Once upon a time, we had calendars that included plenty of service opportunities for all of us, including our kids of varying ages. From serving at Mass to a wide-variety of parish events, school activities, group service projects, and more, there was never a loss of small needs for us to fill.
Enter COVID-related closures and restrictions and gone are, well, virtually ALL of those opportunities from Christmas caroling at homes for the aged to serving fish dinners. Nearly every opportunity has been wiped out.
And yet, there is more need than ever from people who are financially burdened, socially isolated, physically ill, and spiritually and psychologically stressed.
Welcome to the January 2021 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart AND CatholicMom.com!
If you’re looking for something to read for the Feast of the Epiphany (today!), I’ve got the perfect book for you. From Afar by Roger Thomas is a fictionalized (but realistic) account of the Magi based on Scripture, history, and modern research. I had to set the book aside to tend to some other projects but am eager to dip back into the story as the three wise men are setting off on their journey.
Mistletoe and Murder: A Christmas Suspense Collection by various authors including Nancy Mehl and Lynn Shannon, is a priced-to-sell introduction to a variety of Christian suspense authors. For 99 cents, you get ten novellas, which is quite a deal! I expect the story quality to be a little uneven over that many authors, but there are sure to be some here I’ll love. From what I’ve read so far, these stories can be enjoyed any time of year.
My daughter and I have been listening to The Beautiful Pretender ( A Medieval Fairy Tale) by Melanie Dickerson while riding in the car, peeling potatoes, or coloring Christmas pages. It’s a fairly simple retelling that’s a little Beauty and the Beast and a little Princess and the Pea. Geared to a younger audience, it’s enjoyable, if predictable, and I love sharing audiobooks with my almost-teenage daughter.
The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian (Season One) by Phil Szostak was a Christmas gift to our oldest son, who’s a huge Star Wars fan. We’ve all enjoyed the glimpses of artwork from The Mandalorian that is shown during the end credits of the series. The book is a large, beautiful hardcover, and he’s enjoying savoring each page.
For an independent school project, my high school senior has chosen Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. His take at the very beginning is that it is “good but weird.” I’m intrigued by the description, which reads, in part: “In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey–with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake–through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride.”
My seventh grader read D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths by Ingrid D’Aulaires and Edgar Parin D’Aulaires as part of her schoolwork and thoroughly enjoyed it! She was able to have a great discussion with her father and brother about mythologies, Norse myths, Marvel superheroes, and the storyline of the video game Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The D’Aulaires’ myth books are well-done!
The White Stag by Kate Seredy is a Newbery Medal winner about Attila and the Huns. The Huns and Magyars follow an elusive white stag to their promised land at the direction of their pagan gods. This also worked into my daughter’s curriculum and was a short read.
I think I came across Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham in another blogger’s An Open Book recommendations. The time period (colonial America) suited my daughter’s interests, so I checked it out of the library for her. She loved this story of a genius of sea navigation. I’d like to read this one as well.
This same daughter, who out-read all of us this month, also read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens for the first time. (I only read it for the first time myself last year.) She noted Dickens’s style of using long descriptions, running pages long in some cases, but still enjoyed this Christmas classic.
I read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson aloud to my three youngest children. Only one had ever read it (several years ago). I looked forward to each chapter of this short book, enjoying the antics of the rotten Herdman siblings. Despite the humor, there’s a lot to think about at the conclusion of the book, especially how our familiarity with the Christmas story allows us to gloss over the details and the import of it. The Herdmans, heathens that they are, take the story to heart, and everyone is the better for it.
Before listening to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, we read the picture book Vivaldi’s Four Seasons by Anna Harwell Celenza. I knew little of Vivaldi, so this was an education for all of us. Did you know that Vivaldi was a Catholic priest? I didn’t. Knowing more about him and the genesis of the music made me understand and appreciate it more.
The Spider Who Saved Christmas: A Legend by Raymond Arroyo was a Christmas gift for my youngest son. We were not familiar with the legend of the Christmas spider beforehand. I enjoy legends in general, and this one did not disappoint. The illustrations are dark but rich and a bit magical, and the story builds on the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt. I like how Joseph is portrayed in his role as protector, and Mary is both gentle and wise.
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Goodreads tells me I read 114 book in 2020. That’s a good rough-estimate, taking into account unpublished manuscripts I’ve read and picture books that got lumped into that total.
I’ve picked a Top 5 for 2020 in three categories: Christian romance, Debut novels, and Children’s books. Most were published in 2020; several were published in 2019, but I read them in 2020. Without further ado, here they are, in no particular order:
It’s been a while since I’ve read Twilight, but Jennifer the Damned seems to be almost its opposite. The romanticism of immortal love is traded for the dangers of disposable liaisons, as just one example. Where do you position Jennifer the Damned in terms of classic and modern vampire tales?
My editor likes to refer to Jennifer the Damned as the antidote to Twilight. The absolute inanity of modern vampire tales was certainly one of my inspirations, in the sense that I wanted to combat it with something more substantive, and I drew from those modern stories in terms of setting and tone to try to appeal to the same readers. But of course there’s a lot of Dracula in my book, too, going back to the idea that vampires pose a threat to both body and soul that only the pure of heart who are armed with Christ can defeat. The story itself is really taken from Crime and Punishment. Jennifer is Raskolnikov, testing the limits of human law and morality because she perceives herself as existing outside them. So where does Jennifer the Damned fit? I think that’s a question for readers and critics more than for me. I like to think it’s a literary novel masquerading as a teen vampire story, but maybe it’s the other way around.
My kids checked off their Christmas shopping lists in less than an hour of one-stop shopping, came home, wrapped their gifts, and DONE. Meanwhile, I’m still cobbling together lists, eyeing the calendar and wondering if I can get everything ordered and delivered before Christmas as our governor again tightens the reins on retail shopping.
In the waning days of 2020, let’s find a little joy, a little comfort, and a little peace by turning to a good Christmas book (or two, or twenty). I’ve assembled a list for the littlest family members on up. Eventually I’ll get my reviews completed and linked, but in the interest of sharing the list before Christmas, along with some reading and gift-giving links, here are my 2020 picks:
I’m embarrassed to say that The Memory of You by Catherine West was a book I planned on reading in 2017. Oops. Well, I finally got around to it, and I’m so glad I did. This contemporary romance is an emotional powerhouse that tackles a lot of tough stuff, including grief, guilt, and mental illness. A rekindled teenage almost-romance set at a Napa Valley family winery keeps the story from becoming maudlin.
I picked up Above the Fold by Rachel Scott McDaniel for the same reason I grabbed The Memory of You—the alcohol production connection that made its way into one of my Relevant Fiction Reviews posts. I’d intended on reading this Prohibition Era novel regardless, because its Pittsburgh setting caught my eye. Elissa and Cole have a sweet, shared past, but Cole’s return after a stint as a big-city reporter opens old wounds from his ill-timed departure. The newsroom setting keeps the story moving at a good pace, and an unsolved murder lends suspense to the romance.
Jennifer the Damned by Karen Ullo was one of my rare forays into horror. Jennifer, an orphaned vampire under the guardianship of a Catholic religious order of sisters, matures into her soulless fate, her craving for human blood destroying her relationships with the beloved sisters, classmates, and her newly acquired boyfriend. Running from both her past and her future, Jennifer longs to love and be loved, despite being condemned to soulless immortality. Look for my interview with the author on my blog next week!
I’m diving into Christmas reading with Courtney Walsh’s latest, A Match Made at Christmas. I’ve only just begun this romance set on Nantucket, but I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by Courtney Walsh, so I can’t imagine not enjoying this story. I’m not doing the early Christmas decorating many are indulging in this year, but I’m ready for a lot of fictional Christmas escape.
My oldest son has been reading Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. The play features the tragic hero Willy Loman, an aging, failing salesman. I read the play in high school myself but remember little about it other than it was one of a string of depressing books we read. My son agrees with that assessment yet is still enjoying this modern classic.
My seventh-grade daughter used our recently resurrected NOOK to read Washington Irving’s The Legend of Rip Van Winkle. She described it as a “short, good, ominous story” that introduced her to a lot of new vocabulary. Next up is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
In conjunction with her history curriculum, she read Saint Helena and the True Cross by Louis deWohl using our parish subscription to Formed. The story recounts the mother of Emperor Constantine’s conversion, Constantine’s rise to power, and Helena’s expedition to the Holy Land. The book is part of Ignatius Press’s Vision Books for young people.
My younger daughter supplemented her study of Peru by reading The Llama’s Secret: A Peruvian Legend by Argentina Palacios. Three of my kids got in on this legend of how the fox got a stained tip to its tail and the llama was revered. It includes colorful illustrations and many native Peruvian animals.
We re-read One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi, which I recalled sharing with my oldest child many years ago. The description: “A rajah who believes himself to be wise and fair uses his hungry people’s rice for himself year after year, until a village girl name Rani devises a clever plan using the surprising power of doubling to win a billion grains of rice from the rajah.” The illustrations really bring home the sheer volume of rice in question.
My youngest son has been reading about Australia. Possum Magic by Mem Fox is about a young possum made invisible by his grandma to protect him from snakes. A combination of native foods restores his visibility. This book sent us straight to a recipe search! Lamingtons, anyone?
You’ll recognize the look of Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne as it was illustrated by Curious George author H. A. Rey. It’s a cute story of a mama kangaroo who’s missing something critical—a pocket for her joey! She takes a fun journey seeking the advice of many animals until she discovers an innovative solution.
Want more details on An Open Book? You can also sign up for An Open Book reminder email, which goes out one week before the link-up. No blog? That’s okay. Just tell us what you’re reading in the comment box.
THANKS FOR STOPPING BY! STAY A WHILE AND LOOK AROUND. LEAVE A COMMENT. SHARE WITH A FRIEND. IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE, PLEASE SIGN UP FOR MY AUTHOR NEWSLETTER TO KEEP UP-TO-DATE ON NEW RELEASES, EXTRAS, AND HOT DEALS!
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
One thread ties the books below together: in some way, each involves the production and/or distribution of alcohol. Some legal, some illegal. A few are Prohibition-era stories. A couple precede Prohibition. One is a contemporary story. There’s wine, hard cider, whiskey, and all manner of spirits. Of course there’s more to the stories than all that, including intrigue, romance, and even humor.
I confess. I stole my husband’s bible. More than once.
Sure, I have a battered New American Bible from college. And a New Jerusalem Bible, also from college. We have a large, elaborately illustrated family bible. But when I wanted to grab a bible for study or reading, I stole my husband’s Revised Standard Version-Catholic Edition in its lovely leather case.
The black leather-like cover of this Bible is sleek, attractive, and durable and includes a black elastic strap to keep it from flapping open when not in use. The square, rather than common rectangular shape balances nicely in my hands when I’m juggling a computer mouse, pen, and tablet and fits comfortably in my lap.
