The Librarian of Boone’s Hollow (Waterbrook/Multnomah, September 2020)
By Kim Vogel Sawyer
Christian/Historical Fiction
Triumphant and transcendent, this delicious historical novel is easily one of the season’s best. Here’s why:
Category Archives: Read
‘Black Willows’ Offers Delicious Romp Thru Georgia & Beyond
Black Willows (Black Rose Writing, October 2020)
By Jill Hand
General Fiction (Adult)/Humor/Mystery & Thrillers
The Apple Dumpling Gang meets the red earth of Tara in this delicious romp through a Georgia playground of the rich and infamous.
When the Trapnell family patriarch dies, spoiled rotten and uber shallow family members drool over their slice of the $40 billion family fortune. They all try to snatch Daddy’s will from the shaky hands of a senile probate judge in order to further their own ridiculous plans.
Medical Memoir Majors in Merriment: ‘Playing Doctor, Part One’
Playing Doctor – Part One
Medical School: Stumbling through with amnesia
(Books Go Social, August 2020)
By John Lawrence
Biographies & Memoirs/Humor
Medical school joke: “What do you call the person who graduates last in their medical school class?”
Answer: “Doctor.”
The line is right-on-the-stethoscope and sets the tone early in this nimble, entertaining medical school memoir. Told in the first person with tongue firmly planted in cheek, Playing Doctor includes twenty-one chapters and an Epilogue covering the author’s four years at the University of Utah School of Medicine.
Inspiration Across the Ages: John Mernone Talks His Personal Connection With His Debut Historical Novel, The World Turned Upside Down
Happy Wednesday Friends!
Author John Mernone joins us today to discuss his debut historical novel, The World Turned Upside Down. You’ll want to listen in. Says John:
***
John Mernone’s debut historical novel has a personal connection.
How many times have you heard someone say that history is boring?
If you only see it as a list of names and dates and facts to be memorized, it is boring. I was lucky enough to have a few truly amazing teachers who taught me to look at history through the lens of personalities and situations. Take George Washington. In school, we’re taught about this legendary hero who led the colonists to independence. And maybe we hear about his wooden teeth.
We don’t learn about his many mistakes on the way to victory. We don’t learn that he wasn’t always patient or a brilliant strategist. He had very real flaws. But he was driven by an unshakeable belief in the cause, and he possessed a level of humility and conscientiousness that inspired devotion and admiration in everyone around him. I’ve always believed that George Washington was the greatest man in history, flaws and all.
GUEST AUTHOR: The Ultimate ‘Insider’s Guide’ to New York!
‘Mom! Wake up!’
“Mom! Mom! Wake up!”
“Gah….! Wha… Huh?” Crash. Stumble. Stubbed toe. “Dadgum it!”
Mom’s nothing if not quick. Especially when it’s 0500. And I’ve got a cool new book to show her! It’s like an illustrated time travel thingy. Through New York City! I’m don’t know where that is. But it sounds good. So does a soon-to-be-released book, 400 Years of New York History: A Pictorial Guide.
A Story That Strengthens – ‘Becoming Elisabeth Elliot’
Becoming Elisabeth Elliot (B&H Publishing, September 2020)
By Ellen Vaughn
Biography/Non-fiction
“Is this true? If so, what do I need to do about it to obey God?”
These are the foundational questions that book-ended the life of one of the most influential Christian women of the century. They also undergird Ellen Vaughn’s eloquent and articulate biography, Becoming Elisabeth Elliot.
Now Go, Cat, Go!
Remember that rockin’ Carl Perkins tune about shoes famously belted out by Elvis?
Well, it’s one for the money
Two for the show
Three to get ready
Now go, cat, go!
We’re giving you the Kimber and Mom Blue Suede Special on three+ recently read books. The first book is a modern retelling of the biblical story of Abraham and Sarah. The other is historical fiction set in the Russia of Peter the Great. Another is a gripping memoir of love, loss and hope. And because we’re so generous and all, we’re throwing in a fourth at no extra charge, set in 1789 France and England. There’s also a fifth set in …. la la land.
So. Without further ado, on with the reviews. Or as Kimber would say, Go cat, go!
GUEST AUTHOR: 6 PAWsome Historical Fiction Re-Readables
PAWright historical fiction fans! Grab the bacon and buckle up. Cuz we’re ready to launch into that genre with 6 Pawsome titles you’ll want to dig up, pronto!
Hey! It’s summer, okay?
Yes siree, Lassie! Mom and I are hosting a guest post on the subject from a promising new author, John Lawrence.
John’s memoir about his medical training, Playing Doctor: Part One-Medical School (Stumbling through with Amnesia) debuts on August 24. He’s also an avid reader with a taste for historical fiction. (More about John in a min. So kindly keep your tail tucked, okay?)
![PLAYING DOCTOR - Part One: Medical School: Stumbling through with amnesia by [John Lawrence]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/412Ao1H2VZL.jpg)
Anyway, John says during medical school and his residency years, the escape historical fiction provided was a “much loved respite from my otherwise fluorescently lit, fast-paced reality of medical school.” John adds:
‘A Pilgrim at 60’ Flies High!
A Pilgrim Looks at 60: Life in the Middle of the Christian Bell Curve
Elm Hill, a division of Harper Collins Christian Publishing, 2019.
By James Annable
What happens when a “truth grenade” goes off in your face? How do you deal with it? Who do you tell, and why?
These questions and more saturate this entertaining, engaging, and insightful read by James Annable.
As noted in the Introduction, the author undertakes his “reflective pilgrimage” to explore who he is and how he came to be that way, explaining same to his five children. He discovers something universal along the way. Something worth sharing.
‘Aloha’ and ‘Family’ Merge Into Delightful Read in New Novel
The Aloha Spirit (She Writes Press, August 2020)
Historical Fiction/Romance
What is “family”? How do families behave? Relate? Stick together? Who is and isn’t “family” – and why?
Captivating & Compelling
These questions and more swirl through the pages of a captivating new historical novel by Linda Ulleseit. Set in Hawaii and California, The Aloha Spirit is the compelling story of Dolores and her lifelong search for “family” and the aloha spirit.
We first meet Dolores when her father drops her off at a friend’s house. He and Dolores’s older brother are heading to California to find work.
Bewildered and feeling abandoned, the scrappy seven year-old soon wearies of the never-ending, back-breaking work at Noelani’s. Dolores dreams of re-joining her family on the mainland. But when her father finally invites her to join him in California some four years later, Dolores isn’t exactly turning cartwheels at the prospect.
Several different settings and experiences later, Dolores eventually learns that family “just is.” You don’t “choose it or grow it.” Most of the time “you just deal with it” with love and patience. She also learns that “family” sometimes means loving a person without loving everything they do.
Fascinating Blend
A fascinating, clever blend of history, culture and customs, The Aloha Spirit is divided into three parts. It covers 28 years between 1922 and 1950. In Part 1 Dolores goes from one “odd person out” context of “family, but not really” to the next.
The story takes readers to the sugar-white sand beaches of Hawaii and Diamond Head, San Francisco and the World’s Fair, and a backyard shelter during the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. We eventually wind up in Sunnyvale and then San Jose, California.
Much More
Along Dolores’ journey of personal growth and self-discovery, The Aloha Spirit gently shows us how even a blood brother can be ‘ohana in name only. How friends can be closer than sisters. What keeping “aloha in your heart” really means. And why.
It also shows us how and why “Aloha” is much more than a greeting or a farewell. It also means giving kindness and appreciation to everyone, even family members who are hard to love. Aloha is “the joyous sharing of life’s energy,” as Dolores finds out in her teenage years. But to have aloha, you need to love yourself first. Dolores finds this out later, when her teen marriage to Manolo unravels. Then family ties are sorely tested when Dolores and her two children evacuate Hawaii for California and her brother’s place after Pearl Harbor is bombed.
Somewhere along the way, Dolores falls in love with Alberto. She’s still married to a jerk. But Dolores is Catholic. And Catholics don’t divorce. Especially when doing so means losing her family.
Caveats
Dialogue attributed to a grade schooler strains credulity at times in Part 1. Joining Dolores in the kitchen to chop veggies or stir stew also gets a little old. But The Aloha Spirit quickly rises above such mundanities and paints a vast, vibrant mosaic of time, culture, loss and disappointment, triumph and redemption.
Winsome
Poignant and captivating, The Aloha Spirit brims with gentle insights and fascinating cultural and historical vignettes. This book has a realistic, authentic feel to it that makes it a winsome read. Characters are dynamic and three-dimensional. Fortified with rich, lyrical prose, settings are lush and unique. You can almost feel the trade winds and smell the pikake blooms as Dolores slowly realizes the true meaning of familia es todo.
A delicious read. Aloha.
Our rating: 4.0
Diamond Head Image Credit
Pages & Paws 