Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is a meme that asks a bookish question each week, which participants answer either in the comments section or on their own blogs.  You can see the links to other posts here.

This week's question is one I had planned to blog about anyway:  “What were your favorite books last year?”

I spent much of New Year's Day looking over my blog postings for the last year and found these books I graded as "A". (The book titles are Amazon links; feel free to purchase and give me a couple of nickles)

Just Like Other Daughters

My Review

Heaven Is Here: An Incredible Story of Hope, Triumph, and Everyday Joy

My Review

The First Christmas Night

My Review

The Sea Glass Sisters: Prelude to The Prayer Box

My Review

Women's Intuition

My Review

Taste of Home Recipes Across America: 735 of the Best Recipes from Across the Nation

My Review

Orphan Train: A Novel

My Review

Looking for Me

My Review

The Sweetest Hallelujah

My Review

Somewhere Between Luck and Trust (Goddesses Anonymous)

My Review

Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives (Amazon Link)

Jesus of Nazareth:  The Infancy Narratives (Aquinus and More Link)

My Review

Six Sisters' Stuff: Family Recipes, Fun Crafts, and So Much More

My Review

While that is the extent of my "A" books for the year, I'd like to call your attention to a few  "B" books.  I'm Catholic and I like to support authors who write faith-based Catholic fiction.  Unfortunately, most authors of faith-based fiction are writing from the Evangelical Protestant perspective whereas I'd like to read about people with my faith experiences, at least some of the time.  Since most Catholic publishing companies will not publish fiction, Catholic fiction can be hard to find, and when it is published, it is often published by small companies or self-published by the authors.  Much of what I've read has been far too dogmatic and/or preachy to recommend to any but the most die-hard Catholics.  These books are exceptions to that rule.  While they are certainly written from a Catholic perspective and deal with matter of faith, they are not preachy or too good to be true.  I think most readers of Christian fiction would enjoy them.

Rachel's Contrition

My Review

Don't You Forget About Me

My Review

Inside These Walls(while this isn't published as faith-based fiction, I found Catholicism to be important in the book)

My Review

Review and Comments: Inside These Walls

Inside These Walls

About the Book:

For Clara Mattingly, routine is the key to enduring the endless weeks, months and years of a life sentence in a women's prison. The convicted murderer never looks back at who she once was—a shy young art student whose life took a sudden tragic turn. And she allows herself no hope for a better future. Survival is a day-to-day game. But when a surprise visitor shows up one day, Clara finds that in an instant everything has changed. Now she must account for the life she has led—its beauty as well as its brutality—and face the truth behind the terrible secret she has kept to herself all these years.

Critically acclaimed author Rebecca Coleman brings you the haunting story of a woman's deepest passions, darkest regrets and her unforgettable and emotional journey toward redemption.

My Comments:

I know people who are or have been in prison.  It is an unfortunate part of doing criminal defense work.  These men (and in my case they are all men) and I had, during the pendency of their case, a co-worker type relationship.  I didn't consider any of them friends; they were clients, I saw them frequently at work and did my best to help my boss provide them with a defense. Still, as with co-workers, I came to know that they had families, hobbies, likes and dislikes.  

A reality of the system is that the obviously guilty do not often go to trial; they plead guilty in return for a small or large (depending on the circumstances) favor when it comes to sentencing.  What that means from my point of view is that defendants in the cases we take to trial are not generally obviously guilty of some heinous crime, nor are they obviously innocent.  Seeing these clients regularly and interacting with them as human beings has given me a different perspective on criminals that I had when I started in this business.  One thing I'll admit I've been curious about is what happens when we are done?  What happens after the sentence has been passed and the defendant has been taken into custody?  Inside These Walls is a novel that tells the story of one definitely guilty woman, what her life in prison was like, how she got there and how life changed.

Clara is a devout Catholic.  She goes to Mass weekly and confession often and the confessional plays a major part in her earthly redemption.  The chaplain tries to lead her to forgive herself and those involved in her crime; though I doubt he realized all that went into putting her in that position.  MILD SPOILER TO FOLLOW

Part of what got Clara into the situation that landed her in prison was the priest abuse scandal.  I think Rebecca Coleman did a good job of showing the collateral damage done by these priests (and those who covered for them) without bashing the Catholic church.  In fact, the Church as a whole comes out looking pretty good.  Confession clearly comes across as a medium of growth.  The chaplain is a good guy who genuinely cares for the women in his flock.  

The story was told in the first person by Clara.  Part of it is just her mental musing; other parts are letters to journalist who came along at the time when she needed to tell the story.  I liked the writing style and found it very effective.  

Honestly, I don't think the end of the book was very realistic, but it was happy, and given the publisher (Harlequin MIRA) I guess that was to be expected.  I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B+

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

Hello, and welcome to Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival. We are a group of Catholic bloggers who gather weekly to share our best posts with each other. To participate, go to your blog and create a post titled Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival. In it, discuss and link to your posts for the week--whether they deal with theology, Catholic living or cute Catholic kids. I'm mostly a book blogger so my posts are generally book reviews, some Catholic, some not. Make sure that post links back here. Once you publish it, come back here and leave a link below.

We also have a yahoogroup; signing up for it will get you one weekly reminder to post.  Click here to sign up.

Question of the week:  Do you have any spiritual New Year's Resolutions?

My Answer:  Yes.  To pray more.  I got a tablet for Christmas and downloaded the iBreviary app and so far have been praying it more often than before.  I also signed up for a bunch of stuff to be sent to my email--Bible studies, Catechism passages and more.  Sometime I read it, sometimes I don't but I know I read it more than I would if it wasn't showing up in my inbox.

No blog posts this week except a review of a mindless romance.  However, I'll share a picture I took of my daughter after Mass on Christmas.

Island Promises: Review

Island Promises: Hawaiian Holiday\Hawaiian Reunion\Hawaiian Retreat (Harlequin Anthologies)

About the Book:

THE EX-WIFE

Megan McNeil is genuinely happy to escort her little girls to their father's wedding in Kauai, Hawaii—even though she feels like a third wheel. One gorgeous groomsman definitely disagrees. But are they both carrying too much baggage to begin a new romance?

THE BEST MAN

Devlin Marshall won't let anything spoil his buddy's big day—not even his own rocky marriage. Secrets and mistrust have divided him from his Amy, but the love in the air seems to be catching….

THE SISTER

Family comes first. Deep down, Gabi Foster knows it, but this holiday is hurting her career. Can a sweet, sexy surfing instructor convince her that love is worth more than a business deal?

My Comments:

RaeAnne Thayne is one of those authors whose books I grab when they show up on NetGalley, so this one went on my reading list.  It is a pretty typical Harlequin anthology--three short romances connected by setting and a couple of characters.  Everyone is in Hawaii for a wedding.  Devlin and Amy manage to rekindle their romance and the other couples meet and fall in love.  The first two stories are squeaky clean, but the third is not, though it isn't terribly graphic. I liked the first story best of the three.  I was looking for a quick mindless read when I picked this one up and I got it.  Grade:  B-.  Thanks to the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.