Maeve Binchy - Silver Wedding

42. Silver Wedding by Maeve Binchy (1989)

Length: 419 pages 

Genre: Contemporary Fiction 

Started: 9 August 2016

Finished: 16 August 2016

Where did it come from? From Bookmooch

How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 12 December 2012

Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and have read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past.

A silver anniversary is always an occasion to celebrate, and for Desmond and Deirdre Doyle this celebration is no less special. As the Doyles prepare to commemorate the twenty-five years of marriage they have shared, their closest family and friends gather around them in remembrance of such a happy time. However, it is also a time fraught with tremendous uncertainty.

The Doyles face an uneasy moment of reckoning as their friends and family members begin to arrive for the festivities. So much time has passed for all of them, and so much has changed. The couple may have prepared themselves for anything; but they can only hope that everyone has come ready to celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Everyone has certainly come to congratulate the happy couple, but each person seems to have also brought their own personal baggage to the party.

First to arrive are the three Doyle children: Anna, Helen, and Brendan. Their hapless daughter Helen is still struggling with her vocation to become a nun. Having reached a crossroads in her life, she plans on making her final decision at her parents silver anniversary. Their rebellious son Brendan prefers a life of solitude spent on the family farmstead in Ireland, rather than living with his parents and sisters in London.

Desmond's best man - Frank Quigley - was once his very best friend, but is now Desmond's boss. Deirdre's bridesmaid - Maureen Barry - is now a successful career woman, looking forward to opening a London location in her chain of fashion boutiques. Father James Hurley - the priest who married the couple - arrives to the silver anniversary carrying his own guilty family secret.

Yet it is her parents silver anniversary that will prove to be a time of ultimate transformation for the Doyles' eldest daughter, Anna. She is the person tasked with the seemingly impossible: navigating through the troubled waters of the past and smoothing out ruffled relationships. For only Anna can confront their tarnished lives and find a truth strong enough to draw them into a circle of love that might nourish, protect, and finally heal them all.

As I have probably said many times before, Maeve Binchy was such a remarkable author. This was actually the second time that I have read this particular book, yet it still felt like a fresh story to me. In my opinion, Ms Binchy created so many memorable characters; as well as poignant and emotionally-driven stories. This was just another one of her many delightfully written books and I would give it a definite A!

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Surprisingly, we Seem to be Catching Primarily the Men's Olympic Events!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

So, Mareena and I are continuing to watch some of the Olympic events - although for some strange reason, we seem to be catching mostly the Men's events. I'm not really sure why; we just seem to be tuning in to the Games at exactly the same time as they switch over from Women's to Men's events. Having said that, we were able to catch the first women's swimming relay race on Wednesday, August 10th! Katie Ledecky swam the anchor leg of the swimming relay and Team USA won the Gold medal!

It seems like the United States is doing remarkably well in the medal standings. As a matter of fact, as of Sunday night, August 14th, Team USA has won a combined 69 medals. Way to go!!!!

Since I started doing the 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle of the old-fashioned beachfront scene on Wednesday afternoon, August 10th, I wasn't quite sure how long it would take me to finish the puzzle. I mean it wasn't tremendously difficult to do, but it also wasn't excessively simple. I guess that means that this puzzle had an intermediate level of difficulty. Anyway, I finished the puzzle on Saturday afternoon, August 13th!

As regards my reading, I just finished reading Snow in April by Rosamunde Pilcher on Tuesday, August 2nd! Then, I immediately started to read The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories by Michael Sims the next night - on Wednesday night, August 3rd! I paused in my reading on Monday afternoon, August 8th! It wasn't that I lost interest in this book or anything, it was just that Silver Wedding by Maeve Binchy caught my eye as it was sitting there on my bookshelf.

While Mareena requested a copy of this book for me in December of 2012, I had read Silver Wedding by Maeve Binchy many years ago. I decided to begin my reread on Tuesday, August 9th! According to Goodreads, as of today - Sunday, August 14th - I'm currently on page 218 of 432; or approximately 50 percent into the story. Since my own copy of Silver Wedding by Maeve Binchy actually has 419 pages; reading 218 pages of the book means that I've read 52 percent of the story.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Go Team USA!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Alright, so Mareena and I are watching some of the Olympic events starting with Men's Cycling. We weren't actually watching the race, so much as watching the news coverage of an horrible bike crash from the day before - Sunday, August 7th - involving a cyclist from the Netherlands. It was the Ladies Cycling event and the Dutch athlete was leading the race up until her crash.

The Dutch cyclist suffered a concussion, bruises, and three spinal fractures. She was sent to hospital, of course, but the most incredible thing about her crash was that it had apparently happened on her mother's birthday. Not only that, but supposedly this was the second time that the cyclist had experienced such a crash - another one happened the year before, again on her mother's birthday. Poor Annemiek van Vleuten!!!

Then, on Monday, August 8th the Olympic diving pool mysteriously turned green! A couple of days later, the Olympic water polo pool did the same thing. The Olympic officials initially said that the water was safe to swim in, but then the German athletes started complaining that something smelled noxious, and that the smell was beginning to permeate the entire building. Oops, now that's embarrassing!

So, I finished up the last of the three 'Glow in the Dark' jigsaw puzzles on Tuesday afternoon, August 9th! Not content with doing it once, I turned around and did it again. I started doing another 1,000-piece puzzle on Wednesday afternoon, August 10th! This was a puzzle of an old-fashioned beachfront scene.

As regards my reading, I just finished reading Snow in April by Rosamunde Pilcher on Tuesday, August 2nd! Then, I immediately started to read The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories by Michael Sims the next night - on Wednesday night, August 3rd! I paused in my reading on Monday afternoon, August 8th! It wasn't that I lost interest in this book or anything, it was just that Silver Wedding by Maeve Binchy caught my eye as it was sitting there on my bookshelf.

While Mareena requested a copy of this book for me in December of 2012, I had read Silver Wedding by Maeve Binchy many years ago. I decided to begin my reread on Tuesday, August 9th! According to Goodreads, as of today - Thursday, August 11th - I'm currently on page 131 of 432; or approximately 30 percent into the story. Since my own copy of Silver Wedding by Maeve Binchy actually has 419 pages; reading 131 pages of the book means that I've read 31 percent of the story.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

We May Have Missed Out on the Opening Ceremonies, But we Are Catching Some of the Events!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Alright, so Mareena and I had planned to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics but ended up watching back-to-back episodes of 'The Great British Baking Show' on PBS. So, we may have missed out on watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, but that's alright! Anyway, we heard all about it the next day - Saturday, August 6th!

Apparently, there was controversy right from the beginning!!! Okay, so I suppose controversy is inevitable - and even though the Olympics are supposed to be apolitical, I understand that it doesn't always work out to be that way - but can we hold off on getting into something controversial for at least a few hours? Please!

So, I finished doing the 1000-piece puzzle of the country fair on Friday night, August 5th. Two days to do a 1000-piece puzzle? Pretty good, if I do say so myself. After, looking around for a couple of days, I started doing a 'Glow-in-the-Dark' puzzle - actually one out of a box of three - and each puzzle is somewhere between 250-300 pieces. The puzzle that I started today - Monday, August 8th - is of several brightly-colored parrots.

As regards my reading, I finished reading Snow in April by Rosamunde Pilcher on Tuesday, August 2nd! Then, I immediately started to read The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories by Michael Sims the next night - on Wednesday night, August 3rd - although, I really didn't get that far into the story until the next day, Thursday, August 4th! Technically, Mareena acquired this book for herself during her birthday visit to the Library Book Sale, but she has let me borrow it to read.

According to Goodreads - as of today, Monday, August 8th - I'm currently on page 94 of 320; or approximately 29 percent into the story. Since my own copy of The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories by Michael Sims actually has 297 pages; reading 94 pages of the book means that I've read 32 percent of the story.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Jigsaw Puzzles and Olympic Mayhem Are on the Schedule!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

So my birthday is coming up later this month, and Mareena told me that she has requested several books for me from my wish list. She has actually requested four books for me but she doesn't want to tell me what the titles are. Apparently, two books are on their way and two others have been accepted to be mailed out soon. I'm definitely not complaining in any way, but so much for my library-whittling abilities. LOL!!!

I actually wasn't planning on starting a new jigsaw puzzle for some time yet, but then another 1000-piece puzzle of a country fair caught my eye on Tuesday night, August 2nd. Since I finished my last jigsaw puzzle on Thursday afternoon, July 21st, I figured that I could squeeze in another puzzle if I really, really needed to - and I thought that I really needed to! ;) I started doing this jigsaw puzzle on Wednesday afternoon, August 3rd!

I must admit that Mareena and I don't really watch the Olympics that much these days. When Mareena was a little girl, she would watch the coverage non-stop. Although as she got older, she would only watch the events that she liked: the opening ceremonies, swimming and diving, gymnastics, and equestrian events.

We usually watch the opening ceremonies to see 'The Parade of Nations' - focusing on the United States and Ireland. Since the Olympics are in Rio de Janeiro this year - actually starting on Friday evening, August 5th - Mareena and I have been watching some of the pre-coverage. Apparently, there is a Zika outbreak in Florida, but since technically it's winter in Rio there doesn't seem to be too much worry about mosquito-born viruses. Nope, Rio's more worried about the air and water quality - oh, and the occasional body parts washing up near the Volleyball arena!

The athletes are being advised to not put their heads under the water or swallow any of it. Granted, the international swimming or diving teams probably don't have much to worry about since those events would take place in enclosed areas, but what about open-air water sports? Oh, and apparently several athletes have been mugged in the Olympic Village. Yikes!!!

So, I wound up watching the Tuesday night - early Wednesday morning, August 3rd - rerun of the first episode of 'The American Experience' on PBS. Mareena had wanted to watch it since it was about the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Since she missed it, I told her all about it: 'The Boys of '36' was all about the American Rowing team and how they were considered the 'underdog team', but they ended up winning the gold medal!

As regards my own reading, I've read a total of five books since I last posted this type of blog post on Thursday, July 21st: More Than You Know: A Novel by Beth Gutcheon took me five days to read; On the Street Where You Live: A Novel by Mary Higgins Clark took me three days to read; Knitting: A Novel by Anne Bartlett took me two days to read; Homework: A Novel by Margot Livesey took me two days to read. I had originally picked up Hell to Pay: The Unfolding Story of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Barbara Olson on Saturday afternoon, July 30th! Although the book certainly was interesting to me, I actually had to put the book aside for a while. So, I started reading Snow in April by Rosamunde Pilcher on Monday, August 1st!

I finished the book a day later - on Tuesday, August 2nd! Then, I immediately started to read The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories by Michael Sims the next night - on Wednesday night, August 3rd! I really didn't get that far into the story until the next day, Thursday, August 4th! Technically, Mareena acquired this book for herself during her birthday visit to the Library Book Sale, but she has let me borrow it to read.

According to Goodreads - as of today, Friday, August 5th - I'm currently on page 28 of 320; or approximately 8 percent into the story. Since my own copy of The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories by Michael Sims actually has 297 pages; reading 28 pages of the book means that I've read 9 percent of the story.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Rosamunde Pilcher - Snow in April

41. Snow in April by Rosamunde Pilcher (1972)
Length: 245 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 1 August 2016
Finished: 2 August 2016
Where did it come from? From Paperback Swap
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 14 July 2016
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and have read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past.

Caroline Cliburn is twenty years old and has recently become engaged. She travels from London to Scotland, hoping to finally make contact with her eldest brother Angus. The brother and sister haven't seen each other in several years, but Caroline and her younger brother Jody are both determined to find Angus and try to convince him to come back home. Then, Caroline plans to return home in time for her wedding to the man her strong-willed stepmother Diana thinks is so suitable for Caroline.

Unfortunately, a sudden blinding Scottish snowstorm strands the siblings at the house of a grieving young man named Oliver Cairney. Having recently lost his brother in a car accident, Oliver is still recovering from the tragedy and not really expecting visitors to his isolated family home. However, as the heavy blizzard-like conditions continue, Oliver realizes that Caroline and Jody need a place to stay. And, as the snow continues to fall over an extended period of time both Caroline and Oliver find themselves on the brink of making terrible mistakes; but perhaps these two wounded souls can save each other.

First of all, let me say that in my opinion this was just so typically Rosamunde Pilcher - light, sweet and simple reading. I don't mean that as a detrimental statement, as I appreciated that the story was uncomplicated and truly heartwarming. I would give this book an A+!

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Reading Wrap-up For July at Moonshine and Rosefire

Hello everyone out there and I hope that you all had a terrific reading month for yourselves. I am known as Rosefire around the Internet and this is my new personal reading blog. I originally posted my reviews over at my daughter's blog, Emeraldfire's Bookmark but am now in the process of transferring them all over to my own blog. My daughter makes blogging look like so much fun that I thought that I would try it out for myself! :)

Anyway, I started out July with 1,069 books lying around the house and ended the month with 1,061 books unread. All the books that I acquired this month came from Bookmooch and Paperback Swap.

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Changes to the TBR pile

Rereads
- Fortune's Rocks: A Novel by Anita Shreve
- Homework: A Novel by Margot Livesey

Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- Charming Billy: A Novel by Alice McDermott
- Unholy Fire by Whitley Strieber
- Sweet Salt Air: A Novel by Barbara Delinsky
- More Than You Know: A Novel by Beth Gutcheon
- On the Street Where You Live: A Novel by Mary Higgins Clark
- Knitting: A Novel by Anne Bartlett

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! Not too bad though, I suppose:))
- The Bloody Countess: Atrocities of Erzsebet Bathory by Valentine Penrose
- While we Were Watching Downton Abbey: A Novel by Wendy Wax
- Next, After Lucifer by Daniel Rhodes
- Snow in April by Rosamunde Pilcher

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))
- The Castaways: A Novel by Elin Hilderbrand
- December 6th by Martin Cruz Smith
- My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
- My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due
- Keep Calm and Ask On: A No-Nonsense Guide to Fulfilling Your Dreams by Michael Samuels 

- The Titan by Fred Mustard Stewart
- Embrace the Serpent by Marilyn T. Quayle and Nancy T. Northcott
- Sweet Salt Air: A Novel by Barbara Delinsky

Well, there it is...the breakdown! All in all, a very good reading month for me. Here's a further breakdown:

Books Read: 8
Pages Read: 2, 634
Grade Range: A+! to A!

So, there you go! The reading month that was July. I hope that you all had an equally good reading month; if not a little better. :) See you all next month! :)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight