A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy

image from LibraryThing

I am clearly in a nostalgic mood - this is another old favorite author!  Maeve Binchy is one of my very favorite!!! Her books are filled with the day to day life of everyday people. Her writing elevates their lives to simple poetry.  I know - that sounds a little ridiculously flowery - but she brings it out in me!

This book did not disappoint!  Chicky Starr is content to live her life out in the small Irish community of Stonybridge until a smiling yank sweeps her off her feet and carries her across the ocean to New York City. When that romance fades she can not tell her family what has happened - so she remains in New York creating a story of her life.  Over the years she settles in a boarding house and learns the trade and perfects her story - returning home now and again but maintaining the facade. When her favorite niece is ready to come to NY to see the glamorous life her aunt is leading Chicky makes a fateful decision - her husband is suddenly killed in a car accident and she decides to return home.  But - what will she do?  Refurbish an old genteel house on the coast and turn it in to a small hotel.

And that is where the story begins. Sort of. Binchy has a great way of layering different perspectives on top on one another.  As Chicky's story ends it is time to tell Rigger's story - the wayward son of Chicky's best friend.  And this story takes us a bit closer to the week in winter when Stone House will open.  Then it is Orla, Chicky's favorite niece's story.  And finally it is the stories of the guests who arrive that very first week in winter. Each arriving with their own lives of passion and boredom and intrigue and quiet.  Each a bit apprehensive, a bit concerned, a bit frazzled, and a bit overwhelmed at the healing sounds the ocean waves create.

Not all the stories end happily - or even end. Rather this feels like we have all been invited on a memorable week vacation - and it is time for us to pick up our own lives again.

I LOVE Binchy!!! Read this one!!

Airman by Eoin Colfer

I have enjoyed all the Artemis Fowl books Colfer has written...these are filled with brilliant fairies, demons and fantastic machines of the future/otherworld. This book is a huge departure.

Here is a story of a doomed pair of islands of the coast of Ireland - Saltee Islands. Presiding over these rocky outcrops is Good King Nick - an American raised balloonist from the Civil War who happened to be the last remaining heir to the Saltee throne. The time is mid 1800s and the race to the sky is building.

That sounds a bit boring to me - I am not really a mechanical lover...but this story is more than just mechanics. Conor Broekhart is is a lovable, charming flying fanatic...actually pre-flying. It hasn't technically been invented yet. He is also the son of the head of the Wall guards and the best friend of Princess Isabella. Life is good on this island. Good King Nick is trying hard to right centuries of wrongs - bringing about improved living conditions, making things more equal and providing more humane conditions in the diamond mine/prison on Little Saltee.

There is however a cloud...Marshall Bonvilian - head of the royal guards. He is a power mongering, conniving, evil man who has been bred to overthrow the royalty so his family line will finally be the rulers of the Saltees.

Due to a horrible twist of fate, Conor is sent to prison, yes the diamond mine prison, at the age of 14 at the Marshall's hand. He must face the impossible task of staying alive that first day. He does so with the help of his cell mate Wynter. Displaying some of the wit and brilliance of Artemis Fowl, Conor is able to strike a deal with the prison hit man - Otto Malarky - one of the Battering Rams gang, and the next two years of his life are bearable.

But, he must figure out a way to escape, decide whether to try to reconcile with his family ( they believe him part of the plot that killed the king) or flee with stolen diamonds to America to build his dream airplane.

I really liked the story, although when I thought things were lost for Conor - I did stop reading for the evening. Sometimes it's just too hard to know things that the characters don't!