Summer book club poll is still open!

I've been nerdily monitoring our Summer Book Club poll on the right side of the blog, and so far our leading contender is the historical/scriptural based fiction title, The Well  Coming in a close second is our frivolously fun librarian fiction title, Arsenic and Old Books, A Cat in the Stacks Mystery. So much snorting, I love it.

I have the poll set to close next Tuesday night, I believe. So if you haven't officially voted yet, have at it!

Quick note that the paperback edition of The Well is on major sale right now for $2.35. Maybe we should scoop it?! I already have some dance DVD's and music in my cart. An extra $2.35 won't hurt anybody, right? ;-) Oh waiiitttttt... That's a marketplace copy, so $3.99 shipping applies, making it not quite as much of a bargain basement deal as I thought. The Prime shipping copy is $9. So about the same as it was before. Carry on. :0

It's *that* time of year: in which I ravenously purchase Christmas books...

Happy Wednesday everyone, and I hope that your week is progressing well! I'm doing great over here. I recorded a video post this morning (which you'll see tomorrow) and you'll notice that I'm all perky in it. It's another busy week, but I'm excited about a lot of things coming up, and that shines through all the coffee drinking, I think. ;-) The topic is dance related, so if that is of interest to you, make sure to come back tomorrow!

As I was reading a book on my beloved Kindle last night, it occurred to me via the sheer volume of titles that are cataloged in my Christmas folder (yes, I am a librarian and super nerdy about such things) how romance and mystery books with a Christmas setting are one of my very guiltiest pleasures. I'll be honest and admit that I do sometimes read them at other times of the year (don't judge me :0) but I especially love reading them in the late fall and early winter, leading up to Christmas day. I know it isn't actually Christmas until after that, but you know. We all have our weaknesses. ;-)

I end up downloading WAY more books than I can actually read in a single season, and I know this, but yet this does not dissuade me in any way. It makes me happy year round to see that folder labeled "Christmas," and to know that those stories are waiting for me. Strange, but true.

And so this is how I go about my quest, for anybody who wants to join me in this saga: Starting around September, I scout for Christmas books. You will begin seeing authors and publishers promoting their upcoming Christmas titles right around then. When I spy something that I like, I'll either pre-order it, or stick it on my Amazon shopping list to remind me to come back to it. My current read, which I did in fact pre-order is this one:

This is the eleventh book in the Seaside Knitters series (cozy mysteries, which I am an avid fan of), but you can read them as stand alone titles. The number of characters has gotten confusing at this point, but there is a list with a blurb of who everyone is at the front of the book. Here is the description:

In Sea Harbor, the holidays mean cozy fires, festive carols, and soft skeins of yarn waiting to become hats and sweaters and scarves. And this year, Izzy and the other Seaside Knitters are also knitting tiny ornaments to decorate a tree for the first annual tree-trimming contest.

Their holiday cheer is multiplied when Izzy’s younger brother, Charlie Chambers, unexpectedly arrives to volunteer at a local clinic. He brings with him outspoken hitchhiker Amber Hanson, who is returning to Sea Harbor to claim an inheritance. She quickly reacquaints herself with the area—and forms an unlikely friendship with Charlie. But their bond is shattered when her body is found beneath the undecorated trees on the Harbor Green.

Charlie is a suspect in the murder, so Izzy and her fellow Knitters step in to uncover the truth. Their journey takes them into Charlie’s past and tests their fierce love for him. But it’s only by peeling away long-buried secrets that they can hope to restore joy to the season and enjoy the shining lights of the newly decorated trees....

Intriguing, yes? I live for books like this. :0 The setting just puts a person right into the Christmas spirit. I'm also a big fan of the Love Inspired line of monthly romances.  They have sub-lines of contemporary, suspense and historical romances, and these can all be characterized as inspirational Christian stories. Starting usually in October, they will start to include Christmas titles in their lineup, and so I always peruse and pre-order what I'd like. Then on November 1st and December 1st, those titles will automatically download to my Kindle. So, for example, in November, this is one of the books newly on my Kindle:

Here is the description:

NO WAY OUT

The last thing Benjamin Duff needs is to be stranded at his friend Piper Lawrence's bed-and-breakfast with a dangerous intruder. But when he stops to say goodbye before moving across the world, he finds a masked man attacking Piper. Benjamin rushes to save her, crashing his truck and trapping them during a winter storm in the process. With no power or cell phones and time running out before his trip, he'll have to work fast to catch the killer. As they fight for their lives and their feelings for each other grow, Benjamin must decide if he's really willing to leave Piper behind.

As these are inspirational romances, they are what I would characterize as wholesome, no steamy love scenes. :) I particularly enjoy the suspense titles, but I do also like the contemporary romances, like this one:

 A Small-Town Christmas

Gemma Butler has a grand vision to transform the fledgling Christmas celebrations in Dover, Mississippi, and bring visitors to the town. It's also the single mom's last chance to provide for her son and revive her event planning business. But Gemma's not the only one with something to prove. Line Montgomery has the weight of the family business on his shoulders. And he'll go down swinging before he'll let anyone disrupt the traditions he holds dear. Yet when a storm threatens to destroy the holiday, he'll join forces with the beautiful planner and discover she just might be the love he's been searching for.

 Awwwwww...Sweet, right?! I love these books. Obviously, these are not deep literature, just enjoyable light holiday reading.

So. I need to know. Am I alone in this, or are there other Christmas romance fans out there as well? Show yourself in the comments, pretty please. :)

Catholic Book Club: Chasing Francis

Happy Catholic Book Club Wednesday everyone! And this month we have a particularly fascinating title: Chasing Francis by Ian Morgan Cron. I downloaded this book for my Kindle due to a sale advertisement, and when I did so, I was under the impression that it was a spiritual memoir dealing with Franciscan spirituality from a non-Catholic Christian perspective. Want to know something interesting? It is the latter, but it is *not* the former. Confused? :) This is actually a fiction title, but written in the style of a non-fiction, spiritual memoir. Ingenious!

Frankly, I wish I had thought of this idea, I like it *that* much! ;-) I was very much looking forward to reading how the author presented this format, and the fact that he is an Episcopalian priest made the book all the more interesting to me. I think that it is valuable to read from a number of different Christian perspectives, and given that he was writing about St. Francis and Franciscan spirituality, I was intrigued. All right, off we go!

Here is our description, courtesy of Amazon:

What happens when the pastor of a mega church loses his faith? Pastor Chase Falson has lost his faith in God, the Bible, evangelical Christianity, and his super-sized megachurch. When he falls apart, the church elders tell him to go away: as far away as possible. Join Chase on his life-changing journey to Italy where, with a curious group of Franciscan friars, he struggles to resolve his crisis of faith by retracing the footsteps of Francis of Assisi, a saint whose simple way of loving Jesus changed the history of the world. Read this riveting story and then begin your own life-changing journey through the pilgrim’s guide included in this powerful novel.

Great premise, yes? And overall, I really liked the book. This is the first book for this author, and indeed, it does show in some ways. There are instances of "telling" rather than "showing," especially at the end of the book where we read Chase's sermon to his congregation in word-for-word detail. My attention tends to wander in such monologue situations. As a reader, I do not enjoy them. That being said, I did not find this to be a pervasive problem, and I found myself quite engaged in the story throughout.

The beginning of the book had me hooked. Reading about Chase's crisis of faith, and how his congregation reacted to it held me at rapt attention. His trip to Italy to meet up with his Franciscan friends was absolutely delightful. There is a romantic subplot (who will he choose?!) that is very sweet. A little predictable, but hey. I read a LOT of romance novels, and every single one of them is predictable in that sense, so no judgement there. I also loved Chase's exploration of Franciscan spirituality, and journey of self discovery about his own faith. I laughed aloud at some of his scenes with the humorous Franciscan friars.

Towards the end of the book, I found that the plot lost a bit of steam. Certainly, I was interested to see what was going to happen with Chase's church and his faith. That's all good stuff. But something about the narrative lost its sense of wonder, if that makes any sense. There were more of the aforementioned monologue sequences as the book wore on, that was part of it. I enjoyed the beginning and middle of the book more than the end, I suppose is a way of summing it up. I also had one Catholic quibble with this book. :) And granted, it's written by a non-Catholic, so that is understood. But the Catholic characters in this book encourage Chase, a non-Catholic, to receive the Eucharist at Mass. I certainly don't want to make anyone feel excluded at the liturgy, I think it's wonderful that non-Catholics enjoy the Mass. Please, come! We want you. :) But there are theological differences there, and that is the reason for the doctrine surrounding the Eucharist. I'm looking at this from a Catholic perspective, and the author is approaching it from a non-Catholic viewpoint, and so it's certainly of value to try and see things from the others' perspective.

I liked this book, and I think it is well worth your time to read. Sweet anecdote: Someone who read and thoroughly enjoyed Chasing Francis found this blog when he was searching for more information on the author, since it has been on my book club reading list. He sent me a tweet saying that he is a former Catholic, and after reading this book, is, for the first time in years, thinking about the Catholic faith again. That really touched me. Books like this can move hearts and minds. That is indeed a beautiful thing.

What did you think, dear reader? I so enjoyed this foray into Franciscan spirituality that I chose another Franciscan title for October, given that it's the month of St. Francis's feast. :) Next month we will read When St. Francis Saved the Church, by Jon M. Sweeney. I have a print copy that I found when over at Ave Maria Press's web store picking up the new Sacred Reading book. So, a tip that you can get When St. Francis Saved the Church in hardcover at Ave Maria Press for a sale price of $10, if that appeals to you.

Leave me your thoughts in the comments!

Catholic Book Club: Into the Clouds

Hi all! It's Catholic Book Club day, and today we have an installment in a series, this being the Berdie Elliott Mysteries, and I've talked about these books before. I absolutely adore the setting and concept, which is that of a new vicar and his wife in a small English village. This particular segment in the series is set around an Ascension day procession, and I simply could not resist the tie-in to the liturgical calendar. Here is the description:

Ascension Sunday balloons are not the only things disappearing in the English village of Aidan Kirkwood. When the villagers celebrate the first Ascension Sunday Processional in fifty years, someone goes missing. A well-off widow who was amongst the crowd has vanished into thin air. And she's not the only one who's nowhere to be found.

Berdie Elliott, the local vicar's wife, goes into sleuth mode as eccentric cat lovers, a secretive informant, Portuguese holidays, an enigmatic "tree" house, and tangled family dynamics all add to the perplexing affair.

 During the course of the story, following the Ascension procession, the vicar talks a lot about his preparation for Whitsum, and I thought to myself:

"What on earth is he talking about?"

...and so I used the handy dandy dictionary tool available on my Kindle. Turns out Whitsum is actually Pentecost, as used in British English. Brilliant! As ever, I loved the setting, and I followed along with the characters and the mystery quite avidly. I will say that in terms of the more minor characters, I felt like there were a lot of them in this book and I had a difficult time keeping them straight. That's the one thing on my Kindle that I still struggle with. I don't find it as easy to flip back and forth between portions of the book to refresh my memory. I also found the plot in this book a bit more convoluted as compared to other volumes in the series. There were two mysteries, really, and we had Berdie pursing one and her best pal Lillie pursuing the other, and I didn't find Lillie's quick jump onto that mystery, and her subsequent unexpected and unexplained trip to Portugal in that regard, all that believable. That plot point, tying into a disagreement she is having with her beau, seemed a bit contrived to me.

Those points notwithstanding, I enjoyed this book. I like the characters, I'm very happy checking back in with them to see what has happened in their lives, and I adore sinking into their beautiful village setting. This book came out in the fall of 2014, and I'm hoping that the author is planning to keep writing new adventures in this series.

Has anybody else read this book or others in the series? What did you think?

:)

"Sweet" fiction recommendations, your Catholic Librarian is on the case...

Greetings to all! Happy to be with you again. I'm such a nerd about this blog. I blog nearly every day, but some days it simply isn't possible, like yesterday. And I had been blogging for something like 10 straight days, so a break was fine. But it felt strange not to post yesterday, so I was all excited to get right to it today. But do check my Twitter feed for micro updates (if you care, lol) because I do post something on there every day.

Interestingly, this experiment in the 7 day blogging challenge made one thing clear that I have suspected for a long time: MANY less people read blogs over the weekend. I rarely post things on the weekend, and the two posts that I queued up have significantly less hits than usual. So, since this is a book related post, I wanted to mention that one of those weekend posts was the latest Catholic Book Club entry, on Paths to Prayer: A Field Guide to Ten Catholic Traditions. New readers can catch up on all of the Catholic Book Club entries here.

I started the book that I will review next in Catholic Book Club, but I have to be honest and admit that I needed a bit of break from heavy non-fiction reading and wanted a foray into fiction. And so, what kind of fiction does the Catholic Librarian read?

When I read fiction, I want total escapism. Nothing heavy hitting, sometimes even really good thrillers are just too intense for me. I like very sweet romances, usually with an Amish or general Christian theme, and I have been known to read serial romances. (when I was searching for that last link, I found this gem from last year about my adventures in ebook downloading when I first got my Kindle. Go enjoy :))

Right now I'm reading Beth Wiseman's The House that Love Built. I really like Beth Wiseman's work, as I mentioned in the link above regarding my love of serial Christian and Amish romances. She usually writes Amish books, but this is a non-Amish title. I'm about 30% of the way through, and it involves a young widow, and her two children, meeting the new man in their small Texas town who comes to refurbish a landmark old home. He's recovering from an unpleasant divorce to a woman who was unfaithful to him. There's also a very sweet side storyline about the main heroine's mother finding love in her retirement home.

I generally read a TON of Amish romances. I download them regularly to my Kindle when I see a new book out by a favorite author, or when they come up on the Inspired Reads list as being marked down and the description grabs me.  Also on my Kindle for the summer is: A Season of Love (Kauffman Amish Bakery Series), by Amy Clipston, A Plain Death: An Appleseed Creek Mystery, by Amanda Flower, An Amish Kitchen (a compilation which is marked down to $2.50 right now for anybody who wants it), and The Quilter's Son Book 1: Liam's Choice, by Samantha Jillian Bayarr (99 cents right now!)

Also in my fiction queue is a re-read of an old favorite, which is Death by Cashmere: A Seaside Knitters Mystery, by Sally Goldenbaum. I read a library copy a few years ago, and just loved this entire Seaside Knitters series, but this first volume was my absolute favorite. I saw a cheap new print copy on Amazon Marketplace and snapped it up.

Pretty soon (usually September) we will start to see romances set at Christmas time, and those are my *favorite* of the entire year. I have a few on my Kindle that I didn't get to last year (and yes, I have my Kindle books in folders, and one of them is set apart for Christmas books, there are two in there right now waiting for me *beams*). They are A Wild Good Chase Christmas: Quilts of Love Series, by Jennifer AiLee, and Call Me Mrs. Miracle, by Debbie Macomber.

I hope that gives you some good ideas for end-of-summer fiction!

Precious Kindle, how I love thee...

Yesterday was July 1st, you know what that means, right?

I used my downloaded version of Living Faith for the first time on my Kindle.

*angels sing*

I used to subscribe to Living Faith in print, but somewhere in the past year trailed off. I received an email from them recently advertising their brand new e-versions of the pocket devotional for both Kindle and Nook. Say no more. I headed right to Amazon and downloaded the July/August/September issue to my Kindle.

I love this little devotional. It's a short entry each day tied to the Mass readings. And having them on my Kindle makes it all very accessible for me, since my Kindle accompanies me pretty much everywhere. *kiss*

Relatedly, I have an rss suggestion that you'll love should you also have an e-reader in your life. Inspired Reads is a blog with daily updates on free and heavily discounted inspirational fiction and non-fiction in the Kindle store. Although I've yet to see any offerings on this site from Catholic publishers, I have downloaded some really books based on what I've found here, and all are very wholesome and solidly Christian. I just read a Mennonite fiction romance that was just adorable, and the only reason I found the author was because of this blog (my husband is hysterical that such a thing exists as "Mennonite fiction", but hey, if it's out there, I will find it :)). I have it entered into my Google Reader, so I catch all of their posts. Usually, the books are free that they advertise, but sometimes they'll be titles that are on a deep discount, maybe for $1.99 or $2.99. I've been quite happy with what I've found there.

Some summer reading

With my new Kindle tucked into my hand like a baby bird, pink cover lovingly encasing it, I've been doing a lot more reading. The instant gratification of downloading a book right onto my Kindle and having immediate access to it is unparalleled for a bookworm like me. I LOVE it. *kiss*

Now, as you may already know about me, I have definite tastes in reading. I read very little classical literature or even spiritual classics. I just have a short attention span, I'm unashamed to admit. I prefer spiritual memoirs and fiction. In particular, I like romance fiction, especially of the inspirational variety, meaning Christian. Mostly, I read Catholic fiction, Amish fiction, or series Christian fiction, such as Steeple Hill Love Inspired (an imprint of Harlequin). The few authors that I read who publish out of larger, traditional Christian publishing houses usually write Amish fiction. If it's not specifically Catholic or Amish, I like very generic Christian fiction where the characters express their faith life but aren't too overbearing about it. I've been burned in the past with anti-Catholic things in some Christian fiction, so I'm choosy. 

Beth Wiseman is an author I've been reading a lot of lately, and I'm a big fan of her work. She publishes out of Thomas Nelson, but she writes mostly excellent Amish fiction. I read a book of hers recently, Seek Me With All Your Heart, and it even contained a positively portrayed Catholic character! In my experience, this is quite rare from a traditional Christian publisher. I'm not saying they all publish tons of anti-Catholic rhetoric or anything like that. But Catholicism will mostly be absent. All Christian characters are explicitly or assumed to be non-denominational. I'm in the midst of reading two of her Amish series right now, Land of Canaan and Daughters of the Promise. She's also written a contemporary Christian book recently called Need You Now, and I liked that one as well. This book features a storyline more commonly seen in Christian romances than in secular (in my opinion), which is that the featured couple is already married, but undergoing marital difficulties. As the book unfolds we watch their relationship crumble, and then build back up again via love, communication, and their faith in God. I definitely recommend her books for strong character development, lovely settings, and a solid and well articulated faith element. 

By way of the other non-Catholic inspirational fiction that I read, I really do like Steeple Hill Love Inspired, like I mentioned above. This is a series imprint, meaning that multiple books will come out each month in the line, and sometimes feature newer authors, although well established authors also make frequent showings. I used to "subscribe" to this line years ago, which entails Harlequin Reader Service sending you all of the books for each month in your chosen imprint for a discounted price. I couldn't keep up after a time, so I cancelled, but I always enjoyed the books. The regular Love Inspired titles are contemporary romances. Harlequin has now expanded the genre to include Love Inspired Suspense and Love Inspired Historical. I read an occasional historical romance, and when I do, I love them, but they're not my favorite genre. But my new favorite is Love Inspired Suspense. As you would imagine, these are romantic suspense books, and the characters will have a faith element present in their lives. They are very sweet (no love scenes) but are long enough to accommodate strong character development in the midst of a catchy mystery. LOVE them. Harlequin offers a free title for most of their lines so that one can decide whether or not they like that series or not, and for Love Inspired Suspense they offer Marta Perry's Hide in Plain Sight, which is (yay!) an Amish title. I linked to the Kindle version, but you can get the epub version off the Harlequin web site. I just finished reading this book, and I enjoyed it very much. As is often the case in series romance, this is the first title in a trilogy, The Three Sisters Inn series. I plan to read books two and three as well.

I do love series romance. Not everyone does, they prefer longer stand alone titles, but these are nice fast reads with engaging stories. My favorite lines are Love Inspired and Love Inspired Suspense, but I also like Harlequin Intrigue and Harlequin Romantic Suspense, as well as a occasional Harlequin Superromance. You can buy them (both in print and as an ebooks, though not Kindle compatible) from Harlequins web site, or from Amazon for your Kindle. Harlequin offers them a month early. If you order from Amazon, you have to wait until the first of the month they are released. But what I like is that I can preorder the ones I want, and then on the first day of the month, they automatically download to my Kindle. You don't pay for preorders until they actually download. It's awesome.

Right now I'm reading a library ebook (sweet!) from my very favorite Amish author, Beverly Lewis. It's the first book in her new series Home to Hickory Hollow, called The Fiddler. Loving it. It takes so little to make me happy.