An Irish Country Love Story by Patrick Taylor

When the doctor's house is damaged in an accident, politics become a big part of the Ballybucklebo story when Fingal is faced with demolition of the house he loves to make a safer roadway. It makes Kitty's desire for new curtains seem quaint.

Also in this 11th episode of the series, Barry is pining for his fiance who's teaching abroad in France. He keeps himself busy with model shipbuilding, along with looking for a cottage the pair can buy to begin their married life. We also get a new young lady doctor in the practice, but it's not smooth sailing with the new addition. And brother Lars is spending a LOT of time with the Lady Myrna.

I love this series, and I especially adore the audiobooks. This gentle, consuming community narrative came at a perfect time for me, as John Keating's lilting delivery is always a soothing, captivating experience.

An Irish Doctor in Love and At Sea by Patrick Taylor

I'm ten books into this series, but this one is my favorite in a while. 

While we revisit some of the same old haunts, in this book we get our first real look at the wartime love story of young Dr. Fingal O'Reilly and his nurse Diedre. We learn a lot about why the old doctor sometimes acts the way he does, and also that it may still be possible for personal growth.

There's a lot of the war in this book, and I didn't mind it at all. I always think it's interesting to get a non-American view of the European action, and the HMS Warspite sees some action that keeps the doctor hopping.

In the modern story arc, brother Lars gets a job that seems to be leaning into a fresh angle for future books, and there's a new Donald Donnelly dog scheme (and as they would say, it's a real corker!). Barry spends most of the book lurking darkly about the periphery, stewing about his absent fiance.

A Dublin Student Doctor by Patrick Taylor

I'm back to reading this "Irish Country" series. I got a few behind.

This one is told mostly in flashback - the "modern" 1960s story (about knock on the noggin for a familiar regular) is mostly a framing device for the reminiscence about Fingal's days in med school and his first romance with the pretty young nursing student Kitty O'Halloran.

I liked that this one shifted less back and forth, and left me longer in the storyline. It also filled in a lot of backstories, not just on the romance with Kitty, but with Fingal's dislike of the doctor in the next town over and also how he decided to become a general practitioner.

An Irish Doctor In Peace and At War by Patrick Taylor

In this, the 9th book in the Irish Country series, the "modern" storyline about Ballybucklebo's residents takes more of a backseat to Dr. Fingal O'Reilly's reminiscence about his WWII service.

Young Fingal serves as a medical officer aboard the HMS Warspite, stationed out of Alexadria, Egypt. He's pining for his fiance back in Ireland, Diedre, who will become his wife at their next opportunity.

While we've come to love the much older version of Dr. O'Reilly as a wizened, experienced man, this book offers a wonderful look at his younger, more naive self, experiencing the world at large. He tries new food! Women pay attention to him! Bombs are dropped!

The 1960s storyline is less dramatic: babies are born, small problems are solved, and Barry's fiance meets his ex-girlfriend.

I adore this series, and even though it's getting more "warsy" than I would usually enjoy, it is very interesting to get some non-American perspectives on Hitler and the Nazi campaign in Europe. I sometimes get bored with ship and gun schematics, but as always the novel's appeal truly boils down to the people Fingal meets.

And as always, audiobook reader John Keating brings them all to vivid life with his characterizations.

An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor

In this installment of the lives of our favorite 1960s small-town Ireland physicians, the curmudgeonly Dr. Riley is counting down the days until his 30-years-later wedding to his college sweetheart Kitty. Also, the young Dr. Laverty woos the feisty local schoolteacher.

This is the seventh book in the series (I've been a bit out-of-order with the series lately, but I'm straightening that out now I think).

Along with the usual (and always delightful) workaday village problems the doctors help to sort out, their receptionist and housekeeper, Kinky Kincaide, suffers her own a health scare.

I probably mention this every time, but I cannot give too many props to John Keating's audiobook narration on this series. I have come to love every one of these characters like they're my own friends and neighbors!

The Wily O'Reilly: Irish Country Stories by Patrick Taylor

Different from the rest of the Irish Country Doctor novels, this book is the genesis of the series - the medical journal humor columns Taylor wrote in the 1990s that eventually spun into the fiction series.

In the columns we see many of the familiar Ballybucklebo residents, but in a slightly different light. Most notably, Dr. O'Reilly is depicted here less favorably than in the novels - here he's rough, gruff, enigmatic and incredibly quick to anger; while the O'Reilly of the series is all of those things too, in the novels he's depicted in friendship and with affection, which effectively paints his negative attributes with a broader brush. Also, Doctor Barry Laverty is missing from these stories - instead, Taylor himself fills the role of the young protege and foil to O'Reilly's antics.

Reading these columns is an interesting exercise in perspective - the myriad ways an author colors our perception of a character by the nuanced words used to describe their actions.

That said, I'm happy now to go back to a friendlier, gentler Ballybucklebo with the next novel.

Fingal O'Reilly, Irish Doctor by Patrick Taylor

While we've come to know and love Dr. Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly as the senior doctor in a tiny Irish town, new doings have stirred things up in his life - including his memories of the past. Interspersed with the "modern" timeline (1960's actually) are his reminiscences of beginning his career out of medical school (in the 1930s).

Almost unbelievably, this is the eighth book in the Irish County series, and I'm still captivated and engrossed in the lives of the residents of Ballybucklebo. I've made it my habit to wait for these on audiobook, because narrator John Keating is a true gem: He seamlessly breaths life into men, women and children from all parts of the British, Scottish, and Irish lands.

These books are touching, but also funny. In this one there's a bit of grandstanding about political unrest and world events, but I have to admit that I've also found it enlightening in ways I wouldn't have expected. Young Fingal's work in the slums of Belfast allow some historical insight into a world I'd heard about but never actually studied. In the newer storyline, there's a new female doctor working with Fingal and her presence stirs up bias and prejudice it's easy to forget our foremothers endured.

I was again glad to visit the good doctors and hilarious characters in this small town, and can't wait to visit again!

Don't Go by Lisa Scottoline

Podiatrist Dr. Mike Scanlon is making a difference in Afghanistan, where incendiary devices have made his special skills invaluable. But while he's quietly doing good work in a war-torn country, things aren't peaceful at home either: he's barely met his infant daughter, his wife Chloe is putting on a brave face as sole parent, and then a freak accident flips everything upside down.

This book fits into a subgenre of contemporary writing marketed to women I've seen called "Mother Love" - ripped-from-the-headlines, emotionally driven stories of a family in peril and a mother who overcomes all to save a child. Scottoline has written a number of them, and Jodi Picoult pretty much invented the form. What sets this book apart is it's departure from the standard: this story revolves around a father, for once.

Mike's the kind of guy who should have a perfect life, yet one thing after another sweep the feet out from under him. It's a very good book, well written with fast action and just enough tension to keep you turning pages long after you should have gone to bed. (I actually started to catalog this at the library and got sucked in; I had to take it home to read when I discovered I'd read 20 pages sitting at my desk.) 

The ideal man

by Julie Garwood

Ms. Garwood is back with another FBI thriller. This time Agent Max Daniels is hot on the trail of the elusive Landrys who have been running illegal arms into the country for years. Just as his team is closing in, the Landrys shoot another agent directly in front of Dr. Ellie Sullivan. Her quick thinking and proximity to the trauma center are essential to saving the man's life. Unfortunately, she may have gotten enough of a look at the Landrys for her own safety to be compromised. Agent Daniels starts out wanting to protect his witness, until he finds out she has been on the run from a dangerous stalker before and that one is also missing. Both Ellie and Max try to resist temptation as they keep watch for all the threats to her life.

Garwood has produced another zippy, if predictable, read with this one.

An Irish Country Courtship by Patrick Taylor

I've thoroughly enjoyed Taylor's "Irish Country" series, but this may be my favorite so far.

We've come to know the good doctors and the residents of Ballybucklebo pretty well to-date, but I was still surprised and delighted with the twists in this chapter of the tale: Kinky takes offense to the budding romance between Kitty and Dr. O'Reilly, young Barry tries to decide if country GP doctoring is really his calling, and the whole gang works "under the table" to give Bertie Bishop his what's-due.

John Keating's reading of this series is a true gem - he pulls off a dozen different kinds of accents throughout with nary a pause. With each book I've come to love his characterizations more and more.

An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor

Third in the series, this quaint lighthearted set of books is a real winner. And if you're an audiobook listener, you'll be doubly delighted by the various brogue and accents that top-notch reader John Keating presents.

Young general practice Dr. Barry Laverty has spent 5 months now in Ballybucklebo getting to know the patients and the personalities in the small 1950s Irish town. And love is in the air this Christmas: Barry's desperate to see his Patricia on holiday, and even his mentor, the slightly crusty Dr. O'Reilly, is seeing stars now that his old college sweetheart, Kitty, is back in his life.

Add a dash of small town humor and generous portions of housekeeper Kinky's meals and wisdom - and you've got a great, heartwarming Christmas tale for all time. I cannot recommend these books highly enough. Excellent!

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell

Dr. Peter Brown is getting mugged in the first sentence of the book. Within seconds, he has neutralized the threat, hilariously taught us about human anatomy, and nearly killed the mugger. "The oath says FIRST do no harm," he explains. "I think we're past that now." Then, he heads off to work, where his day just gets worse. But that's very good news for us.

This book is furiously fast-paced, f*'n foul, and absolutely fantastic! I laughed, I cringed, and I enjoyed every single minute of this audiobook: the action happens so fast, I didn't have time to figure out what would happen next - twice, I was left with my mouth actually hanging open as the story revealed a new twist. WOW!

(Not for the squeamish or those of sensitive disposition :) The rest of you will enjoy, though!)

Eat this

Eat this, Not That: supermarket survival guide by David Zinczenko

This entire series is interesting, but not the kind of book you'll sit down and read in one sitting. I've heard it described as bathroom reading. Actually, maybe it should be waiting room reading. Doctors are always trying to push healthy living. More of them should provide this series in their waiting rooms. You know you can never finish the one article you found interesting in the plethora of magazines before they take you to the exam room. If you had this available, it wouldn't matter where you stop, and you might learn something.

Really, this is the kind of book you want to examine before your next trip to the store. I learned that I've been buying the wrong tortilla chips for years. The ones I like have way too much vegetable oil.