Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites - Books on Faith or Religion

1. Sundays in America - Suzanne Strempek Shea

Author Suzanne Strempek Shea visited 52 different churches over the course of a year, a religious road trip of sorts. The journey, and the conclusions which can be drawn from it, are both funny and poignant and very American.

2. Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

The most challenging, inspiring book regarding faith (aside from the Bible) that I have ever read.

3. Traveling Mercies - Anne Lamott

Wise and sharp, reverant and irreverant and sometimes painfully honest.

4. The Tao of Pooh - Benjamin Hoff

Winnie the Pooh meets Eastern philosophy. Allegorical fun!

Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites - Overlooked Books

1. The Blythes Are Quoted - L.M. Montgomery

If you read Anne of Green Gables and loved it enough to continue reading through the whole series, all the way to Rilla of Ingleside, this book is for you. It is a collection of stories which mention the Blythe family and are set in familiar locales, woven together with a narrative thread of vignettes with the Blythe family. It's one last cookie, when you thought the jar was empty.

2. Persuasion - Jane Austen

Lyrical, lovely and romantic but more mature, dignified and poignant than Emma. This classic is often overlooked and shouldn't be.

3. The Buccaneers - Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton manages commentary on both American and English society in this masterpiece. Unfinished before her death, it was lovingly completed by Marion Mainwaring. If the ending of The Age of Innocence ever made you scream in frustration, you need to read this book. If you just love period novels, you need to read this book. It is a gem.

Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites - Books About Writing

1. Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

This book is a miracle for conquering writer's block.

2. Write Away - Elizabeth George

Elizabeth George is a serious planner. With books as complex and rich as her Inspector Lynley mysteries, organization is key. She is generous with sharing her process.

3. Chapter after Chapter - Heather Sellers

Short, relevant snippets and anecdotes for just getting the work written and edited. I have certain passages bookmarked to reread whenever I feel hopeless.

4. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life - Anne Lamott

Classic, for a reason. If you haven't read it yet, why not? Grace on every page.

5. The Power to Write: Seven Keys to Discover Your Writer Within - Caroline Joy Adams

When you need a cheerleader, this book is there for you. Great for the insecure (and aren't we all sometimes?)

6. Three Genres: The Writing of Poetry, Fiction and Drama (5th ed.) - Stephen Minot

My favorite textbook from a life-changing creative writing class. Just pedagogical enough for the big picture, just practical enough for the actual practice of writing.

7. Writing from the Heart: Inspiration and Exercises for Women Who Want to Write - Leslea Newman

Based on the title, I would not have bought myself this book. It was a gift, and a great one. There are many thought-provoking exercises and ideas for helping to develop character, plot etc.

Book Review - Inn Boonsboro trilogy by Nora Roberts

I have recently finished reading the Inn Boonsboro trilogy by Nora Roberts. It was a fun read for the kids' week home from school during Thanksgiving. It is easy to put down, pick back up again and remember who everyone is, what they are doing and why.

The trilogy consists of "The Next Always", "The Last Boyfriend" and "The Perfect Hope", and revolves around the small town of Boonsboro, MD. The series was enjoyable, well-written lightweight romance at its' finest. Nora Roberts writes remodeling very well, like HGTV for bookworms. She gives good interior design. As a homeowner, I found myself more seduced by flooring and fixture descriptions than by the romantic lead, which suggests more about my love of Home Depot than Ms. Roberts' characters and plot. As the title of the trilogy suggests, the setting in Inn Boonsboro, which happens to be real place, owned by Nora Roberts herself. If it is anything like the book, the suites must have amazing bathtubs.

Five Reasons to Read the Inn Boonsboro Trilogy:

1. Modern love,  AARP-style.  The mother of the three main male lead characters is sassy, sexy and has a friend with benefits. You go, Grandma!

2. Puppy love. The dogs are endearing and not just props. I wish my dogs behaved this well. Sigh.

3. A beauty queen with brains. I was prepared to fully dislike the character Hope, on the basis of her history of pageants. Instead, I paused and reflected on the intelligence of a woman who could use her beauty as a tool but not her only tool. Well played, Nora Roberts. I won't be watching Miss America but I maybe won't judge them so harshly in my mind.

4. Extra touches of reality bonus points. One character is a war widow. A mother abandoned one character as a child (mommy issues instead of daddy issues- refreshing). Someone has a job and can't join the Fourth of July festivities because they are working. Construction workers swear (a lot- don't give these books to people who prefer to avoid profanity), get covered in dirt and have coarse sensibilities. Relationships last for months before proposals. These little touches are great because it helps make up for the ubiquitous amazingly romantic and perfect adult interludes.

5.  Come for the romance, stay for the pizza. One of the characters runs a pizzeria. We ordered pizza twice over Thanksgiving Break. The descriptions made my mouth water. Yum!



This is Nora Roberts' second trilogy set near Antietam, with the ghosts of civil war soldiers as fairly significant characters. The other series involved the McKade brothers, who were remodeling an inn in Antietam. That series was also good, although it was from earlier days, when Ms. Roberts' books were much shorter.



Kinda makes me want to take the kids on a Civil War-themed road trip.