Wednesday, June 14, 2023

3 Exquisite Historical Novels + A Whole Lot More

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Calling all voracious readers!  I've got so much bookish stuff for you this month.  
🠊 2 things I'm learning

🠊 3⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ historical novels 

🠊 7 superb Kindle deals 

🠊 6 links to explore.  

Settle in somewhere comfy, put your dainty feet up, and let's begin.


I'm learning two things.
1.  Know your favorite authors, keep an eye out for their next release, and then get the title reserved on your library request list ASAP.  It was so much fun to be one of the first in the Cape Cod's Clams Library system to get hold of today's four featured books.  I'm usually the last one to read something hot off the press.

2.  It doesn't work to quickly page through a non-fiction reflective, instructive, or devotional volume like you would a piece of great fiction.  Finely written novels transport us to another time, another place that keep the midnight oil burning as we hungrily devour its chapters, reading from cover to cover.  

But we often need to press pause on a non-fiction work so that we can take a breather and process what we're discovering about ourselves, about faith, about issues that matter, and subjects that deserve our attention.  To figure out what we value, what we believe, and what we want to do about it.

We live our lives in an online culture where we can't help but compare our number of yearly reads to our neighbor's.  That reality hasn't done us me any favors.  I'm finally learning to honor each book's unique personality and give time and space to words that beg to be savored, not inhaled.  


You'll find an assortment of 'savorable' faith-stretcher Kindle deals toward the end of today's post.

📚

'In The Secret Book of Flora Lea, I wanted to tell a tale in a mystical landscape that echoed with the enchantment of storytelling, a story of sisterly bonds, and first naive love, of innocence lost and maintaining hope against all odds.  I wanted the girls to live in a magical land of both their imagination and of nature ... But most of all I desired to tell a tale that might ring with these words by Mary Oliver: 'Said the river: imagine everything you can imagine, then keep on going.'
With love and imagination,
Patti Callahan Henry (p 349)



📚


'An epic story that spans continents and generations, Homecoming asks what we would do for those we love, how we protect the lies we tell, and what it means to come home.  Above all, it is an intricate and spellbinding novel from one of the finest writers working today.'


A great big doorstop of a book, lose yourself in this perfect summer multi-generational read packed with mystery, mother-daughter dilemmas, hauntingly beautiful landscapes, and surprise twists and turns.



📚


'California, 1938—Seventeen-year-old Rosanne swore to her dying mother she’d reveal to no one that she sees unexplainable flashes of color when she hears sounds. When she not only breaks that vow but in a moment of abandon ends up pregnant, she is sent to a place where so-called inherited “flaws” are not tolerated. 

Vienna, 1947—Helen, who spent the war years as a nanny witnessing the same kind of thinking at its absolute worst, returns home to California and learns what really happened to the girl she long ago befriended at the family vineyard, soon discovering that while the war had been won in Europe, there are still hard battles to be fought at home.'

Not your typical storyline, Susan Meissner's uniquely captivating Only the Beautiful is a riveting and compassionate work set in a disturbing time frame.


📚

KINDLE NON-FICTION
DEALS
$3.99

C.S. Lewis
$2.99

Ordering Your Private World
Gordon MacDonald
$3.99

Chuck Swindoll
$3.99

Lysa Terkeurst
$3.99

$3.99

Philip Yancey
$3.99

📚

READING & WRITING
Jean Wise

Joel Miller

Barbara Lee Harper


Joanne @ Slices of Life


What's in your beach-y bookbag this summer?  And what's your book club reading in the next few months? 
Linda


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🠊  Thanks for supporting my work!  Simply click an Amazon link on any post & then shop 'til you drop.  That's it!  A few cents go into my pocket at no extra cost to you ever.

AnnePaula & Jeanne
Donna & Richella & Lisa
thank you

32 comments:

  1. I love all three of those authors! Kate Morton has the best way of describing places and events and always pulls me into her books! i'll get on the waiting list for this new one! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Yet another thing we agree on, Mah! I want to read all the books written by these three writers.
      🕯️

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  2. Oh, to have dainty feet!
    And the idea of a 5 second book summary is incredible. I give myself a minute for my book talks but often come in with more than 60 seconds of blather. Maybe I need to work harder at being concise!

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    1. I know, I know ... I loved that clip with Patti Callahan! Brings the ol' 'elevator speech' to a new level.
      👣

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  3. Thank you for these stellar recommendations, Linda!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome! Always fun to pull together ...
      👌

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  4. Thanks so much for sharing my post! I so agree about nonfiction. I don't get much out of it at all unless I read in short bits and let it sit for a while.

    I loved the post about a personal library. For years I could hardly get rid of any books I had read--they were like friends. I finally had to when we ran out of space for bookshelves.

    I just finished a wonderful book titled A Place to Hang the Moon by Kare Albus. It's secular young adult fiction, not my usual genre. But it is SO good. I just started Susan Meissner's The Nature of Fragile Things this morning. I've also been devouring Hannah Anderson's books since reading the one about Advent. I'm currently reading her Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why did it take me so long to put 2+2 together on the non-fiction reflective reading?

      As always, thanks for your reading recommendations, Barbara. It was a pleasure to share your helpful post!
      ✍️

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  5. Oh these look wonderful! I have been devouring all the summer beach reads as they become available through my library.

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    Replies
    1. I was excited to share your historical fiction list, Joanne!
      😎

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  6. Those are great Kindle deals! Thank you for sharing them! Our book club just read Beth Moore's memoir. I get the inclination to compare my # of book reads with others. I'm working on not reading just to get to my Goodreads book reading goal, and like how you guide "to savor and inhale" to do just that! Thank you.

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    1. Oh I would love to be in a book club talking about Beth Moore's latest. I absolutely loved this memoir ... so rich, complex, honest, uplifting. Definitely going to be on this year's Top 10 List.

      Sounds like we feel the same way about savoring, friend. No point doing life or reading in a mad rush.
      🏃‍♀️

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  7. Flora Lee is also on my list. I really loved Only the Beautiful. Meissner is a must-read author for me.

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    1. Stacie, there's such a feast of historical fiction these days, isn't there. I'm loving it all.
      📚

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  8. So much good bookish stuff here, Linda. I’ve read the sample of Kate Morton’s book on Libby and can’t wait to read the rest!

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    1. Please let me know what you think of the book, Lois!
      😉

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  9. OMG Linda, such a fantastic post full of good stuff! Thank you for the book recs and for featuring a link to my website!!

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    1. Oh I'm glad you found some good things here today, Donna. And thank YOU for opening your site so that we can mingle with other bloggers. I'm appreciative.
      🤩

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  10. Novels now are lost to me,
    and their appeal has fled,
    for non real folk cannot be
    living in my head.
    It did not used to be like this,
    I savoured well-told stories,
    but living cancer's Judas-kiss,
    I read now of the glories
    of shaping and then staining wood,
    and long-rifle ballistics.
    Not that this stuff is not good,
    but it's really not wholistic,
    and really messes up the plan
    to be a nicely-rounded man.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'non real folk cannot be
      living in my head'

      That's an interesting way to put it!
      😨

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  11. I enjoy your Blogs so much !!!! I had to giggle during the recent one where you described the different ways you and Marilyn prepare for company!!!! My sister and I do as you do...........we clean before folks come and then straighten out the house again when they leave.

    I was excited to see your recommendation of A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner as I JUST finished that book this week !!!! WOW - I could NOT put it down !!! My only caution would be perhaps not share it with someone who lost a friend or loved one on 9/11 ...........it is very graphic and vivid. That would be my only concern for a prospective reader.

    Waiting for me to dig in next is Susan Meissner' book The Nature of Fragile Things here on my desk..... Soooo it seems we have both discovered this author this summer............ I have ordered Only the Beautiful by Susan M. this week after reading about it on your Blog.
    * subscriber email response

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I feel like we just had a lovely chat over a cup of tea on a rainy afternoon, friend. I appreciate your input on the Susan Meissner books ... Mom would have enjoyed them I think, too. And the conversation about when families come to visit, yes?!

      God is good to keep us connected these days. I am so grateful.
      ☂️

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  12. I love historical novels. Thanks!

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  13. The first two books you listed are on my TBR for the summer. I read Aundi Kolber's first book, Try Softer and loved it. The second book I have on hold from the library and it will be awhile.

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    1. Don't you love how more and more Christian authors are appearing on our library shelves? So grateful!
      ✝️

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  14. Will be looking for some of these authors, Linda--even if I can't get my hands on their most recent efforts! Am currently reading Lysa Teurkhurst's Embraced devotionals--WONDERFULLY insightful and so well written. I can certainly endorse your recommendation!

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    1. Oh I'm so glad to hear how Lysa's work is impacted you, Nancy. She is an amazing woman, for sure ...
      🌷

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  15. Historical novels are totally up my alley!
    Hugs and blessings, Linda

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    Replies
    1. There's a growing number of us who are really enjoying this kind of reading! And the hits keep on coming.
      😄

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  16. Linda, I really, really appreciate your reviews and recommendations.
    As always, Thank You bunches for sharing your recommendations with Sweet Tea & Friends this month dear friend. Blessings.

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