each character is beautifully depicted - Tamara, her two young love interests, the enigmatic nun, her secretive Aunt Rosaleen, and the mysterious person who lives across the road.

This is a clever and very engaging coming-of-age tale with several wonderful plot twists.  It would be easy to dismiss this novel as "chick lit," but it is far more than that.  This old man loved it.
3250692
Review of Proud Patrick by Michael A OReilly
Through flashbacks and contemporary events, Proud Patrick details the life of Patrick Sullivan and his siblings in this bleak examination of the post-war Chicago-Irish community. Their upbringing is unpromising, and when Patrick leaves home he vows never to speak to his parents again. Even so, and against his better judgment, he is persuaded to attend his parents 50th wedding anniversary party in Dublin.
The story is written from Patricks perspective, and through flashbacks and contemporary events it details his life and his disastrous relationships. Cleverly, although written without bias or reprobation, the judgments come from his own brothers and sisters. The writing is sharp, the dialogue pithy and realistic, and the ending (without giving anything away) ambiguous, as perhaps it needed to be. Altogether a fascinating and inspired read.
The author provided a free copy of Proud Patrick in return for a nonreciprocal review.