Random Thoughts

I’ve read every one of Mark’s on-line posts in recent years, and although we’ve never met, I’ve had a sense that I knew him. After reading “Random Thoughts: A Writer’s Notebook,” I realize that I haven’t given Mark enough credit for the breadth of his interests, the depth of his character, and his ability to inspire everyone from fifth grade students to white-haired people like me. Each of the 50-plus stories in this Notebook of Mark’s holds up on its own. Some would even work as Sunday homilies. Taken together, these stories provide a portrait of life well lived and well written. (Not many can do both). I’m so glad Mark wrote this book! Favorite quote: “The only thing I was more afraid of than starting my own business at the ripe young age of 50 was the prospect of not starting my own business at 50 … then having to wake up at 60 to ask myself , “What if …” Favorite revelation: the site where Mark and his wife Anne had their first date. Read the book to learn where ... and to be enlightened and entertained all the way through.

Mark O’Brien’s essays of random thoughts remind me of how I became who I am, one story at a time. I thoroughly enjoyed this well composed journey through the author’s life from childhood lessons into parenthood and beyond. I smiled a lot, I laughed out loud, I cried a little, and I nodded in agreement page after page. The stories are relevant and superbly written with a refreshingly magnificent grasp of the English language often lacking in books today. You won’t be disappointed with this wonderful book.

Here we have a collection of stories from a fellow who claims his writing muse was Stan Lee, he of Marvel Comics. O'Brien's true-life tales range from adolescent derring do at a favorite haunt, Chapman Beach (parts 1&2) to the grisly, the generous, and the inexplicably grand, as in his interaction with his brother Woody, and US Marine father. The stories are moving in a way we seldom appreciate, that is to say for their focus on plain people, and their gritty yet wholesome pursuit of lives with meaning. The author assists police teasing out suicide victims. Opening a vein, as every good writer must, he details how his own son discovered where the legal and ethical lines were. Along the way he writes a homage to friends and musicians he's known and envied. A favorite tale? I'm going with 'My summer with Chucky,' the author's version of here's what I did this summer, during which he chaperoned and tended to a dependent fellow who emerged from his neural fog long enough to correct the author's purposeful mis-titling. "Isn't that right Arnold?" "No!" he said. "Chucky!" If you're looking for easy to read, short, exquisitely crafted (and true) life stories, Random Thoughts is a very satisfying collection. Everybody's got a story, kid, as one chapter reads. Or in this author's case, several.

Imagine sitting back in a comfortable easy chair on a Sunday afternoon with a log in the fire. Your best friend has joined you and over a period of captivating hours, begins to share story after story after story –all the trials and tribulations of growing up, both good times and challenging times. The wisdom shared between the covers of this masterpiece is as entertaining as it is priceless. Grab your copy. Grab a large coffee & throw a log in the fire, as you won't be disappointed.