Christmas is for Giving Books

Christmas may not be quite around the corner, but it will be here before you know it!  It's always that way, you know.  So, I'm going to help you out by telling you about some good reads, one to read during the season and two to give as great gifts to others (or yourself, if you're into that.  Grin). 

Christmas is one of my favorite times of year.  I love the memories of years past, the feelings of anticipation, the sights, the sounds, the smells.  And I love the stories.  Every year Robert J. Morgan, a pastor in Nashville, gifts his congregation with a Christmas story.  Now you have a chance to read six of those in The Nativity Collection: Six Stories That Share the Smiles, the Heart, and the Hope of Christmas.  The title describes it perfectly.  These short stories and their sweet illustrations bring to mind all the beauty of Christmas.  It would be a perfect read-aloud with your family around the dinner table or a great book to enjoy on your own during the quiet of an evening. 

A great gift to give would be Francine Rivers' Marta's Legacy set.  Earlier this year, I read and reviewed Her Mother's Hope.  As soon as I saw that the sequel, Her Daughter's Dream was available, I snatched it up.  This book was all that I'd hoped it would be.  It continued to explore those mother-daughter relationships that had so frustrated me in the first book (in a good way) and to detail the consequences of the messiness of loving.  Rivers did a beautiful job of showing how our imperfect love can cause misunderstanding and hurt, but that there is hope.  This book just affirms why she is one of my favorite current authors. 

Finally, if you want a book that's not attached to another, pick up The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner.  My brother and sis-in-love gave me this great read for my birthday.  In this book Lauren, an extremely wealthy college student, wishes to strike out on her own.  She takes a job transcribing a diary of a victim of the Salem witch trials.  I appreciated the many layers of this well-told story that explore the ways we judge others and reminds us of a time in America's past while weaving with it a modern tale.

I will be taking off this next week for multiple reasons. 
Until next time,


My honest review for The Nativity Collection was done in exchange for a free copy from Thomas Nelson Publishing through BookSneeze.  The other two were just worthy of sharing with you!

Christmas is for Giving Books

Her Mother's Hope

Relationships are so complicated and complex.  Trying to discern our own motives are difficult, and when we try to peek into another's heart, it's even more confusing.  After all, "Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy"  (Proverbs 14:10).

And yet, we seek to understand.  "The purposes of a man's heart are deep water, but a man of understanding draws them out" (Proverbs 20:5). 

Francine Rivers is seeking to draw out deep water in Her Mother's Hope, the first of a two-book saga called Marta's Legacy.  Ms. Rivers is at the top of my favorite author's list, so I was eagerly anticipating this book.  I have said before that my only complaint about her is that she hasn't written enough books.  And my favorite genre is historical fiction.  This book did not disappoint. 

The heroine of the novel is a strong-willed independent woman.  I love that.  Marta is determined to flee an abusive father in Switzerland and pursue her dreams wherever they lead her in the years before the First World War.  I found myself rooting for her to succeed and sorrowing with her through her difficulties.  She eventually lands in Canada and starts a family of her own.  It is in her mothering that we really begin to see the relationships unfold -- the conflicts, the drama, the bitterness, the joy. 

And it is in her mothering of Hildie, her oldest daughter, that Marta frustrated me and infuriated me most. But she also captivated me.  She caused me to examine my mothering and to attempt to view it from where my children stand.  Do they see my prodding and expectations as severe?  Do they know, know, know that I love them and am proud of them?  And how often do I bungle the relationships of the very ones I love so dearly in the name of trying to do what's best for them?

Her Daughter's Dream, the conclusion of Marta's Legacy, will not be out until the fall of this year.  However, the thoughts and questions the book stirred within me will keep me company as I wait. 

Her Mother's Hope