October 14th, 2021

I promise you that  this will (probably) be my last post about the book sale at the library.  But wow, this just ...well....it's...     I guess it really is true that you get what you pay for and at sixteen books for five dollars, this book cost roughly 31 cents.  I guess that's fair enough.

This was the first book I chose to read out of the bag-o-books that I got last Thursday.  I chose it randomly out of the stack and took it with me to the museum on Tuesday, just in case it was a quiet day.  And it was.  We had only 4 guests the entire time I was there and there just wasn't much other busywork that needed to be done.  So, patting myself on the back for being smart enough to bring a book, I settled into read.

It's the story of an Irish family living in the countryside of Ireland in the 1920's.  I was captivated from the first page.  It was well written, moved forward nicely and had very well developed characters that, ultimately, the reader really gives a darn about.  It's not Hemingway or McCourt or even Gabaldon but it was a very enjoyable read and I finished my museum shift mere pages from the end of the book.  

So naturally, as soon as I walked back in the door at home, I quickly finished the tale.  Well I thought that was what I was doing.  Nope.  When I got to that last page I was surprised...no wait, I take that back...I was shocked to read the final sentence.  "End of Book 1"

End of book one?  Why didn't the start of the book say, Beginning of Book 1?  Or maybe on the cover it might have indicated that this was part of a trilogy?    The cover just says, "a novel" which is true, it is a novel.  There is the title and the author's name and a very old photograph of five children. That's it.  No Part One, No Trilogy warning.  This came out of the blue.  ARGH!  

Inside the front cover I found that the book is signed by the author (nice bonus).  The following pages have things  like the regular publishers stuff, the Dedication Page, ("To John, the believer"), Acknowledgements and the Author's Note.  Nowhere on ANY of those pages does it indicate that this book is part one of three.  I even re-read the back of the book which has the little summary part and information about the author (who co-incidentally has retired to Florida!) but the summary also fails to mention the fact that there are two more books in this series.  Dang. 

It was published in 2006 so it's possible that out there somewhere in the world are the remaining two parts and now I must find them.  I need to know what happens!  Partly because it really was a good story that didn't really feel finished (and now I know why!) but partly, I confess because now that I know there are two more parts, it's incomplete, unfinished.   Like a puzzle with two missing pieces (ARGH!)  or a television show being cancelled at the end of the season on a cliff-hanger  (ARGH!)  Or someone playing or singing a song all but the last line.  (ARGH!) And side note, why on earth would anyone do that? Continue the song to the very end! Please! I'm begging you!  Commercials do that all the time when they utilize an existing song for their ads and then the song is stuck in my head for days!

So now, as I said, my mission is to find the other two parts of the series.  The first logical place will be the library.  Perhaps it's there?  It's possible.  Unless they were also purchased at the big book sale by other unsuspecting folks who now also have only part of the story.  I suppose that's possible.

And if I cannot find it there, I will have to resort to Amazon.  And if I must, I must.  I cannot leave this story unread.  I must find out how it ends.  I am not the person who ever leaves the play before the last act.  Nope, I always stay to the bitter end.  Oh gosh, wouldn't it be funny if after all this angst, I search and search and finally find the other books, and they are terrible?  HAHAHAHAH

​Doesn't matter. I need to find them anyway.