Good reading for the rest of you
There is nothing like a good book, unless it is a set of good books. I lucked into a set that had been making the rounds at work, and will recommend them highly. Soon. You see, the fourth volume is still in my reading bag, and if the bus is slow tomorrow morning I’ll have the story “done”, ready to contribute my little bit to a reading circle. After all, good books deserve to be shared.
The Irish author and playright, Brendan O’Carroll, is roughly my age. He even had a ponytail, until it was chopped and sold at a charity auction, but that’s simply an aside. The ability of an author to give us characters we can believe in, the ability to paint pictures of a place and time, the ability to keep us wanting more; these are not minor talents. Brendan has taken (apparently) bits of his own life and then spun out a generational tale that dovetails well with my own memories of times and places past. Maybe my Island and his Ireland are closer than I know.
The four books that comprise the Agnes Brown series are The Mammy, The Chisellers, The Granny and The Young Wan. The order is roughly chronological, if you place the last before the first, and I suggest reading them as listed here. After all, a good story is unveiled and then folded into a conclusion, so why mess with the work of a master? The four books (all too short) have brought me laughter, tears, and a trip down memory lane. I’m not sure I’d want to see them as a movie.
If this is too much like a book report, take it as an unwillingness (on my part) to offer up even one minute of the story outside of context. Instead, find the books (my final volume came from Chicago via England thanks to a used book seller found through an online dealer) and sit back for some good entertainment. And for the record, I know people like the characters in the books, so there was no stretching of the imagination.
