Charming Billy

I'm now reading my second book for the Book Awards II Challenge, Charming Billy by Alice McDermott. Starting at the wake of rip-roaring alcoholic Billy Lynch, this book winds around the lives of Billy's rather large Irish family and collection of friends. I'm about halfway through and wishing I'd started a family tree when I started reading it. I'm having a hard time keeping track of who's who in this bunch--it's almost as convoluted as a Louise Erdrich novel!

I was halfway through the book before it was revealed that the narrator is the daughter of Billy's first cousin! I'm expecting some kind of secret or revelation before the book concludes and if there isn't, I'm going to be disappointed in this book, which could otherwise have been a long short story.

I have a couple of contenders for the next book including The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde and a grocery bag of others hiding in my closet.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle made me happy all over to read--especially during the summer while I was tending my green beans, tomatoes, lettuce and tomatoes and enjoying fresh, local, free-range (really), organic chickens from Triple T Farm at the Farmer's Market.

Arrived by mail today, Manhattan: The Land of Heart's Desire by Robert McCracken, published by the Nye County (Nevada) Press, a gift from my Aunt Madaline. My father and most of his siblings were born in the first quarter of the 20th century in this small mining town in Nevada and I'm really going to enjoy reading the history of this tiny town.