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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