An Open Book

An Open Book

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

Poison Study

Many years ago, when I belonged to a local library’s writing group, I became aware of Maria V. Snyder’s Poison Study. The author was a local success story in publishing, and there was often mention of her. It took me a decade or more, but I’ve finally gotten around to reading the novel. In this fantasy, a young woman is spared execution and offered a position as food taster for the commander of Ixia. She’s kept captive by the need for a daily dose of antidote only her captors can supply. So far, so good.

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An Open Book

An Open Book

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

You’ll notice that a lot of our recent reading was inspired by our summer vacation in Kentucky, where we made eleven stops on the Bourbon Trail and visited Daniel and Rebecca Boone’s graves, among other places.

Boone: A Biography

Many hours of our travel time were spent listening to Boone: A Biography by Robert Morgan. Frontiersman Daniel Boone was a complex man who lived a fascinating life in 18th-century America. Robert Morgan’s biography is long and detailed, occasionally veering off on interesting tangents. While we didn’t complete the entire book as a family, my oldest son is listening to the remainder on his own. When presented with the hardships Boone overcame in uncharted wilderness and in conflict with hostile native tribes, I couldn’t help but think how soft we Americans have become. 

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An Open Book

An Open Book

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

Hillybilly Elegy

Like many others, my husband purchased a copy of J.D. Vance’s memoir, Hillybilly Elegy, following the Republican National Convention. I’m not sure if it was Prime Day pricing, but it was a considerably reduced price. I’d had my eye on this several years ago but hadn’t gotten around to reading it, so I’ll likely read it as well. So far, from the stories my husband has shared, I think it’s fair to say Vance’s Appalachian family was very colorful. I read the introduction, and the writing was so smooth, I wanted to continue.

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An Open Book

An Open Book

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

Beer in America

For Father’s Day, we made a little trip to a local bookstore that sells primarily used books. We were like kids in a candy shop. Those books will be showing up here as we read them, starting with a historical book my husband grabbed: Beer in America: The Early Years 1587-1840, Beer’s Role in the Settling of America and the Birth of a Nation by Gregg Smith. Part American history, part brewing history, it has some mixed reviews on Goodreads, so take that for what it’s worth. It covers the science, social importance, and historical role of beer in our country.

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An Open Book

An Open Book

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

Big Whiskey

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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Jellybean: A Baby’s Journey to God

Jellybean

Jellybean: A Baby’s Journey to God by Theoni and Bastian Bell

Little Jellybean, nicknamed by her family, experiences an exciting world of sound and sensations inside her mother’s womb, encountering the voices and personalities of her loving family. Just when she has nearly outgrown her mother’s belly, a surprising visitor guides her to a new home. There, Jellybean is given a mission to help her family find meaning in their loss and ultimately join her in the presence of God. A beautiful story to help families heal after the loss of a baby.

More information and resources at Holy Heroes.

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To Crown with Liberty: Must-read historical fiction from Karen Ullo

To Crown with Liberty

New Orleans, 1795. In the wake of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, Alix de Morainville Carpentier—a former lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette, now married to her gardener—seeks peace and security in the Spanish colony of Louisiana. But her journey into the man-eating swamp called Attakapas reopens the wounds of her old life in France. Alix is forced to reckon with the choices that saved her life at the cost of her honor—and perhaps her soul.

In revolutionary France, the Old World is dying; the quest for liberty, equality, and fraternity has become a nightmare where the price of dissent is blood. In the wilderness of Spanish Louisiana, a new civilization is beginning to emerge—but in this budding New World, the slave trade perpetuates the systems of oppression that sparked the revolution. Caught between old and new, scarred by trauma and grief, will Alix ever find a home where she can truly be free?

To Crown with Liberty is a historical novel based on riveting legends from George Washington Cable’s Strange True Stories of Louisiana (1888).

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An Open Book

An Open Book

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.

Love in the Eternal City

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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