This blogger was in her home place of Ireland for a month….and each time I read another ‘Country Doctor’ book by this author, I revisit the home of my heart. Patrick has given me this opportunity to interview one of my top favorite authors!
AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR, PATRICK TAYLOR begins this Tuesday, Nov. 5th in a two part Nov. 7th.
To Read My Review Click here
REVIEW 
(5 out of 5 quills)
HEIRS and GRACES Newest book in the Royal Spyness series
by Rhys Bowen
Impoverished, royal Georgiana Rannoch is set another task by HRM, the Queen. ‘Get thee gone….’to a grand country house and help an uncooperative Heir adjust to his new station in life and a mammoth fortune. Said heir, Jack, has been snatched from a sheep station in Australia, brought to England, and is the most reluctant of future Dukes.
‘Jack jumped to his feet. “How can you talk calmly of eating when your son is dead and everyone thinks I stabbed him?” he shouted.
“Such an outburst, the dowager Duchess said. “Hardly seemly for a duke, John. Really you will have to learn to control your emotions. Of course I’m upset at the loss of my son. I am outraged that somebody chose to murder him. But I am also aware that it is up to us to set a good example, chin up, best foot forward and all that. This household will continue as usual, except for the fact that we be in mourning for the requisite amount of time….’ Continue reading “You needn’t Suffer Waiting for the New Season of Downton Abbey — a Review”
In Part I, I told you how I got started formatting my existing books into audio books with the help of my producer/narrator Carin Gilfry. Here is the rest of Carin’s story.
Carin Gilfry, narrator: I always knew how each character should sound by the way the dialogue was written. Cheets in particular, the mischievous and very effervescent elf, quickly became my favorite. I always wanted to be a Disney princess, but in reality, I think I was more like Cheets as a child. Eager, loud, and always wanting to be everyone’s friend. I always intended to narrate books when not in a production, but I actually narrated EEElf, while in rehearsals for Offenbach’s La Perichole with New York City Opera. It worked surprisingly well. Though, I did get locked in a hotel closet, trying to find a quiet space to narrate… Adventures of audiobook narration on the road!
Continue reading “More from the Opera Singer/AudioBook Narrator/Producer (part 2)”
5 out of 5 Quills A Review of Patrick Taylor’s newest release
‘yer face is as long as a wet Sunday…’
Oh, I’m a big, BIG fan of Patrick Taylor’s work. I never miss buying his latest. What’s not to like….for me, the daughter of a second generation Irishman? In 1998 I spent a month in the west counties of Ireland looking for my paternal roots. My, my! Did I find them! My father’s name still appeared above ‘drapery’ shops in the small villages I traveled to. So, for me, reading Taylor’s series called ‘Country Doctor’ is like return visits to ‘the ole Sod’.
In this newest offering Patrick Taylor seamlessly takes the reader from his early days as a young doctor (newly graduated) practicing in the slums and tenements of Dublin (in the 1930’s), to twenty plus years later where he has been a GP in the tiny village of Ballybucklebo.
If you start out with the first book, An Irish Country Doctor, and continue reading the series, you fast become one of the villagers. You know everyone and everyone knows you. The series is the story of Fingal O’Reilly’s life, his patients, his young doctor proteges, his loves and all the people that make up the village of Ballybucklebo.
The charm of Taylor’s language is unparalleled. “He’s about as deep as a feckin’ frying pan–and twice as dense.” and, “How’s life abusing you?” Bob asked. “It’s good to be off work and heading to play rugby, I can tell you that for free.” Fin replied. and
Continue reading ““Fingal O’Reilly, Irish Doctor” A Review of Patrick Taylor’s newest book”
GREAT NEWS! “Emma and the Lost Unicorn” is now AVAILABLE as an AUDIO BOOK
at www.audible.com and www.amazon.com and iTunes.com
In addition to a paperback with wonderful illustrations it is AVAILABLE in AUDIO
Emma Retail Sample Listen
Rainey, the unicorn, is a prince who has been banished, for centuries, by the warlock, Hazard. He can never return home unless Emma solves more riddles than Kodak. The fable ends with a surprise twist, when Hazard’s Lieutenant reveals his secret weakness. It will delight readers young and old. While written for children, this fairy tale is sophisticated enough to appeal to adults as well.
Queens, warlocks, faeries, elves, unicorns, handmaidens, scary henchmen and one small mortal girl child, in an enchanted forest. The rhetorical owl and naughty elf provide much laughter.
This parable offers many subtle lessons. Continue reading ““Emma and the Lost Unicorn” an Audio Book is now Available!!”
More from Charles Bukowski……..His insight is pure truth but who among us would think in quite this way? Never a glass far from his hand, never a woman far from his arm, never a stubby pencil far from his fingers…the genius wrote and wrote and then wrote some more… and very little of it was false.
it’s strange ©
it’s strange when famous people die
whether they have fought the good fight or
the bad one.
it’s strange when famous people die
whether we like them or not
they are like old buildings old streets Continue reading “He Always Makes Me Smile…and Think!”
5 out of 5 quills A Review of Tasha Alexander‘s latest Release
I don’t know about you but I love the characters in a story ‘below the stairs’ as much as the main characters in stories such as Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs and of course in all of Alexander’s ‘Lady Emily Mysteries’. This author has always given her 
readers a little taste of the servants’ lives surrounding her main characters: investigators, Emily and Colin Hargreave.
But in Behind the Shattered Glass we get to walk behind the ‘green baize door’ and join the servants in the kitchen. And what wonderful characters they are!
This is a tangled murder mystery and I think, one of Alexander’s best. A beautiful country home, love is in the air, and the rich aristocrats are doing what rich aristocrats do; shooting, drinking, dancing seducing, riding, and sleuthing.
Continue reading “Behind the Shattered Glass by Tasha Alexander…a review”
If you are one of my readers you know by now how much I love words. New words, obscure words, the origin of words. Ever wonder about the word, ‘okay’ ‘OK’ ?? I think you’ll be surprised! How many times do we use it in a day? How many times do we hear it in a day?
Not to mention how many times a day we click on “OK”!
Here’s some facts about the early history of the abbreviation O.K.
The historical record shows that ‘OK’ appeared as an abbreviation for “oll korrect” (a conscious misspelling of “all correct”) in Boston newspapers in 1839. It was reinterpreted in the 1840 United States presidential election as an affectionate reference to Presidential candidate, Martin “OK” Van Buren. (shortened from ‘Old Kinderhook’ as Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, NY.) Insinuating that he was an ‘okay’ guy.
Continue reading “‘Okay!’ Another word from my Box of Chocolates…Okay, tell me!”
In his later years when he ran out of things to say about drinking, the sad state of the world, women, and brawling, Charles (Hank) Bukowski wrote some really good stuff about his cats. He always had one or two or five hanging around and his love and admiration for them shines through his words.
He inspired me to write an ‘ode’ to my most recent cats. We have a lot in common, Hank and I. Nowadays, I try to have only one cat at a time but in the past I’ve had up to five. My downfall was that I decided to breed Persian cats….but, damn! When the kittens were born, I couldn’t bear to give them up. That ended my breeding days.
Here is an ode to Hank’s mean, old, junk-yard dog of a Cat.
bad fix by Charles Bukowski
old Butch, they fixed him
the girls don’t look like much
anymore.
when Big Sam moved out
of the back
I inherited big Butch,
70 as cats go, old, fixed,
but still as big and
mean a cat as anybody
ever remembered
seeing. Continue reading “An Ode to Our Cats…Hank and me (Part 2)”
In this two part post, I write about the love of cats. I know, I know! You either hate ’em or love ’em. Both camps are die-hards. You can’t live with one or you can’t live without one, or two, or three! For all of Charles Bukowski’s hard living, boozing, philandering, drunken brawls and genius writing, he was a complete softie when it came to cats….even cats that weren’t his own. He inspired me to write this ode to my dear old Shadow who died and to my new cat, ‘Wild Thang’. In part two I feature his poetry about his cats.
An Ode to our Cats….Hank and me
she was a feral kitten in the back alley
hiding under the deck
she crept out one day while I sat in the
sun, reading and
the first time I picked Shadow up
she shit all over me, so afraid
she was of any human
Next time, she didn’t shit on me and
slowly we became friends
for the next sixteen years
she was one hundred and twelve
when she died Continue reading “An Ode to Our Cats….Hank and me”
