Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Open Book ~ June '19


End of school year craziness reigns so please excuse my brevity as all three books reviewed are indeed wonderful.


A Light in the Window by Jan Karon is the second book in the Mitford series featuring Father Tim and his various neighbors in rural North Carolina. I found the pacing of this book better than the first and so enjoyed even more.  The exploration into small town Appalachia is just as wonderful if not even more hilarious.


In Pope Francis; Our Call to Joy author Diane Houdek breaks down Pope Francis's Gaudete et Exsultate  and shares her understanding of Pope Francis and his motivation for this first encyclical.  Houdek uses examples from Pope Francis's life and papacy to show how he is modeling this life of joy and hope in the Gospel laid out in Gaudete et Exsultate.




Be Brave in the Scared by Mary Lenaburg is a wonderful story of God's sustaining love.  Having had the great pleasure of hearing the author speak on a couple of occasions I was excited to read her memoir and learn more about her and her family ~ and this book does not disappoint. It is an amazing story of facing the challenges of a special needs child and troubled marriage and finding the solace not in emotional eating but in prayer and the growing knowledge of God's grace and sustaining love. I was also blown away by how consistently her daughter Courtney life with all its challenges were described as a blessing, not a burden in Mary's life. An amazing, inspiring story!!

Please head over to Carolyn's for more Open Book!

3 comments:

  1. Joy, I felt the same way about Mary Lenaburg's book! Very inspiring. I know she lives in VA and often speaks around here, and one of these days I need to get to one of her events (I have a d-I-l who is a big fan, too, and would love to go with me!).

    I haven't read the Mitford series and have always been curious about it, yet somehow never started. On your recommendation, I just might! :)

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  2. I hear you on the end-of-school craziness! Yikes. These are great. I keep hearing such good things about Mary Lenaburg's book. I'm looking forward to reading it. Thanks for linking up!

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  3. Have heard a lot about Mitford and hope to start the series sometime! And can't wait to start Mary's book. :)

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