24-26: Spring Rain, Book of Unholy Mishief, & Remarkable Creatures

This past week or so, I read three incredible novels, amazingly, all dealt with the topic of faith and the unknown.  Which that is what faith is all about, right?  The platform on which the unknown builds.

Spring Rain by Gayle Roper

This book found me at one of our local bookstores in a section of books marked down to fifty cents.  I am grateful.

Spring Rain caught me attention because one of the characters has AIDS.  I cannot remember reading a book that deals with this topic; thus, I was hooked and interested in how a Christian writer would approach this topic...by the way the character does die, and the resolution is interesting.

Spring Rain is also about character Leigh and her son Billy and the mystery and circumstances surrounding their lives.  A fairly quick read, this one is definitely "chick lit," something that I very much enjoy after an intense week.

I appreciate how the author dealt with the many issues within this novel.

The Book of Unholy Mischief by Elle Newmark

Set in Venice at the beginning of the Renaissance (1498), The Book of Unholy Mischief or The Chef's Apprentice tells the story of Luciano, an orphaned beggar, who obtains the favor of Chef Ferrero and becomes his apprentice, as he continues to hunt for the book of which everyone is desperately seeking, to the extent that some even torture and kill.  Luciano is a nosey yet determined young man, who proves that perseverance does pay. 

I took this novel with me to the National Beta Club Convention.  On our way home, one of the young ladies asked if she could begin reading this novel...and she was hooked.  Every so often, I would hear her say, "This is so good."

I purchased this novel well over a year ago at the recommendation of one of the blogs I follow (sorry!  I really wish I could remember which one!), and the novel sat and waited for me to select it as my next read.  To my regret, I wish I had read it much earlier so that I could have recommended it to my students last year, for I can name several who would have greatly enjoyed reading this one.

This novel dealt, too, with Christian issues, some of which I agreed; some of which I did not.  This is a novel I would love to read with a group and have discussions throughout.

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

A friend/peer on a state-level committee recently recommended this read.  After our meeting that evening, I checked this one out on the Internet and then bought four of this author's novels.  Then yesterday afternoon, after returning from a week on the road, I sit down with novel and began to read and continued to read until I could no longer stay awake and then finished it when I awoke this morning.  Yes, it's that good!

Remarkable Creatures, a work of historical fiction (early to mid-1800's) and a New York Times bestseller, relates the life and findings Mary Anning, who had the "eye" for finding fossils of long-ago and now extinct, creatures, and her friend/mentor Elizabeth Philpot, also a fish fossil hunter.

What probably intrigued me the most was the questioning by Elizabeth Philpot of how these extinct creatures fit into the stories of the Bible and the answers she found as she matured, answers to which I happen to agree.

Please consider reading these novels!