This is the story of four generations of Irish women living under one roof. Nana, the matriarch is a widow. Her daughter-in-law, Eileen, becomes a widow one week after her daughter, Saoirse, is born. Saoirse is seventeen and unmarried when she gives birth to Pearl. Neighbors and other family members come and go in their lives, but it is these four strong-willed women and their love for one another that is the crux of The Queen of Dirt Island.

Each chapter in The Queen of Dirt Island is no more than one and a half pages, yet the plot flows. The four women each have distinct, admirable qualities, yet are very human and realistic. An enjoyable, quick, easy, worthwhile read.

It is 1994 in a small town on the west coast of Ireland. Colette Crowley, a poet, has returned to the small town after leaving her husband and three sons to live with a married man. She rents a small cottage on the coast road from Donal and Dolores Mullen. Donal is a good looking womanizer and Dolores is an emotionally abused wife. After her return, Collette teaches a creative writing course. Her star pupil is Izzy Keaveney, a housewife whose husband will not let her own a flower shop in town. The lives of these three women plays out during a time when divorce was still illegal in Ireland.

This book is a winner. I got into it right away. The characters seemed realistic and the plot was paced perfectly.

Rafael Pinto is a pharmacist in Sarajevo. He is also gay and a Sephardic Jew. In June of 1914, he is standing outside of his shop when he witnesses the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. From that day forward, Pinto’s life will be one of war, strife, poverty and addiction. For 33 years he travels through Europe and Asia with no passport and no home. However, there are two positives in his otherwise bleak life. While fighting in World War I, he meets Osman, and Arab from Sarajevo, who becomes his lover and gives him the inspiration to stay alive. He also takes care of Osman’s daughter, who he loves and tries his hardest to protect.

The World and All That It Holds takes a while to get into and understand, but eventually I was immersed in Rafael Pinto’s world. His life is sad and there is violence everywhere he travels to, but I kept reading, fervently hoping Pinto would get back to his homeland. The World and All That It Holds is the story of one refugee’s experience during the last century, but it is certainly timely today.

Diane Foley’s son, Jim, was a freelance journalist who was beheaded in August 2014 by an Islamic terrorist group after being held hostage and tortured for two years. American Mother is Diane and Jim’s story before, during and after Jim’s murder.

Wow! In the hand of the gifted author, Colum McCann, American Mother is a harrowing, horrifying read without ever sensationalizing or trivializing. It is a memoir dealing with grief, but it also exposes our country’s flaws when it comes to dealing with hostages while illustrating the power of faith and a mother’s love. Emotionally, American Mother is a difficult read, but I’m very glad I could get through it.

Nick Taylor grew up in a strict Mennonite family, served in World War II, worked for an oil company and married Bet who grew up in an upper middle class Irish/American family. They had two children, Katherine, who after college took up with a radical group in the 60’s, and Harry, a dreamer who was interested in ecology. The saga of the Taylor family begins in the 1950’s and ends in 2026. Last House is not only a look at an American family, it also describes the counter culture of the 60’s and the willingness of corporate America to obtain oil at any price.

There are parts of Last House that are descriptive and tense and there are other sections that fall flat. Jessica Shattuck does a fine job of describing the Taylor family in the 50’s, 60’s and 2026 but barely touches on the other decades. For me as a social commentary and family tale, Last House was incomplete.

I began rereading Mark Twain’s classic novel to see how it compared to James by Percival Everett. I soon discovered that these books are completely different books. James is narrated by Jim who is a runaway slave but is educated, violent and angry. It is the story of a slave on the run who has to fight to stay alive. In Huck Finn, Jim is naive, superstitious and subservient. Although Huck is in the novel, he is not a major character. James is clever with several ironic situations, but it lacks the humor and innocence of Huckleberry Finn. I think Everett’s novel is good; Twain’s is great. Both are worth reading but they are very different.

Eilis, who lives on Long Island, learns in the opening pages that her husband of over 20 years is having a baby with another woman. The woman’s husband declares that the child will be dropped off at Eilis’s home soon after its birth. Eilis confronts her husband, Tony, and says that the baby is never welcome in her house. When she learns that her mother-in-law, who lives next door will raise the child, Eilis decides she needs to get away. She goes back to Ireland to visit her mother in Ireland where she has not been for twenty years. After her arrival many old scenes play out in her head, including her relationship with the man she dated way back when.

Summarizing Long Island does not do it justice. Toibin’s novel grabbed me on page three and didn’t let go until the last page. The plot is simple and unoriginal, but it is intriguing and unique when written by Toibin. Also, no male author today knows and writes about women better than he does. Long Island is a sequel to Brooklyn, but it is not necessary to read Brooklyn to enjoy, understand and appreciate Long Island.

Stella St. Vincent was not close to her mother and had no idea who her father was. When her mother dies, she leaves Stella a plane ticket to Paris and little money for her to spend while she is there. Stella, who has lived a quiet, regimented unadventurous, lonely life in New York City hesitantly follows her mothers last wish. In Paris she is exposed to a world of high fashion, delectable food and famous authors.

Ruth Reichl’s description of food and wine are mouth watering. A “foodie” will enjoy The Paris Novel even though the plot is trite and predictable.

Jody Rattler was raised by a single mother in St. Louis. She grew up surrounded by a loving extended family, had a fairly successful career as a singer, and thanks to a financially savvy uncle never had to worry about money. Although she never married or had children, she had twenty-five affairs and a few close friends. Jody considered herself lucky.

I don’t know what to make of Lucky. The writing lacks artistic prose and Jane Smiley’s description of Jody’s life is simplistic, stilted and unemotional. The epilogue, which is probably meant to be a surprise ending, is just ho-hum. It’s hard for me to believe that the author of A Thousand Acres also wrote Lucky.

Although I usually give a short summary of each book I have read, I don’t think it’s necessary with James. James is sort of a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of Jim, the runaway slave. I say sort of because although the first third of the novel adheres pretty closely to Twain’s classic, Jim(James) then becomes separated from Huck and the odyssey takes a different path with James meeting up with a new group of characters.

Parts of James are clever and ironic. For instance when James is hired as a minstrel, he must wear black face make up even though he is black. However, there are other scenes that are not very creative or original. Truth be told, I began reading James doubtful that it could ever be as great as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Just to be sure, I will next read Twain’s novel again, and see if my doubts were correct.