Rating: 
Summary: This Work Has Made Me Into a Binchy Fan Overnight
Review: 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:
Summary: This Work Has Made Me Into a Binchy Fan Overnight
Review: 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: 
Summary: Not her best, but still worth the time
Review: If you like Binchy's work, you may find this one a bit of a disappointment, but it still has the Binchy touch of life. I found that the mini-stories weren't as developed that they could have been and I was left wondering about a few things, but overall, I did enjoy the stories. They were intersting, but just not as good as some of the other one's I've read by this author.
Rating:
Summary: Well written but not satisfying
Review: If you're expecting a typical Binchy book where the threads of the story, told by different characters, slowly weave together into a wonderful quilt then GO ELSEWHERE! This book, while well written as usual, is not a novel but a collection of stories that have in common only the fact that they take place in London. The book seems to have been thrown together from stories published elsewhere in order to capitalize on Binchy's success. Several of the stories come to unsatisfying conclusions and the whole thing left me wanting something more. A few stories were intriguing but too short for me to feel any sort of connection to the characters. If you're looking for a true "Binchy experience" try Evening Class, The Copper Beech or Circle of Friends
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: It was the type of book that you started reading but if something else more exciting came along you could put it down and decide to return to it later.That says to me not a great book
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: It was the type of book that you started reading but if something else more exciting came along you could put it down and decide to return to it later.That says to me not a great book
Rating: 
Summary: And the next stop is...
Review: 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:
Summary: Interesting view of London
Review: Maeve Binchy describes different characters living in different areas of London. Each story is about a different area and a different character. My mother, daughter and I all enjoyed reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant short stories
Review: Maeve Binchy is a master at creating interesting characters and sketching out plots. In this book, she does it 22 times and manages to make each story contain a universal truth or moral. The main characters either remain blissfully unaware of the truth they are illustrating or have an "ah hah!" moment by the end of the story. The frustrating part of the short story genre is that readers would often like to hear more about the characters and see the plots more fully developed. Her novels, which knit together disparate characters into a pleasing whole, are more appealing to this reader, but if you enjoy Binchy, this is still worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant short stories
Review: Maeve Binchy is a master at creating interesting characters and sketching out plots. In this book, she does it 22 times and manages to make each story contain a universal truth or moral. The main characters either remain blissfully unaware of the truth they are illustrating or have an "ah hah!" moment by the end of the story. The frustrating part of the short story genre is that readers would often like to hear more about the characters and see the plots more fully developed. Her novels, which knit together disparate characters into a pleasing whole, are more appealing to this reader, but if you enjoy Binchy, this is still worth a read.
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