21-22: Two E-Books

Free!  Also easy reads during the time I sat in ICU waiting rooms...waiting for my sister to recover.

Rekindled by Tamera Alexander and The Most Unsuitable Wife by Caroline Clemmons, both ebooks, (downloaded at Amazon and iBooks, respectively), are both part of a series and were easy reads.

20: Crossroads

Author Wm. Paul Young's Cross Roads, a Christian fiction novel. introduces the readers to self-absorbed Anthony Spencer who soon learns what "in-between" means, as he also rediscovers what he missed out in life....love, companionship, and philanthropy

A read selected for our local bookstore's book club (a meeting I missed; later read the book), this novel echoes some of the themes in his previous novel The Shack.  Within both books, God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus are what we each need within our lives.  I find that so interesting, comforting, and hopeful, for that's what these three-in-one are to me.

This book I was reading during a difficult time in my life (my sister...like the main character...lay in ICU); I appreciated the gentle, spiritual reminders that this book brought.  The setting is the only thing Janet and main character Anthony have in common, though!   Giving she is; he is not.  Sacrificing she is; he is not.  Loving she is; he is not.  Full of faith she is; he is not...at least not in the beginning.

My concern with book? I have a strong Biblical background.  How would someone who does not read this novel?  What might he/she take from it differently than I did?  Do read the novel...no matter how much Bible learning you have.  Should you have little, then this would be an excellent time to pick up the Bible and read it also!

Happy reading!

19: A Heart of Devotion

Women Bible Cafe's March's fiction recommendation, A Heart of Devotion by Tia McCollors, shares the the hearts of two women Anisha and Sheir seeking to be closer to God as they make career and mate choices.

McCollors' characters come alive through dialogue and plot development, both moving the story line along at a rapid pace.  Girlfriends for years, Anisha and Sheri help hold each other accountable to a higher standard.  Challenged by jobs, family, and mistakes made with each, both women face trials, overcoming them as they each return to their Faith.

I appreciated how McCollors printed the Holy Spirit speaking to Anisha in bold italics.  Especially important for new or non-Christians, this illustrates how God does speak to His children.

If you enjoy Christian romance with a few roadblocks along the way, then this novel is one you will enjoy.

18: Up a Road Slowly

Recommended by Gretchen Rubin at The Happiness Project (she recommends three books per month...here are July's choices), this novel Up a Road Slowly, a young adult classic, explores the life of main character Julie who upon the death of her mother, goes to live with her aunt Cordelia.

A book that explores several rites of passages, including death, broken and distant relationships, life's choices, this was a quick and enjoyable read, one that I will place within my own classroom and book talk (have faces of last year's students that would enjoy this one).

Several years of Julie's life is encompassed within these pages, as we watch her grow from a little girl into one choosing which college to attend, along the way deciding to remain living with her seemingly stern aunt.

Again, the joy of a book club is reading books that might not have been my first...or even second...choice.  Up a Road Slowly was Rubin's February young adult recommendation, one that I completed in May...and am just now reviewing.  Something is wrong with this completion schedule!  Isn't life just too real at times?!

Enjoy!

17: The Maze Runner

James Dashner is such a good writer!  When I began the novel The Maze Runner, I found myself annotating...and annotating...then thinking, I have to take this back to the classroom and show my students!  That's what I did, using the novel's sentences as examples of compound-complex sentences using semi-colons, absolute, participial, and appositive phrases, and parallel structure...all that we had been discussing in class   

Chosen by the students as our second novel for our high school book club, this book was one that I had meant to read for several years, remembering other teacher friends talking about how well-liked it was when first published.  This one was chosen also because we all wanted to read it before seeing it on the big screen in August. 

Main character Thomas awakes in an elevator in a world of boys who have arrived in this different environment in the same manner, all with most of their memories wiped clean, to a world in which the only escape, although no one has done so successfully, is through the maze outside the compound.   

Dashner creates an interesting mix of characters, only one of which is female.  Awry with emotions due to the survival nature of the novel, the characters are presented in extreme situations, exuding many strong emotions.    Never boring, the author brings these characters alive through the many conflicts presented throughout. 

 I so enjoyed discussing this novel with several students, two of whom checked out a copy the novel the day we discussed the above lesson.  Cool!  AND we read the novel BEFORE the book goes to the big screen in August.

16: A Year on Ladybug Farm

Love the Ladybug Farm series...maybe even more so the second time around!

I joined our local bookstore's book club at the beginning of the year and volunteered to take a month when a slot came open.  Knowing these ladies as I had come to know them, I just knew they would love this series...and they did!

One of the questions I asked the ladies was which main character from A Year on Ladybug Farm did they most resemble?  I am Bridget, for I love to cook.  Interestingly, among our group, each main character was represented...there were Cici's who love to work outside and are the "handy-woman," and Lindsey's were present, the artistic ones, loving to create and restore (both objects and humans).  What a great way to learn more about each other!

This novel relates a year's adventure of three 50+ women who purchase a farm in Virginia, leaving their years in Baltimore, Maryland, behind...they go from being newbies to this community to a valuable part.  They go from three living in the farmhouse to six.  They simply grow.

Author Donna Ball creates characters that speak to you...a mix of Golden Girls, Designing Women, and Steel Magnolias...you become immersed in their lives and cannot wait to pick up the next in the series that now includes five novels.

Enjoy!

15: Walking on Water

Sadly, this novel concludes Richard Paul Evans' The Walk series.  I know you can only walk so far until you come to the end of your journey, but doesn't another walk just begin then?  Right.  That's the novel I hope Evans' writes next!

In Walking on Water,  main character Alan faces adversities, conquers the past, and loses more family...then gains much.

From the first novel, we learn of his loss:  the loss of his wife, his business, his hope.  From that loss comes the decision to walk from one point of the United States:  from Seattle, Washington, to Key West, Florida, where he finds hope again.  Along the way, he meets many special people, resulting in his own growth and expansion of self.

In this novel, Alan has to fly back home when he learns his father has had a heart attack.  While there, he discovers a book that his father has compiled of their family history, learning then of a past that he knew little of concerning his father.  During this time, Alan also realizes that love may be his again as he accepts that true love does bless people more than once in life.

I recommend this series often for its inspiring story for both female and male readers alike, for I have had several male students become interested and read this series, also.  Just this week, I recommended this series to my book club.  When one of the women suggested that we wait on place it one of next year's reading slots, I replied, "No.  You cannot wait that long to start this series."

No, you should not wait long to read this series, either.  Enjoy!

14: The Chosen One

Hannah asked, "Mrs. Gillmore, if I find you a copy of this book, would you read it with me?"

Me:  "Yes."  (Inwardly thinking, "How will I find time to read another book right now?"

In five minutes, back she walks in, having borrowed another copy of the novel The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams.  Soooo...I picked it up and read a few pages.  Then, I kept reading until I had finished the novel.

A fast read, a young adult read, this one captured my attention as it was told through the eyes of 13-year-old young lady who has been chosen for marriage...to her sixty-year-old uncle who already has six wives as ordered by their leader the Prophet.

Up close and personal, this narrative takes the reader into a world alien to most of us:  of dictatorial decrees, of large and growing families, of life-changing decisions, and or rites of passages that should remain alien to us.  Kyra has to make decisions that affect the well-being of just not herself but of also her family...and the librarian that brings books-on-wheels each Wednesday.  The literary lover in me has to appreciate that books play a part in her freedom...yes!

This book reminded me autobiography I read in 2009 entitle Escape by Carolyn Jessup (review here).  These books remind me again how blessed I am to have the God-blessed marriage I do.  Yes.

Several days later, Hannah asked if I had read the novel.  I so appreciated the conversation that followed...her anger, her dismay...her willingness to pause in her busy life and chat about a situation that resulted in our expressing our appreciation for the lives we lead.  AND...isn't it just inspiring to have a young adult encouraging an adult to read?  Yes!

Happy reading!