Abducted by The Return Journey

Well, we made it! Today is my last day in my week long marathon of posting!!!

Completing this challenge has really helped me complete another challenge I set out for myself back in October.
I published a post on October 5th titled ABDUCTED BY MY OWN DISAPPOINTING ABDUCTIONS. Basically I wrote about how disappointed in myself I was because at the time I had my own book blog for 6 months and yet, had only published SIX posts total and only ONE of them had been an actual review of a book. So I issued myself a challenge, the goal was that by the time I reached my one year anniversary I would have published 50 distinct posts and that out of those 25 of them would be real reviews for books. And during this week long marathon of posting I have officially past the 50 posts mark (WHOO HOO!!!) and as far as my reviews go, after today I will have published 22 posts featuring reviews (GO ME!!!)

My one year anniversary takes place on April 13th so that gives me a little less then a month to publish 3 more reviews after today! I could never have accomplished that original challenge if I hadn't completed my week long marathon of posting, so thank you all for sticking with me and actually reading all I had to say. It is out of my appreciation for my followers that I am hosting my giveaway of a $15 gift certificate to Amazon, so please be sure to enter by clicking on the abduction below...





Now on to my review for today:





The Return Journey by Maeve Binchy

I am really excited to finish this book today because not only is it a Maeve Binchy book (and you guys know how much I love my Binchy!) but also because it was one of the books I checked out from the library!

I went to the public library for the first time in at least 6 years about three weeks ago. I got The Duff and The Return Journey, I finished The Duff a while ago so I just need to finish this one. And now that I am done, I can return it (ON TIME!!! they are due tomorrow) and see what new books the library has to offer me.

I love Maeve Binchy's collections of short stories! I posted on her collection of holiday themed stories when I was ABDUCTED BY THIS YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT. I enjoyed the stories in The Return Journey more because there weren't nearly as many stories about infidelity. I don't know if that is a European thing or an Irish thing, but it seems to be a common theme in Binchy's writing.

Some of the stories I liked in The Return Journey included one titled "The Wrong Suitcase". It involves a man who is on a business trip where he is planning a take over of a small business, and a woman who is going to a hotel to meet her lover, who happens to be married. When at the airport they accidentally switch bags. In an effort to recover their own belongings they search through each others bags looking for phone numbers or addresses. In doing so they discover each others secrets. Then when they meet they feel a connection or an attraction, but can't look past what they learned about the other person.

Another story that I thought was really well written was "The Home Sitter". Basically this mellow, go with the flow, kind of hippie woman enters the lives of this family, and she charms everybody but the wife. The wife is in constant fear of her husband cheating on her with this new woman and can't relax until she is gone. I can't really explain it, I mean the story is only 16 pages long and it would probably take me half that length to explain what is really going on. So just trust me, this little short story was very unsettling and thought provoking.

"The Package Tour" was a really simple storyline of these two people who meet and decide to vacation together. I mean that is literally all that the plot is about. And yet the way that Binchy reveals the information about the two characters, they way she switches talking about each one, it is captivating. It was one of my favorite stories even though it doesn't have a "happy" ending because it was just so enjoyable to read.

What can I say, I am a Maeve Binchy addict! I love the way she tells a story, I love the way she opens up her characters to the readers, and I love how her stories are about nothing more then simply observing one brief moment in her characters' lives. This month, it was my turn to pick a book for my book club, and I chose an older one by Binchy called Scarlet Feather. I'm really nervous that the girls wont finish it because it is kind of long, but all of her shorter novels I had already read and I wanted to branch out. Plus, because I love her so much I really want the other girls to love her too. But I have to be open to the possibility that may not happen, and to not take it personally. But I mean come on? How can anyone not like Maeve Binchy?