All Things New by Lynn Austin (aka Extra! Extra! Lynn Austin makes me a better Christian)

WARNING: major Lynn Austin love here. GAH! rambles and odes and such... it's rather pathetic ;)

Lynn Austin is no stranger to work and research surrounding the Civil War.  The 8 time Christy Award winner scored two such awards for her Refiner’s Fire trilogy which exceptionally offered readers with three books centered on three different viewpoints: the North, the South, the Slave.

In the Restoration piece, All Things New, Austin has married these 3 three perspectives through new characters and circumstances.  The war is over; but its ramifications have left the South shattered: faithless, hopeless and poor.  What was so hard fought for on both sides seems pale when compared with the devastating loss of life and lifestyle.

For White Oaks plantation owner Eugenia and her daughters, Mary and Josephine, the world is hardly recognizable.  Where the slaves used to work their farm and ensure food was provided and parties balls overseen, this new found emancipation forces a brand new necessity for getting one’s hands dirty. Indeed, the sullying of hands is a major motif in the novel: as Eugenia slowly but surely watches her daughter’s dainty fair skin become blistered and callous with work of survival.

After years of distance, doing back-breaking work for their master’s well-being, freed slaves Lizzie and Otis can finally live together as man and wife.  But, while they still maintain a livelihood on the plantation owned by Eugenia and run by her ex-soldier son, Daniel, they are torn between a conglomerate of former slaves vying for sheer freedom and the bleak helplessness at having the freedom to leave but lacking the direction to go.

Alexander Chandler, a Quaker turned Yankee soldier aches to make amends to his Creator for his part in the hopeless destruction and bloodshed. Acting as agent for the Freedman’s Bureau, he encourages Lizzie and Otis and others of their kind to start anew.  As well as starting a new school that Lizzie and Otis’ children attend, he acts as liaison between the freed slaves and their previous owners in an attempts to encourage them to work peacefully. 

Everything, every single thread in this compellingly readable tapestry is one born of chaos. I cannot fathom the confusion and drastic change of living that occurred for Americans on both sides of the War (the losing South, the Winning North) nor for the freed slaves so beholding to their masters and their degrading way of life that an evening walk seems to instil a sense of breaking a law now dissolved. While Josephine is young and able to adapt to the changes and, subsequently shape her character and drive in a way never imagined by questioning and challenging her uprising to this point, so Eugenia is stuck in a past that she can never resurrect: sadly scrambling to keep up appearances, make calls at neighbouring plantations depraved of their glory and organizing balls to assemble the ragtag crew of the poor and defeated.  Unable to accept that the South’s glory days are gone, she acts as a kind of Ashley Wilkes’ : nobly holding to the past while unable to see the new world as it unfolds before her.  Readers will at times find her stubbornly ridiculous; outwardly wanting to lash at her condescending tone and her inability to see the harm she unintentionally causes. But, here, here is one way in which Austin excels. She can make even the most seemingly unsympathetic character understandable. Slow, sure changes in character equate in massive leaps strode forward and Eugenia leaves so much of her social certainty behind.

Josephine’s tale is by far my favourite: mostly because Lynn Austin’s young women as they confront spiritual uncertainties resonate most strongly with me.  Josephine is, like the cream of the Austin canon, a perfect collision of modern questions and a well-researched time period. She’s effervescent, extremely relatable: a firecracker on the verge of something wonderful even as the old life threatens to pull her back.  Josephine is, at the beginning of the book, eclipsed by her loss.  The loss of her way of life, the loss of her side of the War, the loss of her father and brother.  Even when Daniel returns, he is not as she knew him and retreats sullenly into himself emotionally scarred by what he has seen and heard.  When she makes an unlikely ally in Alexander Chandler she recognizes him as a sounding board for the questions rapidly firing in her head.  While Chandler may represent the winning side, so he poses questions about God, faith and humanity…most importantly, her future… that Josephine is aching to resolve.

The relationship between Josephine and Alexander is worth reading alone.  In gloriously slow and lugubrious fashion, Austin metes out significant and brief meetings. Each time, we learn a tad more about both as individuals as she strings us along: their silences as telling as their conversations.  In a recent interview with Novel Crossing, Austin mentioned that she often writes large patches of dialogue first. Her first draft, she admits, is often a plethora of dialogue wherein she revisits and hashes out and patches together connecting scenes.  This is so telling in the propensity of her dialogue to resound off her page; but also testament to her genius at writing character.  These are character driven stories.  Much as Josephine clings to her father’s mirror ( a kind touch featuring Alexander is brought to light when it comes to this mirror), so do these compelling and strong scenes hold a mirror up to ourselves.

  Lynn Austin does best when she asks universal questions  through her fiction. She often doesn’t answer them. She poses them, she encourages one to fight and challenge and wrestle with them as her achingly relatable characters do.   It is no secret that I love Austin and I encourage readers who try her to recognize that she works on more than one level. First, she is a universally admired storyteller. She has dozens of women readers ( in the States and Canada and beyond) who recognize she has a knack for just a great narrative. Her stories will grab you. She doesn’t trip you up with dense and muddled descriptions; rather she leans across and whispers in your ear.  It works well, it’s a style her own. 

Secondly, she is unique enough to have what I call a  Lynn Austin Moment. It occurs in every book in the same vaguely delightful way that the Ernst Lubitsch touch pervaded his classic films.  This is that one reassuringly blossoming moment when you know that you are reading a Lynn Austin novel. It’s a delight, it’s a spark: it’s a scene so unique and cherished and wonderful that you just want to live in it a moment.  It’s for this reason that people read books and you will find a plentitude in Austin.  I don’t want to give away MY Lynn Austin moment in All Things New because I want readers to discover what it can be for themselves.

Finally, and most importantly, she is divinely inspired.  I don’t usually get so mushy when I dole out the Christian book reviews; but Lynn Austin’s novels tend to meet me where I am spiritually at the exact moment I am reading them. It is almost mindblowing how spirit-filled these books are and how they speak to me on so many levels and challenge me and encourage me in ways I didn’t even know I needed challenging and encouraging.    I get mocked ( good-humouredly) for my Lynn Austin love; but if readers could possibly fathom the way that God speaks to me through her work, they might give me a bit of a break.

I yearn for every believer to find the same type of solace in fiction.  I believe that God speaks in many ways, mediums, forms. For passionate readers why wouldn't he use intelligent storytelling as a portal?  Lynn Austin is gifted.  Not just in the way that we mention the gift of any artistic storyteller; but in her ability to strengthen her readers’ spiritual walks.  She opens our eyes to things: They are often things that are staring us right in the face; but they hit me doubly so when I am in the midst of her pages.

Austin’s books validate me as a believing woman. I know I am not alone. I know that I am on the right path. I know that even when I feel too-outspoken, too awkward, too imaginative, too different that I have found an imaginative construct wherein I am validated. I am valid. My life is valid. God made me the way I am. I, too, can have a purpose: as flawed and strange and outspoken and bewildering and unladlylike as I am.

She can silently and gently preach through her words forever that God uses women of all types and circumstances in all times (married or single, educated or not, strong and outspoken or docile and meek) and that ALL are worthy.  This is her thesis (I’ve told you all this countless times before).  And there are times when I look to my “big three” of female author-hood (Austin, DL Sayers, Catherine Marshall) and thank the good Lord above for how they quench my thirst. Because, honestly, fair readers-who-are-probably-bored-of-this-long-winded-ramble, I sometimes wonder if I would still be a believer today, given time, circumstance and the confusion of being an independent woman in the Evangelical sphere, if it wasn’t for their meeting me where I’m at. Strangers, yes, using fiction to resuscitate me. 

I’ll never really have the  guts to write Lynn Austin a personal email. I would get all flustered and not know where to begin …. But I want you to know how she has changed me, challenged me, healed and consoled me. I think the right book ---the right author---can find the right reader in providential bliss--- and I want you to give it a chance. She might just be the balm you need.  This story is far more than historical fiction.  But, that’s the beauty of Lynn Austin, isn’t it?

This review copy was provided from Graf-Martin Communications on behalf of Bethany House 

A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin for 1.99

Okay, I love Lynn Austin.
< really not a newsflash>

We all know this.  Anyways, one of my ALL TIME favourite Lynn Austin books A Proper Pursuit is 1.99 right now ....

so, umm... BUY IT

not convinced? read my review here   If you only buy one Christian novel on the Chicago World's Fair (it seems there's a ton nowadays) make it this one.  Silas McClure is one of my favourite heroes of ALL time.

It is available for a myriad of different readers  at this special price 

Yesterday, Lynn Austin was featured in an interview with Novel Crossing about how characters bring her books to life. READ IT 

I am currently savouring All Things New and adoring every moment.  I like to ration out Austin's books because I know it will be a year before another one.... expect a review shortly.

happy Lynn Austin-ing! ( I mean reading)

Congratulations Lynn Austin

For the 8th (8th!!!) time, Lynn Austin won the Christy Award for Best Historical novel.  Far and away she has won more Christys than any other author and deservedly so: she is the best in the business.

Read my review of the award-winning Wonderland Creek


Read the full list of Christy Award winnners here 

Blogher Book Buzz: Wonderland Creek

I was so excited to hear from BlogHer last week informing me that my blog had been chosen as the book spotlight today. Even more exciting, they are featuring my review of Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin.

You ALL know how much I love Lynn Austin and I hope the love translates as more people pick up her amazing books!

Check out BlogHer: a repository for a blog under every subject you could ever dream of and experience their "life well said"

Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin

I think we all know what I think about Lynn Austin ( she has a tag tab on the side of this blog and you can read me go on and on and on about how she is just the best).  You could argue that there are writers who have a more poetic style of prose, or a more literary style, or deeper thematic resonance; but you can't argue against her completely unique and special touch. She has a natural gift of narrative storytelling that is unparalleled in the Christian historical market. She has the "Lynn Austin" touch: an a-ha moment readers experience when they stumble upon the moment that makes a Lynn Austin just that!: a Lynn Austin novel. I revel in reading her books because I know I will come across that enlightening feeling.

As previously mentioned, Austin's ongoing thesis represents women of faith in time periods which test their personal and spiritual independence. Austin validates all women's roles: from battlefield to domestic; relying on the Providential to steer our strong young women into the part of the world that will best assert their natural gifting and enlighten them with the knowledge of faith she extends softly to her readership.

Her female characters are often cut out of the mould and so human that their plights become immediately relatable no matter the time period they are placed in.  Austin's grasp of verisimilitude and her knack of historical resonance; as well as her dialect, dialogue and characterization are one-of-a-kind. Never one to pass on an original idea, Wonderland Creek uses the compelling backdrop of Acorn: a small coal-mining town in the primitive mountain wilds of Kentucky. Here, Alice Ripley, our intrepidly imaginative heroine, is lost in her own Wonderland as she discovers a civilization to whom the Great Depression has seemingly untouched: so poor and removed are its inhabitants from the news and modern life.  Alice first visits Acorn when cutbacks at her beloved job are rendered inevitable due to the Depression. Having recently been dumped by her boyfriend ( tired of her bookwormish ways and high imagination: she is even caught reading at a funeral), Alice is left with too much time and listless frustration. She leaves her minister father's house and traipses across state lines to donate books collected by her small Illinois town.  Here, she comes face to face with Leslie MacDougal: the librarian she had corresponded with via letter.

Knowing nothing about the town and failing to realize that Leslie MacDougal is actually Mack: the tall and overbearing man in charge of Acorn's small ramshackle library and its roaming librarians, Alice is unintentionally stuck in a world without telephone, transportation or radio.  Settling in under the strangest of circumstances with Mack and the enigmatic  and aged healing-woman, Lillie, Alice takes a job as one of a pack of mobile librarians: who ride horses and satchels up the eastern mountains to deliver the books and magazines which provide the only education and entertainment to the impoverished, wide-spread residents.  The librarians are funded as part of F. D. Roosevelt's 1933 "New Deal" program: established to try and alleviate some of the harsher ramifications of the Depression.  Mack institutes the program as a means of providing a handful of women with employment in an attempt to support the most destitute of families in the area.

Alice fails to anticipate the on-going feud between two families and the violent overtures it will take on her time in Kentucky.  Suddenly a heroine in a real-life murder mystery, Alice discovers that the greatest adventures lie far from the pages of her favourite stories.

Alice is an immediately recognizable figure to all of us bookish types.  She is a true bibliophile: most enraptured by her eventual hero when she finds he lovingly caresses and smells the pages and leather of a book much in the same way she treasures her own.  The mystery and espionage as well as the greater statement against corrupt mine officials and the forming of unions make this a heart-palpitating story that will be difficult to put down. I read it in two sittings and was riveted the entire time.  This is not uncommon for me as I dive head-first into one of Austin's captivating yarns.

As well as writing jump-off-the-page heroines and wonderfully-written tales, Austin reigns supreme when it comes to painting delicious heroes. She is a master of slow-churning, hard-won romance and some of her heroes (all decidedly different; yet made of the same, stern, strong and moral stuff that pulses through each of her books) are my favourite in all of Christian fiction (I think of Doctor James McGrath in Fire By Night and Silas McClure in A Proper Pursuit, to name just two) and Leslie MacDougal is no exception. In fact, Mack reminded me a lot of Barney in The Blue Castle: just as Valancy has a winsome guide to steer her through the mystical woods; so Mack can lead the equally dream-like Alice through the woods like a book.  His faraway wood cabin and his dapples as an author help paint the Barney motif.  Moreover, a dimple  when he smiles and overlong hair which surprises Alice when it first receives a long overdue cut.  He's really quite dishy!


If you haven't read Lynn Austin yet; well, you are missing a treat.  Every single one of her novels is a decidedly different delight and she remains the strongest writer in the Christian market. She has an interesting way of painting faith in a subtle and moving way that will challenge you: sometimes without your wholly being aware of it until days after.  I will read this, as I do other Austin novels, to shreds.

Visit Lynn Austin on the web and peruse ( and then buy) all of her books. She has won more Christy awards in fiction than any other author and they are always well-deserved.

Eve's Daughters by Lynn Austin

To say that I loved Eve's Daughters would be an understatement. I drank in Eve's Daughters, turned each page with a contented sigh and was absolutely depressed when the final chapter rounded the bend.

Again, Lynn Austin is at top form crafting a multi-generational story involving four generations of women and their trials and triumphs: the men they loved, the mistakes they made, the eponymous “curse” that leads them to believe that one darkly hidden past mistake has ripples and ramifications brimming into the past and present.

The novel begins in 1980 with 80 year old Emma packing her belongings to move to a nursing home. Her daughter Grace and her grand-daughter Suzanne are nearby to help excavate the past. Suzanne is currently going through the first inklings of a divorce and Grace is still trying to reconcile with her childhood and discover why her father never wanted her and disappeared when she was quite young.

As is prevalent thematically in all of Austin's novels, the conceptualization of a woman's role is explored here: as Emma's mother is recalled and her migration from Germany to Pennsylvania shapes Emma's early life. Emma's formative years are traced against the backdrop of the years preluding the First War. As always, Austin perfectly captures the historical period and paints such a life-like canvas you get swept into the past and into the lives of her characters. This is not to mention the absolute perfection in which she rounds out a multi-dimensional cast of supporting characters: each springing life-like from the page and embodying the elements of grace, redemption, mistakes and forgiveness that form the whole of the tale.

The story is told in fractured narrative, often captapulting the reader back to the present and then stirring the past again: through Emma's great secret, Grace's lifelong search for a father and Suzanne's inability to reconcile her spirited nature with the confines of her mother's domestic example.

Christianity plays a role; but one sewn in the fabric of the tale and not blatantly at the front. It is implied and characterized and emblemized without ever being "preachy" Like most of Austin's novels, one need not be Christian to appreciate the wiles of her craft and the way she plays with you: at one point unravelling just enough of a mystery; while holding back and toying with unobstructed narration. The fill-in-the-blanks portion of each ( sometimes unreliable) narrator keeps the reader attempting to sew together the design of the finished product and to, once and for all, marry the past with the present-- uncovering the one devastating secret that has shaken the family to the core.

As While We're Far Apart features a Jewish protagonist and pairs Judaism with Protestant Christianity ( the wealth of Austin's market); Eve's Daughters does well in respectfully painting the life of the Irish Catholic experience at the beginning to mid 20^th Century. The ultimate hero of the tale ( and a wonderfully realized character ) is Father O'Duggan: a flawed priest whose mistakes never fail to tarnish his witness as a man of Christ in a tortured world.

This is just exceptional writing: Christian or not, and reaffirms why Austin remains one of my favourite living writers: She catches you in all of the right places, makes every sentence seem relevant and current to each and every situation and validates your existence as a woman.

She's a strong, strong writer and those who have not dipped into her incredibly strong backlist ( I have yet to read a mediocre Austin novel ) are really, really, missing out.

So THIS is what Lynn Austin Sounds Like...

Everyone in the world knows that I am a HUGE Lynn Austin fan.

Love her! LOVE HER! love her!

Consider this paragraph from my review of Fire by Night, my favourite of her reams of excellent novels:

I usually look for expert characterization, deftly-woven plot, some humour, some sparkle, some originality: some historical what-have-you in my historicals; some carefully-planted mayhem in my murder mysteries; the books that make me giggle and clap and gasp at their brilliance ( I have said before, I am an effusive reader). Lynn Austin ignites all of these things.

What makes Lynn Austin special to me ( for special she is ) is the fact that her works hit me on a deeper, spiritual level.

This is not mere infatuated emotionalism: the kind I reserve for the books I love, love, love. Austin validates in an erudite and carefully plotted fashion the role and journey of any woman of faith

Reading a Lynn Austin book for me is empowering: spiritually, emotionally, personally.

When her profundities surge through the page I am not just rattled in my usual "La! Such brilliance fashion"; but rattled, rather, to the core.

If I am having an off-kilter moment, if I am grappling at some truth in relation to Christianity if I am feeling, what with all my passionate opinions and strict independence, like I do not fit the mold of the ideal Christian woman ---Lynn Austin makes it okay.

Yah. I love her work. I do! I do! Back when I had twitter ( if you all remember), I started a Lynn Austin #hashtag campaign just before the release of her novels. Good times. Very few people subscribed; but I persevered.

Annnnyways.... I discovered this interview with Bethany House today. Why this elates me? If I have read an author's voice for so long, I am always interested to hear what they sound like. I got to hear Ms. Austin's voice for the first time as she elaborates on the writing process, speaks to the moving Though Waters Roar, takes us through the development of While We're Far Apart and even hints at the book publishing in October. Listen to this!

What stood out for me?

Her discussions on:

Characters taking lives on their own

-The strange and providential intervention that kick-started her career

-The challenges of writing during the distraction of real life.

-Her belief that the intended message will get across without preaching to it in a blatant way.

-A bulletin board of templates

-Finding her interconnected themes ( which are always poignant, potent and moving) after writing large chunks of the novel.

I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

A Heart Most Worthy by Siri Mitchell

First off, I want to thank Ruth for sending this my way! Thank you, Ruth!

Next to Lynn Austin, Siri Mitchell is my favourite Christian writer in the historical genre and she gives us another strong offering in a series that focuses on fashion through the ages.

Here, the fashion theme is blatant: the story follows three young Italian seamstresses working for the formidable Mme. Fortier in 1917 Boston. The outside world is fraught with conflict: immigrants, anarchists, the Spanish Influenza, the American involvement in the Great War. Near home, Annamaria, Julietta and Luciana discover life and love in a delightful coming-of-age tale told in the style reminiscent of Montgomery or Alcott.

I should speak a little more to the narrative style. As proven in A Constant Heart and Love's Pursuit, Mitchell enjoys playing with narrative perspective in voice. In the glorious, INSPYs-winning, She Walks in Beauty ( which I certainly enjoyed reviewing and commenting on as a judge in the historical category ), it is ephemera: in society columns and newspaper clippings that informs Mitchell's unique narration.

I must admit that the voice in A Heart Most Worthy was grating on me at times: especially with consistent asides to the reader and with the same word ending a perspective and being used, in a slightly different context, to begin the next narrative point of view. However, I got used to it very quickly and it did not detract at all from my enjoyment of the story and its meticulous historical research. In fact, I am impressed by Mitchell's constant dedication to reinventing her story-telling technique. In a genre and market-place steeped in same-old, same-old tradition, it is nice that someone takes risk.

While Mitchell's narrative voice informs of many character triumphs and failings, it is still up to the reader to judge on their own while watching the action unfold.

There is plenty of action: from an assassinated count's daughter to a Romeo and Juliet love story between a young seamstress and the Sicilian grocer across the road to a passionate woman who skips confession to meet a sinister young man in questionable situations.

Mitchell handles the historical aspects, as always, with great fervour and respect and weaves them seamlessly into her tale. Moreover, she is true to the Catholic faith and tradition as it would have been the most prominent and lasting religion in the Italian Immigrant world. She is able to pursue great themes of faith and God's redemptive power in a religion not often at the forefront of evangelical Christian fiction ( Austin did this quite well with the Jewish faith in While We're Far Apart).

Perhaps my favourite thread in the story ( something I share with Books, Movies and Chinese Food's amazon review) is the developing love between Annamaria and the sweet grocer, Rafaello. In tradition, Annamaria, as eldest daughter, is expected to remain single, childless and devout to her family. When she meets the forbidden Sicilian grocer's son and begins a sweet, often wordless communication, she realizes that all of the dreams she has harboured guiltily for so long must become reality. She finds a voice, a backbone and the courage to attend to her own desires. Rafaello's devotion to her family, his enemies, is a great act of love (putting one in mind of the great sacrifice made in Love's Pursuit).

As per usual, I was delighted to have a new Siri Mitchell in my hands and I identified with aspects of each of the strong, different and equally amazing women and their plights in self-discovery and love.

Because I am such a massive Lynn Austin fan and because Austin excels at weaving multiple story and character lines within periods of history ( especially exploring a woman's place in a domestic sphere and in the greater sphere of historical significance), more than once my mind tried to conceptualize how she would deal with this experience were the plot submitted to her hand.

A great read and one I am sure will be seen on the INSPYs shortlist again.

2010 in books (and more)

( above: me wearing my spectacular traditional Austrian hat in Innsbruck this summer)

A few favourite books and book moments of 2010:

I can't tell you how many books I read. I read every morning on the subway and average about 5 books a week. During holidays, that can inflate or deflate. I probably average about 100-125 books a year in all genres. Though I don't blog about every one ( because who has time? ), I try to read one non-fiction ( biography, memoir, history, literary criticism ) a month.

Lifelong dreams inspired by books that came true: A Trip to Vienna, inspired by my childhood ( and adult love) of Vienna Prelude. I traveled from coast-to-coast for work and my favourite re-visits were Victoria, BC, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and, of course, St. John's, Newfoundland.

I also had the privilege of attending the TD Canadian Children's Lit Awards at the CARLU (where Arthur Slade won for The Hunchback Assignments). Arthur Slade also wrote the single best author blog entry I read this year and we crashed his signing at Chapters

Once upon a time, I was a judge for the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour ( here in beloved Canada), and I knew if I put my mind to it, I could read and judge things again. So, when the call for INSPYs judges was sent out, I jumped at it! I was so fortunate to read for the Historical Fiction Category of the INSPYs ---and a fabulous book won!

Mystery:

-A Stranger in Mayfair by Charles Finch

-Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

-What Angels Fear by C.S. Harris

-Where Serpents Sleep by C.S. Harris

-The Mistress of the Art of Death by Arianna Franklin

-A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen

-The Keeper of Secrets by Judith Cutler

SERIES I GOT HOOKED ON: Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mysteries, Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series, C.S. Harris's Sebastian St. Cyr series, Alexander McCall Smith's Isabel Dalhousie series.

Christian:

-She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell

-Her Mother's Hope by Francine Rivers

-The Bridegrooms by Alison Pittman

-While We're Far Apart by Lynn Austin

-Hear No Evil by Matthew Paul Turner

-Courting Morrow Little by Laura Frantz

General Market:

-The Help by Kathryn Stockett

-Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

-Emily of Deep Valley by Maud Hart Lovelace

-Venetia by Georgette Heyer

-Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer

-Scout, Atticus and Boo by Mary McDonough Murphy

-The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl

-Death by Fame: A Life of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria by Andrew Sinclair

-The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

-The Piano Teacher by Janice K. Lee

-Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith

-Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant

YA

-Smith by Leon Garfield

-The Dream Thief by Catherine Webb

-The Dark Deeps by Arthur Slade

-Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

-Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Favourite Book of 2010: The Dream Thief by Catherine Webb (unsurprisingly)

This was not a fantastic year for film; but there were a few stand-outs.

My favourite film of the year, is the King's Speech

followed closely by How to Train Your Dragon

I also enjoyed the return to vintage Disney with Tangled

As a Canadian, I enjoyed the Trotsky

Television was a bust this year; but I still watch House ( though it jumped the shark, in my opinion) and Republic of Doyle ( new season starts next week)

I watched Small Island this year and the 39 Steps, on the BBC front, as was the new series of Foyle's War. In media, my favourite offering of 2010 was the BBC Sherlock ( I adore it so much )

While We're Far Apart by Lynn Austin

Over the weekend, I described Lynn Austin’s recent book, While We’re Far Apart, like an intricate symphony. It begins with a rather straightforward melody: Penny watches as the man she pines for leaves for War on the eve of the American involvement in WWII and offers recklessly to take care of his two motherless children in hopes of securing his love upon his return from duty.

Shaking feelings of worthlessness long instilled from her over-bearing parents, Penny steps outside the front door of the house she has always lived in and charges toward a new future.


On the eve of his departure, widowed Eddie Shaeffer tries to ignore the pleas of his two young children begging him to stay. They don’t want Penny to move into their Brooklyn Apartment and usurp their dead mother’s space. They, instead, want their father to stay home from the war.


Eddie leaves to converse with Jacob Mendel, his Jewish landlord and another tune strings in.


Jacob’s wife Miriam and Eddie’s wife Rachel were both killed in the same untimely accident. As ramification, Jacob has lost his faith in Hashem ---- God seems so far away although the rabbi and his wife try desperately to tug the former elder back to the life of the synagogue.



And then, climactically and with discordance, the local synagogue is prey to an act of arson and a seemingly faraway hatred is brandished like a cymbal- jolt into the present.


The tune evokes a haunting change as more instruments are melded into each deft cadence and more bars are added to prolong the unraveling symphony. Dense orchestration including the introduction of new friends; wisps of letters from Jacob’s son and his wife in war-torn, Holocaust Hungary, and deep whispers of secrets from loved ones near and far merge to create a seamless piece.


There are themes of love and pursuit; of anger, of hatred of a clashing war. Of the brisk touch of this world and the world beyond. It is an almost perfect rendering of a tumultuous time.


Austin never writes without an over-arching theme and in While We’re Far Apart, the seeming absence of God is most resonant.

Jacob followed and meditated on the words of the Torah steadfastly only to find the seams of his world tearing and his life falling apart.

Penny isn’t sure how to believe in God: when she repeats over and over again all of her shortcomings.

Young Esther and her wordless brother Peter go through the motions of a Sunday Schooled upbringing attempting to reconcile the death of their mother with the faith she seemed to inspire in them.

All lives collide and cross--- and yet the almighty seems painfully silent.


While We’re Far Apart is a magnificent exposition of God in all of his seeming silences. Is He there when we can’t hear Him? ---There whether in the materialization of Christian or Jewish tradition? Even amidst a Holocaust recalling the treacherous reign of Haman and the unlikely heroism of Queen Esther? Amidst persecution, death and unwarranted vandalism?


How can we pick up the pieces of our faith if we’re not sure where faith leads?


What is God doing behind the scenes and how are His silences even more telling than His revelation?


The end of the song, the end of the book, empowers the reader to think of God in a personal and enraptured way. He can handle our anger and our despair: our lashings out and our pain….. for it is in these moments that we test our faith to breaking point, shirk any complacency and recognize that years later, when the glass is undimmed, that He was there working out the technical aspects, the last strains and chords of melody and sewing together a music so beautiful our human ears could scarce imagine it.

Readers, I LOVE ME SOME LYNN AUSTIN! She is my favourite current Christian writer and those of you who hanker for some intelligence in your faith-based writing will be floored!

THE INSPYS and a SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Hello all,

A few very exciting things!

First off, I am honoured to be a judge for the INSPYs: the blogger's award for excellence in Christian Fiction.

Read my exciting judge's bio HERE! Me, Rachel, a JUDGE ---excitement. I am judging the historical fiction category and was thrilled with the shortlist! Cannot wait to read those I have not read and re-read those I have!

Secondly, I have decided to keep A Fair Substitute for Heaven my primary blog. There, from now on, I will continue to post all of my non-Christian book reviews---- but will also be posting my Christian book reviews. AMALGAMATION

so, for the time being, I am synching the blogs into one. Please visit me there

And finally, exciting book news: my favourite book of the Bible, RUTH, has been retold in Naomi and Her Daughters and Zondervan was delightful enough to send me a copy. MY SINCERE THANKS!

Also, my favourite, favourite, favourite Christian writer, Lynn Austin, has a new book out this week! I just got my copy: order While We're Far Apart

She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell

rating: ***1/2

publisher: Bethany House

She Walks in Beauty is another superior offering from one of the most gifted writers in the Christian historical vein.

First off, I must apologize for the lack of posting. I have been traveling for work the entirety of the past month and jaunting from coast to coast in my beautiful country of Canada for appointments is exhilerating but also exhausting. Nonetheless, I have been reading a tonne!

The book begins as Clara's over-bearing aunt fires her governess and true confidante smashing all Clara's hopes of attending Vassar College by instead arranging for the societal education befitting a young woman on the heels of her debut. Clara is primed and primmed and petted to capture the spotlight of New York's gilded circles and secure a wealthy husband.

The wealthy husband her family chooses is the heir to the De Vries fortune, a past enemy that Clara is used as a pawn to capture--- to right past wrongs and restore the family fortune once lost.

In a manipulative and gaudy game of tainted money and secrets, dipping into the garish hovels of Mulberry Street and waltzing with the likes of the Vanderbilts become the thread that pieces together Clara's world.

As per usual, Mitchell perfectly captures the historical climate and her research is impeccable. Like A Constant Heart and Love's Pursuit before it, a particular era of fashion is explored to emblemize the societal restrictions placed on women and as a particularly resonant symbol of female repression. Here, the corset is seen as a torturous contraption for female suffering. Indeed, some of Mitchell's accurate descriptions of its effect on women---be it through female "hysteria" or more gruesomely violent physical effects will leave readers cringing.

Mitchell, here, does not play with mutiple narration in the same way as her previous two historicals. Rather dual voices counter Clara's first person narrative: the societal newspaper praising the merits of lavish debutantes in an elite column and the Tattler: a sort of 19th Century tabloid. Both provide an interesting counterbalance to Clara's perspective and offer an enlightening and time-specific lens.

Mitchell's evangelism is again subdued. The great theme of sacrifice and undconditional love in Love's Pursuit is replaced by the message of Christianity through hymns: referred to as Clara's mother's "theology." A personal passion of mine, I was delighted that so many stanzas were interwoven throughout the story.

While I applaud Mitchell's ability to appeal to a secular readership with a subtle gospel, I found this an almost cloaked representation of Christian fiction: working more as a good, moral tale rather than an explicit gospel message. As such, I found it lacked the emotional punch of Lynn Austin's novels or even Love's Pursuit.

Nonetheless, Mitchell is a brilliant writer and this story, as always, is excessively readable.

I cannot wait to read more of her work!

Many thanks to Bethany House for the review copy

[ on a slightly more superficial note, I adored the romantic lead in the story and a certain scene involving a rare and valued copy of Byron and a pressed bunch of pansies... read for yourself!]

in which I am EXCITED

Kids,

I am quite excited about a few books soon to be available:

First, Scout, Atticus and Boo by Mary McDonagh Murphy: view it here

Secondly, the wait is soon over ( thank goodness ) for the first Richard Jury novel in THREE whole years! Get that here

Thirdly, one of Christian fiction's absolute best, most erudite, glorious, talented, wonderful and sparkling writers, Siri Mitchell, has taken her penchant for exploring the theme of clothing and appearance in different time periods ( see the use of makeup in A Constant Heart and dresses in Puritan Massachusetts in Love's Pursuit) to take on the Victorian period in She Walks in Beauty. Buy that over here

And even though this keeps getting flitted around from date to date like a pesky hummingbird ( as is usually the case with Catherine Webb's delectable series), the wait, I should hope, is soon over before the first Horatio Lyle in two years. The Dream Thief, apparently ( this could change at any moment, bah humbug!) publishes in June.

Just a few of the many yummy books the horizon.

If you can wait 'til the Fall, there is a NEW LYNN AUSTIN ( I yipped about it at my Christian Fiction site last week )

Pre-order While We're Far Apart

And I think that is all I have to say.

Cheerio!

New Lynn Austin New Lynn Austin LA LA LA LA LA LA!

Well LOOKIE HERE!

October brings us this lovely book by our favourite Lynn Austin:

SYNOPSIS:

In an unassuming apartment building in Brooklyn, New York, three lives intersect as the reality of war invades each aspect of their lives. Young Esther is heartbroken when her father decides to enlist in the army shortly after the death of her mother. Penny Goodrich has been in love with Eddie Shaffer for as long as she can remember; now that Eddie's wife is dead, Penny feels she has been given a second chance and offers to care for his children in the hope that he will finally notice her and marry her after the war. And elderly Mr. Mendel, the landlord, waits for the war to end to hear what has happened to his son trapped in war-torn Hungary. But during the long, endless wait for victory overseas, life on the home front will go from bad to worse. Yet these characters will find themselves growing and changing in ways they never expected--and ultimately discovering truths about God's love...even when He is silent.

w00 h00!

Fire By Night by Lynn Austin

publisher: Bethany House

rating: ****

Fire By Night may be my favourite novel of the year. This is a big statement coming from a bibliophile, I know, but when I think of Lynn Austin’s works I think of how they differ from my usual run-of-the-mill reading and reviewing. Though the second in the Refiner's Fire Series: each tackling a different perspective (north, south, slave ) of the Civil War, it can be read as a stand-alone.


I usually look for expert characterization, deftly-woven plot, some humour, some sparkle, some originality: some historical what-have-you in my historicals; some carefully-planted mayhem in my murder mysteries; the books that make me giggle and clap and gasp at their brilliance ( I have said before, I am an effusive reader). Lynn Austin ignites all of these things.

What makes Lynn Austin special to me ( for special she is ) is the fact that her works hit me on a deeper, spiritual level.

This is not mere infatuated emotionalism: the kind I reserve for the books I love, love, love. Austin validates in an erudite and carefully plotted fashion the role and journey of any woman of faith

Reading a Lynn Austin book for me is empowering: spiritually, emotionally, personally.

When her profundities surge through the page I am not just rattled in my usual “La! Such brilliance fashion”; but rattled, rather, to the core.

If I am having an off-kilter moment, if I am grappling at some truth in relation to Christianity if I am feeling, what with all my passionate opinions and strict independence, like I do not fit the mold of the ideal Christian woman ---Lynn Austin makes it okay.

As aforementioned in previous blog entries, Austin’s greater thesis ( what strings each of her books though splayed through different historical periods together) is the role of women : in the church; in history; as part of God’s master plan.

And Austin allows us to find malleability in these roles. Rather than dictate: This! is the ideal or This! suits a woman to her greater purpose, she extends and stretches and validates whatever a Woman chooses ---as long as---- and here is the deliciously jubilant caveat--- as long as your role aligns with the Master’s.


I can think of no more wonderful and empowered subservience.

In Fire by Night, two very different women stretch the bounds of society’s constriction and find God’s plan in anomalous ways: Phoebe clads herself in male attire and joins the army; prim and society-bred Julia finds greater purpose in working as a nurse.

Romance is involved, yes, but only ordained if it enhances the already well-established independence of the woman.

For example, Julia’s eventual suitor loves the traits ( her outspokenness, her defiance, her scorn of all that is “ societally” approved” ) that her previous and erstwhile suitor Nathaniel disdained.

Both women make up two parts of a whole: both strengths ( decidedly different and yet interconnected) allow each to establish God’s purpose.


This is not feminism, nor equalism so much as God-driven purpose .


A woman, argues the novel, can be any role: be it domestic, a “man’s role”; a servant’s role as long as she is aligned with God.


One such instance has Julia questioning her burgeoning station away from her heritage and upbringing. Having oft-heard her fiancé Nathaniel’s talk of God’s purpose, she rallies with a truthful cry to the extent of a question: Can’t women hear God’s voice and follow His purpose too? In a male dominated society, entrenched in tradition and war, Julia and Phoebe are caught at the turning of the tide. No longer, argues Austin, will women be content to stay underappreciated in the household, not when circumstance has forced them out to the front and to hone the God-given skills they were made for.


I have underlined and highlighted numerous passages in Fire By Night and, though a historical novel, I feel it is surged with the message that I needed as a young and independent struggling to find what God wants: be it through the traditional structure afforded women --- or by blazing a path, not as severe as Phoebe’s place in war but just as important.


Austin sends a much-needed jolt when it is needed most . Her arguments are sound; her message pronounced and strong and the fact that she is a gorgeous writer heightens her validity.

Yes, this is a compulsively readable novel of romance, war, adventure and coming-of-age and self. Yes, it has mystery and wonder and heart-pulsing moments but, to me ,it is so much more: it is Austin’s medium for empowering women: for rallying a cry with the oft-forgotten message that ( to steal from “Though Waters Roar”, her latest book): “God never expects us to be anyone but ourselves.” Phoebe and Julia; dimensional and flawed are walking encapsulations of this: God never asks them to surrender who they are but embraces each flaw, validates them and appraises their purpose--- no matter how far stretched, no matter how improper, no matter how unexpected.


I encourage every one to find a Christian author who speaks to them in this way---- for you’ll soon realize ( as is so wonderful and such a jubilant anomaly in the trade) that they are being directed by a much higher purpose to propel you to what you might need to hear: be it through theology, fiction, letter, prose ….

New Pet Project please

My friends know that without a book "pet" project that I can cultivate and not utter a sentence without recommending, I wither up and die inside.

I am a bookseller: inadvertently in my current job; during my university job; on this here book blog ( and at my Christian book blog ) and every day in most every conversation.

I am a bibliophile and a compulsive bookseller. On facebook, on twitter, I really cannot fathom a world where I am not talking books.

Sometimes I narrow my focus to dedicate time to a particular author or book. I usually have some unwritten qualifiers for my casual "pet projects."

In fact, I was not always cognizant that these were my pet projects but now I deduce standard criteria based on a string of past experience.

First, the author or book in question must be Canadian ( or past Canadian or almost Canadian). I discovered a new word today, canaphile, and I mean to put it to good use. I love my country. So should you.

Secondly, the author or the book can be recognizable but not necessary popular. I have an odd relationship with popular things or things that are two easily noticeable, I like to feel with "pet projects" that I have a bit of a handprint; that I have the ability to recommend something others may never have stumbled across.

Thirdly ( and this is very important as I distinguish my roster of favourite authors and books), the author's personality must complete the work. Books that have no spark of an author's personality are a waste of time and not nearly as fun to read.

(I interrupt this blog post from my hotel in St. John's to inform you that RH Thomson is in a really terrible television movie and I love RH Thomson and need to point him out)

For meeting all of the aforementioned guidelines, pet projects have included Maureen Jennings ( most often her Detective Murdoch series); Arthur Slade ( for Megiddo's Shadow and Dust but mostly in recent years for JOLTED!!!!) and CC Humphreys ( only for Jack Absolute although I did once sell five copies of the French Executioner in an hour) and Lynn Austin ( a Christian writer who I try to infiltrate into the secular market--- a tricky balance, indeed)

Problem is, I need a new pet project. I am actively searching. You now know my qualifiers. Anyone have any hints? I sell. I SELL a lot: in stores I don't work at ( I no longer work in book retail although the way I talk about it you might think I do); to friends; on my blog; on facebook.... just all the time. Every day.

I have a long track record here and LOVE to recommend books. LOVE!

please forward suggestions.

Who are your pet book projects? I might end up discovering some book I might never have rubbed shoulders with otherwise.

NOTE: the book I handsold the most of was definitely "Deafening" by Frances Itani; but it was really popular and a Canada Reads selection so not one of my select few.

twitter me this batman

I love books! I like spending the majority of my life talking about books. I do so at my job ( I work with books ) with my friends ( who all love books---if they don't, I either find new friends or make them love books) at home, through my other job ( which also involves books).


I am an effusive reader with an extrovert, effervescent personality.....


RESULT:


BOOK PROMO WORD OF MOUTH ENTHUSIASM FOR AUTHORS WHO DESERVE IT!


Right now my favourite author on the planet ( I have not felt this way about any one since LM Montgomery, it is THAT serious) is Lynn Austin.

You can read more about Lynn at my other blog which is all Christian fiction. You see, chickadees, that is what Lynn Austin writes: Christian Fiction.

now, I know you are all squirming in your computer chairs and I don't blame you: Christian fiction can be a scary thing. I, however, seem stuck with it. It is part of my make-up, my heritage, and I spend the better part of my life attempting to find the jewels; the diamonds in the rough.

Lynn Austin is a demm'd good writer: whether you are Christian, atheist, druid, etc., etc.,

Reading her I sometimes feel as if I am staring in a mirror and everything I believe is imposed eloquently back upon me.

if THAT doesn't give the reader in the midst of such experience chills then I don't know what will.

To show my ARDENT AUSTIN LOVE! I am tweeting the heck out of L'Austin until the release date of Though Waters Roar next Tuesday.


So, if you are on twitter and want to see me make a gushin and completely idiotic, slack-jawed, wide-eyed FOOL of myself, c'mon down.


[I even made a hashtag ---erm----well ---Court made the hashtag]


p.s. APPARENTLY the new Austin has ....get this....suffragettes! Triple.Word.Score.

Though Waters Roar: the Twitter Project

What can I say? I'm a bookseller at heart.

From now until the release date of Lynn Austin's Though Waters Roar, I will be tweeting about ONLY Lynn Austin.

Check out my Lynn Austin Twitter Challenge Share your thoughts via twitter hashtag (#Lynn Austin ) and pre-order your copy of Though Waters Roar.


It's so fun to give a nod or two at favourite authors, don't you think?


Austin's novels have influenced and empowered me in a strong way. I deeply feel she can inspire you too!

BBAW: Rachel's Picks--- her Blog Favourites

I have been following Book Blogger Appreciation Week ( mostly on twitter)


My favourite part is how many new bloggers ( with some savvy reading taste ) I have discovered.


I am all for its altruistic intentions and the celebration of BOOKS!

Today the topic in the BBAW is the celebration of bloggers each individual hankers after.

Y'know, when you open up your google reader and there is the bold number of things unread and it is EXCITING especially if you scroll down and see that one of your favourite bloggers ( like a favourite author, per se) has posted?


Excitement!


So, I thought I would direct you to some of my favourite book blogs on the web.



Just for sheer eclectic taste and the fact that she reads (and mostly enjoys) my recommendations ( or at least pretends to ), my first favourite blogger is Courtney from Once Upon a Bookshelf.

Courtney's was the first book blog I ever read and to show my appreciation for her aiding in my conversion into the bloggosphere, I asked her a few questions. Please read and get to know Courtney a little better:


1. All-time favourite book if I could only choose one: is by far L.M. Montgomery's Rilla of Ingleside. There's just so much going on in it that it never gets dull - there's awesome heartwarming stuff, but then there's also the stuff that breaks your heart. And the it shows a snapshot of Canadian life during WWI. As a Canadian, I think it's really important for us to know our history - we're constantly bombarded by American history, because they're our southern neighbour and we get so much of their media (oftentimes more of theirs than our own) that we almost know more about what they've gone through than what we've gone through as a country. It's vitally important for us to take a look at important events that had a massive effect on our own country growing up, and knowing how it became what it is today, and this is one of the best books that I've discovered that shows what home-life was like in WWI Canada.

2. First chapter book that I remember reading was probably Roald Dahl's the BFG. I don't remember much about it, and I haven't read it since I was young, but at that point in time I loved it. I think it was the idea of good dreams being sent by such a friendly giant was enchanting.

3. Are you a physical reader? Does reading ellicit some sort of effusive reaction from you? Definitly a physical reader. I laugh out loud through books all the time, so have to choose carefully what I read in public. In elementary school when we had to read silently in class, it was commented numerous times that I made faces whenever something bad was happening in the book - scowling, etc. So yes, definitely a physical reader.

4.Where is your favourite place to read? I don't really have a favourite place to read, but I read best if I am curled up in a blanket - even in the middle of summer. In the autumn, the winter and the early spring, I need to have a cup of (usually herbal) tea with me. I can have background music, or people talking around me, but I can't read if the television is on - not sure what the difference is there, but yeah. And I'm usually reading a few books at a time. A lot of people tell me they can't, but when I do this the books are typically different genres so I don't mix up characters and storylines in my head... though a mashup of an Arthur Slade book with WWZ would be quite fun to read. Hmm.

5.If you could live in one book, what would it be? I've never thought about this! Oh wait, yes I have. When I was growing up, I was always looking for doorways into Narnia. So! If I could live in any book, I would want it to be one of the Chronicles of Narnia - not sure which one, though. I've always longed for the magic of talking animals, and finding doorways into new worlds. Of the possibility of coming across rings to bring me to the world between worlds, with pools to every different world. Of witches and magicians. Of fawns and centaurs. Oh!

6. If you could have lunch with one author (living or dead) who would it be? Where would you go and what would you eat? I could say L.M. Montgomery, but quite frankly I find her rather daunting. I'd never know what she REALLY thought about anything. I think perhaps Jane Austen. We can talk about the life of the single woman - compare the differences of how society treats single women between then and now - and then perhaps gossip about those sitting at the tables around us. "For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?" As for what we would eat, my imagination is not that good, but perhaps a good cup of English tea would be in order.




Next in book bloggers I love, I have Otahyoni: who doesn't just talk about books; but speaks of them often enough. Her parody of Twilight has gleaned thousands of responses (many heated) and been quoted in online magazines. People still comment and reply.

I met Otahyoni in an online Richard Jury ( the detective in the Martha Grimes novels) about 6 years ago. Since then we have become quite close friends: even though she lives in a different country than I do. We have been pen "email" pals for years ---sending books across the border at one another; talking on the phone. Last year, we "met" in person for the first time when we took a trip together to New York City. We saw a bookish play on Broadway ( the musical version of A Tale of Two Cities); we went to the Strand--- we saw very literary things. Otahyoni and I share a lot of similar tastes--- but some of our best conversations ( as is the way with all literary folk ) is borne of the times we don't agree.

Here is what Otahyoni had to say about the questions I asked her:

1.) I know this question isn’t fair, but what is your favourite book? If you had to just pick one?

If I had to pick just one book, the one book I have the most affection for, the one that sparks the most warm fuzzies deep in my soul, it’d be The Man with a Load of Mischief by Martha Grimes. Not impressive on any sort of literary scale, no, but it’s been with me for over half my life, and the characters are near and dear to my heart. This is the warm chocolate chip cookie of books, as far as my soul is concerned.

2.) what is the first chapter book you remember reading and why?

Oh, I don’t know! Probably the Boxcar Children. I remember carting home loads and loads of books from the library as a kid. Marguerite Henry, The Three Investigators, Walter Farley. I read the first few Sweet Valley High books before I got bored; same with the Babysitters Club. But I don’t remember the really early chapter books. Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, maybe? I have a feeling I went straight from picture books, Dr. Seuss, and the Berenstein Bears to stuff like the Boxcar Children.

3.) are you a physical reader--- in an effusive way---? Meaning, do you clap when something gets good (if you are alone ) is there some sort of reaction: a squeal or a “Tsk Tsk” when you are absorbed in a story?

Mildly. I do laugh out loud on occasion, but I only get really effusive if stuff is bad. Good stuff I just smile, giggle quietly to myself, then read it over again a few times before moving on. Bad stuff, though, has been known to make me go, “AHH!” I cry sometimes (which makes it very hard to read). I’ve even, on two occasions, thrown my book because it made me so angry. Once the first time I read Julie of the Wolves (real life schmeal life! she should have stayed with the wolves!) and the other when Lupin and Tonks died in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, even though I knew it was coming. It still upset me, book got chucked at the other end of the couch, and then I immediately scrambled after it so I could finish the book.

4.) what are your reading habits? A.) where is your favourite place to read b.) can you have background noise? C.) do you read more than one book at once?

a) My living room, with its squishy furniture. I sit either on the squishy couch, propped up in a corner or lounging in the middle with my feet on the coffee table, or I sit sideways in the squishy armchair, my feet dangling over the side.

b) Yep. I read with music on a lot, and when I’m at my parents’ house, I read through TV and movies all the time. Conversation, TV, music, traffic – as long as it’s not directed at me, I can tune it out completely.

c) Not usually, but right now I am, for possibly the first time. I have THREE books going right now – crazy. Reading an uber-long classic novel in fits and starts between other novels and a nonfiction book on my lunch breaks at work. Then there’s whatever novel I’m on at the moment.

5.) if you could live in any novel which would it be?

Either an Austen novel – but not as a main character. As a peripheral character. I just want to wander about and write letters and go to balls. Or The Man with a Load of Mischief, on the off chance I could get Melrose Plant to fall in love with me. I’d prefer not to be a murder victim, however.

6.) if you could have lunch with any author dead or alive who would it be? What would you talk about? What would they order? What would you order?

That one’s hard. I’d say Austen, but she kind of intimidates me, and I’m afraid she’d find me vapid and shallow. Maybe Catherine Webb, because I have a feeling we’d get along quite well. We could talk travel and writing and the theater and London, and I could try really hard not to fangirl over Horatio Lyle and Matthew Swift and fail utterly. Probably we’d hit up some hole-in-the-wall Indian or Thai place and have ourselves some curry, then pick a West End show for after.

See, book bloggers, if there is someone you have connected with on the internet, you CAN be friends in real life.

The sweetest part of the story? While in New York, Otahyoni and I wrote a collective "round robin" letter to Ms. Martha Grimes: the author who brought us together, thanking her for her work and the fact that because she wrote, we met. Martha responded and we both squealed at each other over the phone...for hours.



I really ADORE ( and I don't use this term lightly) Raych from Books I Done Read.

She is a fellow Canuck an all-around good egg and the smartest, funniest blogger on the internet. Bar none. She is fresh and funny and I would buy a book of her collected reviews and make other people buy it as well. She is giddy joy incarnate. READ HER



I also really like Kailana from Kailana's Written World. Kailana hails from Maritime Canada( one of my favourite regions of my fabulous country) and has an eclectic taste as well as a great sense of community.


From the publishing spectrum, my favourite blog is The Savvy Reader updated by the wonderful folk at Harper Collins Canada.


I am always excited to hear what is new in books, film and television when I visit My Tragic Right Hip.


oh yah! And authors too! I LOVE AUTHOR BLOGS!


Sometimes, as in the case with Libba Bray and Meg Cabot, I enjoy their blogs far more than their books. Strange, eh?


For what is new in Christian fiction, I often head over to Relz Reviews: though be ye warned... She rarely reviews in detail. Her blog is more an overview of what is up and coming.


And, as always, there is the great Catherine Webb: YA novelist extraordinaire who blogs under the pseudonym, Kate Griffin.


Finally, the following people need to have a blog now:

Derek Landy of the Skulduggery Pleasant Series

Lynn Austin ( to tell me how she writes things )




Enjoy Book Blogger Appreciation Week!

Happy Reading.