Reading Until the Next Time by Kevin Fox is much like watching a Martin McDonagh play: you laugh so hard, tears well in your eyes - and there is such violence, you cringe. I laughed at all the Irish phrases I've grown up with, but even more so, the family arguments that all sounded so familiar - four generations away from the auld sod and I am still accused of answering every question with question :).
Here is a love story caught up in the Troubles - and before and beyond them. Here is discussion of religion and its effects on humans that should cause excitement like the religious discussions in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code - not that they are at all similar but that they make you pause and re-think! I could NOT put this book down.
One caveat: Irish Gaelic phrases are not pronounced in English at all the way they are spelled. Where foreign phrases are used liberally, foreign phrases need to be spelled out phonetically in parentheses right there in the text (as opposed to a glossary). I do not understand why NO authors DO this for their readers. "Hearing" it the way it should sound would be a great enhancement to this story, most particularly. Slainte!

"King Peggy" is a riveting memoir from a woman who was able to make things work in a nearly impossible situation. The story was compelling. So many events happened that got in the way of her dreams and ambitions for her village that I was angry and frustrated for her and had to keep reading! It is an encouraging read for any woman. Several of my friends will be receiving copies as soon as it is published!

Seamless historical fiction gathered around an unforgettable love story tucked into the hem of a real tragedy. What a compelling pleasure to read.

A well-told history - just when I thought I couldn't hear another thing about S. Kaufman (he reminded me of my ex) - Weber switched to the story of her grandmother and what a gratifying one! It was long ago, so many names are no longer familiar to the reading public but I can understand how time needed to pass before it could be talked about. Those who love a tell-all will love this tale. And what a strong women's story it is!

I loved "The Philosophical Breakfast Club" and our social history book club will definitely be reading it! It is right up our alley both because of our interest in science of the modern era and the social connections the author draws.

WOW! The research is deep and accurate, the story fascinating, as a new page in women’s history is written. The author has managed skillfully to make sense of very scant (what else) information about the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. Women’s Studies groups and sailing fans as well, will enjoy this one immensely. This will soon be on our social history book group’s list.

"Gone Tomorrow" ... a truly hair-raising adventure! One of those thrilling novels that keeps you up all night just to get to the end of the story so you can relax. Someone else said it: "It's like a 'Die Hard' movie in prose" and that's it exactly. More graphic than I usually like (hence the 4), but you can't help liking the hero and you cheer for him no matter how violent his justice is. Lee Child's details of the subway trains in New York made me feel like I was back there on the trains again. Adventure #13 for Reacher? I clearly have some catching up to do. Lending this one to my favorite man.

I loved this small-sized, quickly-read, summer-reading-prize of a book. The story is a heart-stopper. It is exciting, thrilling, a great love story, mysterious and dangerous to the end. Then what? It ends. Fast.
But I needed something to carry on with at the end - something to hold fast to as the inevitable happened. The author left me with nothing. This is, as has been noted by experts, clearly a generational difference, as apparently, young people don’t mind an incomplete ending. I understand that, but her epilogue is so abrupt, that, while one person in the story at least exhibits some closure, the other does not, at all, and that is a great pity. It gets a three only because the story is such a good one. It gets no more because of that ending.

Great historical fiction gives the reader deeper understanding of the times and people depicted. Vanora Bennett allows me to finally comprehend the deep differences between the French and English undiscovered in both Shakespeare's Henry V and the tragic tale of Saint Joan. The anticipation that builds in this true love story, is reminiscent of Austen or the Bronte sisters and is also an excellent read for a history buff!

The Fifth Servant by Kenneth Wishnia is all it purports to be: an intelligent mystery, an entertaining story, a fascinating history, and a great lesson in Talmudic thought and linguistics. It is one of those books that keeps me up all night, crying, "Just one more chapter." I would recommend it to all who love a mystery such as Dick Francis's Proof and Alex Haley's Money that teach a subject while you solve the crime! There is a glossary - wish it had pronunciation key as well.

I loved The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. With The Year of the Flood I was hooked again by the strong women. A little science fiction, with its mystery and danger, and many Biblical references that are at turns dead on, ironic, or hilarious, made this great fun to read. I loved the references to Saints Jane, Terry, and Farley. I want the soundtrack from the Gardeners' Oral Hymnbook and the edition of "Lives of the Saints", both sure to come out as the following grows.