Book of the Week: An interesting cast of characters
An Irish Country Doctor By Patrick Taylor (352 pages, fiction, 2007) Barry Laverty has just become a doctor and is almost late for a job interview, but he is having trouble finding the small village of Balleybucklebo in Northern Ireland. He loves Ireland and wants to work in a rural practice. But he has to find the place first. The interview is with Doctor Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly. O’Reilly is a larger than life character who has his...
Book of the week: Teen mediates with ghosts
Shadowland By Meg Chabot (304 pages, young adult fiction, 2004) Do you like ghosts? Susannah doesn’t. Even though she can see them. They are just so needy. Like always having unfinished business. Or worse getting her expelled from school. Her parents don’t know about her ability. No one does. Except the priest at her new school. He guides her through being a mediator, a link between the dead and the living, but not without...
Book of the Week: An admirable heroine in a magical world
Sabriel By Garth Nix (292 pages, young adult fantasy, 1995) Poised on the cusp between multiple worlds, Sabriel must leave boarding school to take up the family business: that of ensuring that the dead stay dead. Inheriting the necromantic bells of her father recently trapped in the gates of death, Sabriel must figure out how to free him. Along the way she is aided by a powerful free-magic creature with dubious intentions as...
Book of the Week: Mystery awaits
A Legacy of Murder By Connie Berry (326 pages, mystery, 2019) American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton is going to visit her daughter, Christine, just before Christmas in the village of Long Barston in England. Kate is looking forward to experiencing England at Christmastime. Christine is an intern at Finchley Hall, a beautiful but deteriorating Elizabethan country house. Kate is also looking forward to spending time with...
Book of the week: Plan for retirement
Get What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security By Laurence J. Kotlikoff (Nonfiction, 384 pages, 2016) A must read for anyone who is planning on taking their Social Security benefits soon. This book is full of all the things no one tells you. It walks you through all the wonky government math, so you can get the biggest check possible. Everyone’s fear is that their Social Security will run out before their time...