The Bookaholic

Didn’t the clever little priest bring back all kinds of memories with this book of his? First, he mentioned a little Hungarian restaurant across the street for St. Benedict’s church. Now, I’ve never been to any such Hungarian restaurant, but St. Ben’s was my mother’s and my grandmother’s parish… and didn’t my mother get married there? Didn’t my father propose to her during Mass on the Feast of the Assumption right there? And didn’t my grandmother suffer through the guitar masses with me there because she loved me so?

And didn’t his man Billy Hernon live on Hollywood Avenue right around the corner from my apartment on Ridge Avenue? Though, there the clever little priest got it wrong, because that neighborhood has never been park of Lakeview. I was never clear if I was living in Uptown or Rogers Park… but never was it Lakeview.

Ah, and didn’t the fine officers of the CPD take our man Dermot to St. Joseph’s Hospital where I worked in the laboratory for a couple of years on the night shift? And didn’t I just love working there?

All and all, a fine and clever mystery staring the fey Nuala Anne. Maybe Greeley will stop writing out the words to the lovely tear-jerking song, Molly Malone, for haven’t we seen it now at least two or three times in each of the Nuala Anne novels?

If you’re a fan of mysteries… if you’re Irish… if you’re Catholic… if you’re from Chicago… and especially if you’re an Irish Catholic fan of mysteries from Chicago, you’ll want to read this one.

Amazon Associate link:
Irish Lace

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Where do I start?

First of all, I SO want to move to Galway! (That would be the Galway in Ireland, not the Galway here in New York.) I love the way even English sounds… ah, isn’t it just poetry?

Then there was the little voice in my head whispering, “Now isn’t himself writing just like the Grand Master?” (You see what happens when I read about Ireland and her people? I start talking like them. Or the voices in my head do, at any rate.) That little voice seriously messed with me. A Catholic priest who writes with the voice of the Grand Master of Science Fiction! I wonder if Heinlein is rolling over in his grave… or if he’s laughing his metaphysical socks off. And I wonder if Greeley has read the Lazarus Long stories.

Did I enjoy the book? Well, didn’t I just say I did?

Amazon Associate link:
Irish Gold

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Bishop Ryan is back in Chicago, this time in the west side neighborhood of Austin. My cousins grew up across the city line in Oak Park, not far from there. My grandparents lived for many years just a little north of the neighborhood. And as an added bonus, Greeley even mentioned my old neighborhood, Ravenswood, in passing.

As a murder mystery, it moved along quickly enough to make me not want to put the book down, though it does seem Blackie arrives at his solutions not always through deductive reasoning but a bit of the second sight. But that’s to be expected among the Irish… even if said Irishman is a Catholic bishop.

Amazon Associate link:
The Bishop in the Old Neighborhood

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Like all of Greeley’s books that I’ve read, this one is a quick, easy and delightful read. Rather than being set in Chicago, this one takes place in Paris. This, of course, necessitates a lot of French being spoken. I’m sure French is a delightful language, but I really dislike trying to read it because I can’t hear it in my head. I’m sure that’s because I opted to take Spanish and German in school.

As a “recovering Catholic,” one of the most astounding things about Greeley’s books is that Father Blackie’s brand of Catholicism makes me want to take some classes on the subject. And now that I’m working for a Catholic college, it’s quite likely that I will.

Amazon Associate link:
The Bishop and the Beggar Girl of St. Germain

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This is the next book in the series by Kyle Mills. Just as interesting and fast-paced as the previous. I’m staying up too late, eating lunch alone, being anti-social. Perhaps for my next book, I’ll pick something less riveting. Unfortunately, I also have Burn Factor waiting to be read… both of these books came from Booksfree so I will be anti-social and read the second one quickly as well so I can return them.

I finally made it over to the library and borrowed six books. I’ve already read two of them… The Bishop Goes to The University by Andrew Greeley and The Fourth Perimeter by Tim Green. Like all Greeley books I’ve read, this one was fun and fast. The major bonus with Greeley books is that most of them are set in Chicago. They make me miss Chicago (though never the weather, of course). The Green book was interesting, but getting through it was more of a chore than Greeley and Mills. And not quite as believable, either. But if you like mysteries and have read everything else, go for it.

Amazon Associate links:
Free Fall
Burn Factor
The Bishop Goes to the University
The Fourth Perimeter

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