I had never read anything by Maeve Binchy before this. After I had Lasik surgery on my eyes, I couldn’t read for the first week, so I checked out this book-on-tape from the library thinking that if I didn’t like her writing, I could just turn off the tape and return it to the library. However, this collection of stories was brilliant. Also, Kate Binchy is a wonderful reader. She pauses at all the right moments to allow you to ponder what you’ve just heard.

LONDON TRANSPORTS is a collection of 22 stories that you’ll want to ravenously devour. The stories seem to be just a page in someone’s life. However, they leave a lasting impression on your mind. The twist in the stories are not the conventional type; the twist is the way that the character thinks and handles the situations that are thrown at them.

Some of the more memorable stories includes a 28-year-old virgin who goes to a sex shop to find a manual for people who’ve never had sex. Because she’s embarrassed, she says that she’s a nun looking for information for her 28-year-old virgin neice. Another story has a young woman looking for an apartment and finding an amazing apartment belonging to Marigold, a wheelchair-ridden gold-digger. But the apartment is so amazing that the young woman doesn’t care that Marigold may take everything that has ever belonged to her.

Maeve Binchy has a gift for painfully realistic character creation. I imagine her sitting on park benches and making up stories about the people who walk by her. One thing that struck me as odd is that almost every story assumes that everyone in London is having an extra-marital affair. Maybe I’m naive to think and hope that this isn’t based in reality. However, according to an Irish co-worker who happens to be a distant cousin of Maeve Binchy, Maeve and her husband live in separate countries. What does this mean about their own fidelity? I can only guess.

I’ll definitely be reading more of Binchy’s works after this. I can hardly wait to start.
Rating: 5 / 5

Maeve Binchy is, by far, my favorite author and I find it difficult to criticize anything she writes. London Transports was definitely a readable collection of short stories, although it wasn’t her best. She repeats herself in one story…it shows up later in The Return Journey. On the plus side, however, some of the stories deal with topics not presented in her other books. They shine with Binchy’s wit and style that I always enjoy in all her books, and I never thought once about stopping. If you are a die-hard Binchy fan who has made it your goal to read all her works (like me), go ahead and read this book. It’s worth it.
Rating: 4 / 5

Maeve Binchy delivers an impressive collection of short stories with London Transports. Each story is based on a particular area in London — Notting Hill Gate, Holland Park, King’s Cross, etc. — and the stories, from a compulsive shoplifter to a woman’s affair with a married man, are poignant, lucid and memorable. Having read Quentins, I was compelled to read another Binchy book. I’m glad I did…
Rating: 4 / 5