TV Show: Normal People

Just finished watching Season 1 on the day it premiered on HULU
Premiered: 4/29/2020
Season: 1
Number of Episodes: 12
Length of Episode: 30 minutes
IMBd: 8.8
RT Critic's Consensus:  Anchored by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal vulnerable performances, Normal People is at once intimate and illuminating, beautifully translating the nuances of its source material.
RT Audience Score:  100%
cag: 3
from the book by Sally Rooney and produced by HULU

Characters:  Marianne & Connell

My comments:  What did I just watch?  Why?  Many conflicting feelings.  Although extremely depressing at times and without a happily every after ending, I couldn't stop watching.  Four and a half years in the lives of two Irish young adults, from the end of high school through four years at Trinity College.  Okay, the two protagonists had an incredible amount of chemistry and the steaminess of their connection was quite something.  But it was very inconsistent.  She went from a don't-tread-on-me-I-don't-give-a-shit person to a dump anything-on-me-I'll-take-it-because-I'm-worthless person.  WHAT?  from an introvert to an extrovert-of-sorts overnight  I'm sorry it's over, I needed more resolution, and it definitely left me feeling deflated, sad, depressed and somewhat empty.  I feel like slapping them both in the face and saying, "Snap out of it."  GREAT ACTING.

Storyline from IMBd:  Follows Marianne and Connell, from different backgrounds but the same small town in Ireland, as they weave in and out of each other's romantic lives.

131. The Darkling Bride by Laura Anderson

listened to eAudio/Chirp
narrated  by Sarah-Jane Drummey
Unabridged audio (12:02)
2018
369 pgs.
Adult Mystery in two time periods
Finished 12/28/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.92 - 2253 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting:

First line/s:  "Twenty miles south of Dublin, Deeprath Castle brooded in its shallow valley scooped out of the Wicklow Mountains."

My comments: A gothic mystery, taking place in Deeprath Castle in Ireland, where a young woman goes to catalog the huge library.  Once she gets there, she discovers a family enmeshed with the mystery of a murder twenty years previously, of the parents of the two current owners.  Hopping back-and-forth between the late 1800s and present day, an interesting mystery is solved.  Not sure I liked many of the characters, but I guess I wasn't really supposed to.  Interesting, but for some reason I couldn't really relate to any of them, particularly the protagonists.

Goodreads synopsis:  Three generations of Irish nobles face their family secrets in this spellbinding novel from the award-winning author of the Boleyn King trilogy.
          The Gallagher family has called Deeprath Castle home for seven hundred years. Nestled in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland, the estate is now slated to become a public trust, and book lover and scholar Carragh Ryan is hired to take inventory of its historic library. But after meeting Aidan, the current Viscount Gallagher, and his enigmatic family, Carragh knows that her task will be more challenging than she’d thought.
          Two decades before, Aidan’s parents died violently at Deeprath. The case, which was never closed, has recently been taken up by a new detective determined to find the truth. The couple’s unusual deaths harken back a century, when twenty-three-year-old Lady Jenny Gallagher also died at Deeprath under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind an infant son and her husband, a renowned writer who never published again. These incidents only fueled fantastical theories about the Darkling Bride, a local legend of a sultry and dangerous woman from long ago whose wrath continues to haunt the castle.
          The past catches up to the present, and odd clues in the house soon have Carragh wondering if there are unseen forces stalking the Gallagher family. As secrets emerge from the shadows and Carragh gets closer to answers—and to Aidan—could she be the Darkling Bride’s next victim?

24. The Missing Ones by Patricia Gibney

listened on Audible
read in a gorgeous Irish lilt by
2017 Bookouture
(13:55 unabridged) 424 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished March 10, 2018
Goodreads rating: 4.1 - 15,674 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting:  Contemporary small-town Ireland

First line/s:  "Susan Sullivan was on her way to meet the one person she was most scared of."

My comments:This was an interesting, though very drawn out, mystery.  Most of the time I didn't like the protagonist much of the time, which makes me wonder how much that affects someone's rating of a book?  The Irish setting was enhanced greatly by listening to this being read in a gorgeous Irish lilt.  However, although I didn't particularly care for Lottie Parker, I could understand - and even relate - to her.  The mystery was intriguing, with a few Red Herrings thrown in.  I'll definitely read a second in  the series.

Goodreads synopsis: The hole they dug was not deep. A white flour bag encased the little body. Three small faces watched from the window, eyes black with terror. 
          The child in the middle spoke without turning his head. I wonder which one of us will be next?
          When a woman’s body is discovered in a cathedral and hours later a young man is found hanging from a tree outside his home, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to lead the investigation. Both bodies have the same distinctive tattoo clumsily inscribed on their legs. It’s clear the pair are connected, but how? 
          The trail leads Lottie to St. Angela’s, a former children’s home, with a dark connection to her own family history. Suddenly the case just got personal. 
          As Lottie begins to link the current victims to unsolved murders decades old, two teenage boys go missing. She must close in on the killer before they strike again, but in doing so is she putting her own children in terrifying danger? 
          Lottie is about to come face to face with a twisted soul who has a very warped idea of justice. 
          Fans of Rachel Abbott, Karin Slaughter and Robert Dugoni will be gripped by this page-turning serial killer thriller, guaranteed to keep you reading late into the night.

MOVIE - Brooklyn

PG-13 (1:51)

Limited release 11/4/15

Viewed Tuesday, 1/12/16 at ElCon

RT Critic:  98  Audience:  90
Critic's Consensus:   Brooklyn buttresses outstanding performances from Saoirse Ronan and Emory Cohen with a rich period drama that tugs at the heartstrings as deftly as it satisfies the mind.

Cag:  5.5 Just loved it, top quality, too...

Directed by John Crowley
Written by Nick Hornby

Fox Searchlight

Saoirse Ronan - who was absolutely wonderful!

My comments: A period story, (early 1950s) with excellent acting, lots of giggles, a few tiny sniffles, and wonderful costuming and hairstyles.  The storytelling was superb, not sappy, thoughtful, with a lovely, perfect ending.

RT Summary:  Eilis Lacey followed her sister, Rose's, plan to leave Ireland and find a better future and job in the US. She departs terribly, enduring seasickness and a terrible relationship with her cabin mates. A kind traveler gives her advice to live in Brooklyn, where many Irish immigrants live. Eilis settles in Brooklyn and becomes close to Father Flood, a Catholic priest. She gets a job in a department store and falls in love with an Italian boy named Tony. News from home sends Eilis back to Ireland, away from Tony.

35. A Week in Winter - Maeve Binchy

Listened to audio on Audible...
Read by Rosalyn Landor
2012, Orion
464 pgs.
Adult CRF set in western Ireland & Dublin
Finished 5/16/2015
Goodreads rating: 3.77
My rating:5/enchanting

First line/s: First person:  CHICKY  "Everyone had their own job to do on the Ryan's farm in Stonybridge."

My comments:  This was an enchanting story, told from many perspectives and linked together so that the first few characters are still the major ones. The plot was fascinating, but the character development was superb, putting the reader into the life of each and every one of the 11 or 12 characters, major and minor.  So many stories rolled into one! And the setting, on the western coast of Ireland - I truly loved listening to every word.

Goodreads synopsis:  Stoneybridge is a small town on the west coast of Ireland where all the families know one another. When Chicky Starr decides to take an old, decaying mansion set high on the cliffs overlooking the windswept Atlantic Ocean and turn it into a restful place for a holiday by the sea, everyone thinks she is crazy. Helped by Rigger (a bad boy turned good who is handy around the house) and Orla, her niece (a whiz at business), Chicky is finally ready to welcome the first guests to Stone House’s big warm kitchen, log fires, and understated elegant bedrooms. John, the American movie star, thinks he has arrived incognito; Winnie and Lillian are forced into taking a holiday together; Nicola and Henry, husband and wife, have been shaken by seeing too much death practicing medicine; Anders hates his father’s business, but has a real talent for music; Miss Nell Howe, a retired schoolteacher, criticizes everything and leaves a day early, much to everyone’s relief; the Walls are disappointed to have won this second-prize holiday in a contest where first prize was Paris; and Freda, the librarian, is afraid of her own psychic visions.

PICTURE BOOK - Fiona's Lace - Patricia Polacco

Illustrated by the author

2014 Paula Wiseman; Simon & Schuster

HC $17.99

40  pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.03

My rating: 4

Endpapers: solid bold green background with intricate last recctangle almost covering the entire page

Illustrations: ah, Patricia Polacco......

1^st line/s:  "Many years ago my father's family lived in a small, poor village a few miles from Limerick in Ireland.  Everyone in the village depended on the textile mill that was soon to close.  Most of the vilagers were unsure of their futures.  But Glen Kerry was their home and all that any of them had ever known."

My comments:  Another lovely family story from Patricia Polacco with many themes and at least one strong moral.  Most of Polacco's stories come from family stories, and within the book itself there is usually some sort of oral story-telling.  This is very strongly of that sort - a piece of the lace that is the second protagonist in the story is framed on the wall in Polacco's home.  This is also a very vibrant immigration story.

Goodreads:  An Irish family stays together with the help of Fiona's talent for making one-of-a-kind lace in this heartwarming immigration story from the New York Times bestselling creator of The Keeping Quilt.

          Many years ago, times were hard in all of Ireland, so when passage to America becomes available, Fiona and her family travel to Chicago. They find work in domestic service to pay back their passage, and at night Fiona turns tangles of thread into a fine, glorious lace. Then when the family is separated, it is the lace that Fiona's parents follow to find her and her sister and bring the family back together. And it is the lace that will always provide Fiona with memories of Ireland and of her mother's words; "In your heart your true home resides, and it will always be with you as long as you remember those you love."
          This generational story from the family of Patricia Polacco's Irish father brims with the same warmth and heart as the classic The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup, which Kirkus Reviews called "deeply affecting" in a starred review, and embraces the comfort of family commitment and togetherness that Patricia Polacco's books are known for.

MOVIE - Run and Jump

Unrated (an Irish film) (1:45)
Limited release 1/24/14
Viewed at the Loft 2/10/14
RT: 81 audience: 61
cag;  5- I Loved it
Steph Green
IFC Films

Will Forte, Maxine Peake

My comments:  Filmed in Counties Wicklow and Kerry in Ireland, I considered this a wonderful movie.  I was afraid the Irish brogue might be too thick to understand, but it wasn't at all.  I have discovered that it's the storytelling that means the most to me in a movie or a book, and this was one heck of a story.  The actors portraying the characters did an incredible job.  The female lead was PERFECT and I've decided I'll follow Will Forte anywhere.  Some people might consider this a sad movie (there was a lot of "sad," I guess) but the spirit in which the story is told does not dwell on the sadness.  There's a great sense of positivity, of optimism, of life going on and we deal.  It was really, really good and I highly recommend it.

Rotten Tomatoes "Movie Info":  A headstrong Irish housewife finds her life transforming in ways she never thought possible after her husband suffers a life-altering stroke, and an American doctor arrives to chronicle the family's recovery process in this intimate drama from director Steph Green (whose short film New Boy was nominated for an Oscar in 2007). In the wake of her husband's stroke, loving wife and mother Vanetia (Maxine Peake) gradually comes to realize that her household will never be the same again. Much to Vanetia's relief, a research grant from American doctor Ted Fielding (Will Forte) provides the funds needed to remain financially afloat. Ted wants to study how the family copes with such a severe trauma, and though at first his presence in the home strikes a chord of resentment in the overburdened Vanetia, he exhibits an air of tranquility that soon becomes a source of deep comfort to her. Likewise, Vanetia's unwavering strong will awakens a newfound sense of vitality in the reserved Dr. Fielding, resulting in growth and healing for all involved.  

Finn McCool and the Great Fish - Eve Bunting

Illustrated by Zachary Pullen
Sleeping Bear Press, 2010
$16.95
32 pages
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers - Green with yellow diamonds & dot pattern

This brand new picture book/Irish legend by the great Eve Bunting will be a perfect read aloud for St. Patrick's Day. Not only is it a feast for the eyes, it's a story that can be richly discussed.

Finn McCool-a huge giant who lives in Drumnahoon, Ireland, is a kind and helpful soul. He is also not the brightest - and he wants some wisdom so he can be more helpful to his countrymen. He hears of a man named Simon the Baker who knows a great source of wisdom, so Finn travels to a nearby town to speak with him.

He is told that the wisdom he seeks is in a red salmon who lives in a nearby river. "Catch him and eat him," he is told.

So yes, Finn catches the great fish, but he is a compassionate giant and cannot bring himself to kill it. In typical mythological fashion he is rewarded for this sparing-of-life, thus bringing up the aforementioned discussion topics.

Every page is a masterpiece. The storytelling is fun. Add an outline map of Ireland, show its place in Europe and the world, and you have a tantalyzing St. Patrick's Day presentation!

MOVIE - Leap Year

Adorable...but so predictable....
Released Jan. 8, 2010
PG (1:37)
1/19/10 alone at El Con
RT: 18% cag: 63%
Director: Anand Tucker
Amy Adams Matthew Goode

Ireland! What a gorgeous, green place.

This is a simple, predictable, extremely cute and fun story. A feel-good romantic comedy. You can put Amy Adams anywhere and she is always wonderful. And Matthew Goode....be still female hearts! Move over Colin Furth. Dark-haired, accented Brits...hm..

Amy Adams is a successful Bostonian who has been dating a (very nice, very ordinary, very boring) cardiologist for four years. When she thinks he is finally going to ask her to marry him, she is disappointed once again. Her father (John Lithgow) reminds her of an old, romantic Irish tradition that a woman can ask a man to marry her on Leap Day - which, of course, only comes once every four years. And guess what - her doctor boyfriend will be at a conference in Dublin! So she packs her Louis Voutton rolling suitcase and takes off. Needless to say it becomes a comedy of errors and she falls in love along the way. Fun and cute and predictable and feel-good. It'll be in the cheap theaters quite soon, I'm sure.

Gotta check out some other Matthew Goode movies: A Single Man (WITH Colin! ! !) Watchmen, Brideshead Revisted, The Lookout, Copying Beethoven, Imagine Me and You, Match Point, Chasing Liberty, and South from Granada. Netflix, here i come!