The Secret Life of Albert Entwhistle

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain  394 pp.

Albert Entwistle is a 64 year old postman in England. He lives a solitary life in the family home, alone since his mother died. Albert lives with his cat and only real friend, Gracie. His coworkers see him as quiet and rather standoffish. Unknown to them are the nights when, after dinner alone, Albert closes the drapes, puts on his favorite music, and dances with abandon where no one can see him. When Albert receives a notice about his mandatory retirement he is not happy. He wonders what he will do with the rest of his life. With the help of a young mother on his mail route and her toddler daughter, Albert begins to open up to the world around him. Soon he is surprising everyone he knows with the changes in him. Then he makes a decision to locate his lost love from his school days and things change even more. The story starts a bit slow and I'll be honest, I almost abandoned it. I'm glad I stuck with it to the end. 

The Best of Adam Sharp

The Best of Adam Sharp by Graeme Simsion, 314 pages

Twenty-two years ago, British IT worker Adam Sharp took a contract gig in Melbourne, Australia. While he was there, Adam took up a part-time gig playing the piano at a bar, and fell in love with Angelina, a gorgeous actress who was trapped in a horrible marriage. Years later, after complete silence between the ex-lovers, Angelina contacts Adam again, disrupting his stale relationship with live-in girlfriend Claire and sending him on a nostalgia-filled trip, both mentally and physically.

This is Simsion's third book, after the absolutely fantastic The Rosie Project, and its somewhat meh sequel, The Rosie Effect. This one, I think, is a lot closer to his debut, quality-of-writing-wise, though I'm coming to the conclusion that nothing's going to measure up to Simsion's initial release. The premise here is more than a little unbelievable — it's definitely the fantasy of a middle-aged IT guy spelled out on the page — though Adam's personal growth throughout said fantasy is admirable.

Charming Billy / Alice McDermott 308 p.

One of many great things about reading is getting inside the head of someone whose experiences are so different from yours.  Really, I love that about reading.  But when you read an incredibly talented author who apparently has actually met all the members of your extended family and can describe what they eat, the jokes they tell, and the way as restaurant diners they put "...hands in laps to make the poor man's job easier as he reached between their shoulders," well, that is a mind-blower. 

Which is to say that McDermott's book is a small, beautiful story of an Irish Catholic family in mid-century, and the way that faith, alcohol and dreams touch that family, and lots of others as well.