Welcome to the June 2024 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com!

My husband has been reading Big Whiskey: Kentucky Bourbon, Tennessee Whiskey, the Rebirth of Rye, and the Distilleries of America’s Premier Spirits Region by Carlo DeVito. It is considered the definitive guide to the American Whiskey Trail (or so the description says) and features distilleries in both Tennessee and Kentucky. It includes interviews, histories, facts, and photographs. My husband has found it a useful guide and an interesting book that would work well in a coffee-table style presentation. It does, unfortunately, have some typos sprinkled throughout. Might make a nice Father’s Day gift for the bourbon afficionado.

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Welcome to the May 2024 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com!

Life has been busier than usual with all the spring concerts, sports, etc., with more to come in May, including exams. Reading is happening in the margins of our days. Even so, I have some great books to share with you this month.

I’ve been reading an advance copy of Rebecca W. Martin’s debut novel, Love in the Eternal City, A Swiss Guard Romance. A contemporary Catholic romance? Yes! More of these, please. I’ve never visited Rome, so I’m traveling vicariously with the heroine, Elena, who has re-located to Italy after a broken engagement, disintegrated friendship, and lost job. There she meets a Swiss Guard, Benedikt. I knew nothing about the Swiss Guard, other than their colorful uniforms, and I appreciate learning more about their history and modern role. Looking forward to the rest of this romance, which releases in August.

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Welcome to the April 2024 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com!

I’ve almost finished Karen Ullo’s forthcoming historical novel, To Crown with Liberty (Chrism Press). A split-time novel set during the French Revolution and late 18^th century Louisiana, the story of Alix de Morainville of the French nobility, is told through her own eyes. The reader experiences the persecutions and executions of the Reign of Terror and the wilds of the American south as farms and plantations bring civilization to the swamps of Louisiana. Some prominent historical French and American figures appear throughout. The faith interwoven in the story makes it stand out from purely historical and less personal sagas. Even without having read the conclusion, I highly recommend this novel, which will be launched on May 1.

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Welcome to the March 2024 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com!

For the first time in An Open Book history, it’s a week late. If you even noticed – sorry! I’ve been under the weather for, well, longer than I’ve ever been under the weather, but each day I’m a little better, and thanks be to God it seems it’s merely viral and not anything of a serious nature. 

If I can say anything good about being sick and fatigued for so long, it’s that I was able to complete the lengthy Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell much more quickly than I anticipated. After all these years and coming to it with a mature perspective and greater knowledge of both life and history, it’s still a five-star novel for me. Now, on to what else we’ve been reading!

When I was feeling worst, I needed relief from the brutality of war and death in Gone with the Wind, so I picked up Pepper Basham’s Authentically, Izzy. I always enjoy her writing, and this novel was chock full of fun literary references and likeable characters set in both the Blue Mountains of the American South and a fictional Scottish-like isle. It’s mainly an epistolary novel, which I enjoy, although I think by its nature, it increased the book’s length beyond what was necessary. The repetition of the characters’ bookish natures and the heroine’s wonderful creativity became somewhat tiresome. Still, it suited my mood and was an enjoyable contemporary Christian rom-com.

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Welcome to the February 2024 edition of An Open Book, hosted both at My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com!

I read Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell several times, but it’s been decades since the last re-read. I’ve been eager to read it again to see how it holds up now that I’m older and an author. So far, I’m still loving Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize winner and marveling at how faithful the movie adaption is to many details. It’s been a rather slow read so far only because it’s long and I’m reading a paperback. Without a decent booklight, a lot of my reading time is lost (since I read ebooks at my younger children’s bedsides at night).

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