I picked up Snow Day by Billy Coffey because a couple of blog friends highly recommended it, plus the title conjures up joy for this Southern girl — we only get snow days once or twice a year, and the phrase promises a fun day off. It’s basically the story of Peter Boyd, whose job at the factory is under a dark cloud of possible layoffs, his encounters during a snow day off from work, and lessons learned from various other characters.

Billy has a humorous yet warm, thoughtful, laid back style that I first encountered when someone shared a link to Billy Coffey versus the grocery store a few months back. The story was good, easily readable, the characters were genuine and likable, the lessons were valuable. All in all it was a good read.

The only slight shadow over it for me was that it was billed as a novel, and usually in a novel the story is the main factor and any lessons learned are handled with a little more subtlety, not quite so moral-of-the-story-ish. This is more like a series of several objects lessons set within the framework of a snow day. And that’s fine, there is nothing wrong with that at all — it was more a matter of adjusting my mentality when I was waiting at first for the story part to pick up and take off.

I poked around Billy’s blog a bit yesterday and saw a post which I can’t figure out how to get back to now in which he usually asked his children what they learned that day, and one day one of them asked him that question. Thus the title of his blog is What I Learned Today. It’s good to have that mentality with the encounters in life rather than just letting them float by without thought.

I’ve been debating with myself whether to mention my one area of disagreement with the book, having to do with Santa Clause. 🙂 I don’t want to start a Santa Clause debate. We haven’t incorporated Santa except as a storybook character, and my kids haven’t suffered any detriment to their enjoyment of Christmas or the development of their imaginations. We respect other Christian families’ rights to incorporate Santa if they want to and can in good conscience, and only want the same grace in return. I thought Billy’s logic was a little faulty when Peter encountered a Christian family who felt strongly against Santa and then he went on a few pages later to talk about people who want to explain away the supernatural and say that Christ was just a moral teacher. Obviously the family Peter encountered were not trying to explain away everything supernatural, and it doesn’t follow that if you believe in Jesus you’ll also believe in Santa. He goes on to say that Santa was like “God 101 for a small child.” That’s exactly why some people don’t like Santa. Children are capable of belief in God without also believing in Santa and the Easter Bunny and tooth fairy.

Again, I don’t want to get into a Santa debate, and everyone is free to handle him however they wish. I just wanted to mention the issue because I didn’t want to recommend a book that had an area I disagreed with without qualifying it.

And I do recommend this book. If you like Andy Griffith, Paul Harvey, and that kind of homey story and gentle wisdom, you’ll like Snow Day.

(This review will be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday review of books.)

Carrie at Reading to Know is sponsoring a third annual Lucy Maud Montgomery Reading Challenge. The idea is to read anything of Montgomery’s and/or watch any program based on one of her works sometime between now and when the challenge ends Jan. 28. Carrie has a post up today where we can log our intentions and will have a post up Jan. 28 to wrap it up, and of course we can share on our own blogs our thoughts about our reading and watching along the way. And she’s also sprinkling a few prizes throughout the month!

I read through all six Anne books as well as Rainbow Valley and Rilla of Ingleside and a couple of collections of her short stories just after the Anne of Green Gables movie first came out. I had never heard of Anne or LMM before and was enthralled! I think I have reread them at least once since then and wanted to revisit them again, and doing so with other people increases the enjoyment. Last year I reread Anne of Green Gables for this challenge, and this year I am going to be very open-ended and just plan to read the next ones in the series until the month is over. I’d like to at least read Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island, but I don’t want to plan much beyond that in case I decide I want to read something else this month as well. Eventually, some year, after I work through these first eight books again I want to go on and explore some of LMM’s other books. I also rediscovered on my shelf Looking for Anne of Green Gables: The Story of L. M. Montgomery and Her Literary Classic, a biography of LMM. I haven’t read it yet and can’t deicde whether to try to this month or wait til I’ve read all six Anne books.

So, those are my plans. I look forward to a cozy visit with these old friends, perfect for cold winter days.

This week I finished compiled the books I read in 2010 — 55 this year, with a handful of others partially read. It’s been fun to look back over and remember them. It was a struggle to come up with a top 10, but here’s what I finally chose, not in any particular order. The first five are non-fiction, the rest fiction.

1. Hoping for Something Better: Refusing to Settle for Life as Usual, a Bible study through the book of Hebrews by Nancy Guthrie, reviewed here.

2. Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter, essays on various aspects of the death and resurrection of Christ from people such as Charles H. Spurgeon and Martin Luther to John MacArthur and Joni Eareckson Tada, compiled by Nancy Guthrie, reviewed here.

3. Parting the Waters:Finding Beauty in Brokenness by Jeanne Damoff, reviewed here, about the near-drowning of her teen-age son and the struggles, growth, and lessons of faith and beauty resulting from it.

4. Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynn Vincent, reviewed here. The cover says it is about “A modern-day slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely woman who bound them together.” But it is about so much more — poverty, prejudice, the true nature of benevolence and grace, and the great things two men on opposite ends of the economic spectrum learned from each other.

5. Our Daily Walk devotional by F. B. Meyer.

6. A Distant Melody by Sarah Sundin was reviewed here. A WWII story about two ordinary, flawed human beings who found each other despite a number of obstacles.

7. Christmas at Harrington’s by Melody Carlson. Sometimes second chances don’t come easily, but they do come.

8. This Fine Life by Eva Marie Everson, reviewed here. A privileged small-town girl falls in love with a man with a shady past, and their developing relationship, even after the wedding provides lessons in forgiveness, perseverance, and friendship.

9. Words Unspoken by Elizabeth Musser,  reviewed here. A young girl witnesses her mother’s death in a car accident, blames herself, and even a year afterward ha panic attacks when she tries to drive. An elderly man who helps young people learn to drive takes her on as one of his last students, and they impact one another’s lives.This was particularly well written in that strands of different people’s lives who at first don’t seem related are woven together beautifully.

10. Where My Heart Belongs by Tracie Peterson, reviewed here. A prodigal daughter story, but with unexpected layers.

I am linking this to Booking Through Thursday which asks us which books we read in 2010 are the best, worst, and favorite. Those are the best, I would have trouble narrowing it down to one favorite, and I’ll leave the worst. I mentioned in individual reviews over the year a couple that I did not like for various reasons, but I don’t want to be any more negative than that.

I’ll also be linking either this or the whole list of books read (or both) to Semicolon. She hosts a weekly review of books on Saturdays, a great place to see reviews of books you’re thinking about reading or to compare notes with someone who has read the same books as you. This particular Saturday, January first, she has reserved for book lists: “a list of your favorite books read in 2010, a list of all the books you read in 2010, a list of the books you plan to read in 2011, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books.”

The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read. You can learn more about it by clicking the link or the button.

Since last time I finished:

In the Company of Others, a new Father Tim (of the Mitford series) novel by Jan Karon, reviewed here.

After the Funeral, a Hercule Poirot novel, A Murder Is Announced, featuring Miss Marple, both by Agatha Christie, reviewed together here. Very good for that genre, though that genre isn’t my favorite. But I am glad to have finally read Christie.

Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas, several essays on various aspects of Christmas from Martin Luther, Spurgeon, Martin Lloyd-Jones, John Piper, and others, compiled by Nancy Guthrie.

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room: Daily Family Devotions for Advent by Nancy Guthrie.

Finding Christmas: Stories of Startling Joy and Perfect Peace by James Calvin Schaap.

Treasure of Christmas, a collection of three stories by Melody Carlson.

Christmas at Harrington’s by Melody Carlson.

The Christmas reads are all summarized with a little more detail here.

I am currently reading 50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning From Spiritual Giants of the Faith by Warren Wiersbe and A Novel Idea: Everything You Need to Know about Writing Inspirational Fiction but both of those are books I want to read a bit from at a time rather than reading straight through.

Waiting in the queue are: A Memory Between Us by Sarah Sundin, second in the Wings of Glory WWI series; Snow Day by Billey Coffey; Faithful by Kim Cash Tate. I also have a couple of books about women’s ministry on hand.

Plus Carrie at Reading to Know is holding a Lucy Maud Montgomery Reading Challenge in January. Last year I read Anne of Green Gables again; this year I’ll read the next Anne books and go through as many as I can during the month. Eventually I’d like to get to some of LMM’s other books as well.

Happy Reading!

Autumn is officially over, and that means it is time to wrap up Katrina‘s Fall Into Reading Challenge. I am happy to say I completed all but one of my books and added a few extras. I could have finished the one but decided I would get more out of it by taking it more slowly — more on that later.

These are the books I completed:

Non-fiction:

Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper, reviewed here. Very good.

Start Somewhere: Losing What’s Weighing You Down from the Inside Out by Calvin Nowell and Gayla Zoz, not reviewed. It was okay, more inspirational and testimonial than instructional. The best advice is in the title.

I’m Outnumbered!: One Mom’s Lessons in the Lively Art of Raising Boys by Laura Lee Groves, reviewed here. Very good.

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynn Vincent, reviewed here. Excellent.

Fiction:

Her Daughter’s Dream by Francine Rivers, the sequel to Her Mother’s Hope, reviewed here. Excellent.

Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs reviewed here. Good.

The Thorn by Beverly Lewis, reviewed here. Very good.

In the Company of Others, a new Father Tim (of the Mitford series) novel by Jan Karon, reviewed here. Very good.

After the Funeral, a Hercule Poirot novel, A Murder Is Announced, featuring Miss Marple, both by Agatha Christie, reviewed together here. Very good for that genre, though that genre isn’t my favorite. But I am glad to have finally read Christie.

The one on my list that I did not finish is 50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning From Spiritual Giants of the Faith by Warren Wiersbe. I had been dipping into it here and there and then decided I was going to plow through it to finish it by the end of this challenge. But then I was getting people jumbled up and feeling more like it was a chore, though I am enjoying the book. So I decided to go back to reading of one or two of the people here or there at a time and soak their stories in rather than just reading the book just to read it. I have several places marked already that I want to share when I do finish it!

There were a few I picked up which were not on my original list: A Novel Idea: Everything You Need to Know about Writing Inspirational Fiction compiled by several authors. I have been dipping into this here and there and really enjoy it. And then I have only been purposely reading Christmas books during December the last few years and wanted to do so again this year. I am part way into Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas, several essays on various aspects of Christmas from Martin Luther, Spurgeon, Martin Lloyd-Jones, John Piper, and others, compiled by Nancy Guthrie (a reread, excellent); Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room: Daily Family Devotions for Advent by Nancy Guthrie (excellent); 25 Ways, 26 Days to Make This Your Best Christmas Ever by Ace Collins (mmm…okay); Finding Christmas: Stories of Startling Joy and Perfect Peace by James Calvin Schaap (good);  Treasure of Christmas, a collection of three stories by Melody Carlson (great). I should finish all of those by the end of the month, some by Christmas. I also have The Best of Christmas in My Heart, a collection of short stories, by Joe Wheeler, but haven’t started it yet.

Katrina asks a few wrap up questions: My favorite book of this challenge would be Her Daughter’s Dream. Least favorite? That’s hard to say. I didn’t dislike any of them and none were “bad.” But as you can tell in my one-word assessments of each book, there were some I enjoyed more than others. The least favorite that I am currently reading is the Ace Collins one. It’s ok — just not grabbing me.  Learn something new through the challenge? I learned that murder mysteries aren’t my favorite though I enjoy trying to figure out “whodunit.” I’ve shared quotes that have spoken to me either in my reviews of each book or in my Week In Words weekly meme (would love to have you join us for that!) Favorite part of the Fall Into Reading Challenge? Being a bit more purposeful in my reading, incorporating some books I’ve been meaning to get to but haven’t worked in yet, and seeing what others are reading and adding to my too-long TBR list. And the possibility of winning a gift certificate to Amazon.com is a fun incentive as well. 🙂

Thanks again, Katrina, for hosting! It’s been fun!

I’ve been saying for months now that I wanted to read an Agatha Christie novel or two just because I never had and I wanted to see what kind of writer she was and why people liked her so much. I finally did read two of her books this month.

At first I thought of reading one of the books portrayed by the PBS Masterpiece Mystery program, but I decided I would probably better get the full impact of Christie’s writing by reading one of her books which I knew nothing about. So I chose After the Funeral, a Hercule Poirot novel, and A Murder Is Announced, featuring Miss Marple.

In After the Funeral, an extended family is gathered for a funeral of the family patriarch, Richard Abernethie, who apparently died of natural causes, when the sister of the deceased, Cora, shocks everyone by referring to his murder. Quickly retracting her statement, and having been thought of as generally ditzy, as we would say today, she’s thought odd but not really taken seriously…until she turns up murdered in her own bed. The questions, then, are whether Richard actually was murdered, and if so, who killed him, and who murdered Cora, and is anyone else in danger? The family solicitor turns to his old friend, Hercule Poirot, for help.

In A Murder Is Announced, a group of neighbors gathers at Letitia Blacklock’s house for a “murder game” which turns deadly when an actual murder occurs. Miss Marple is in town visiting a niece and assists the inspectors in finding the murderer.

I did see very quickly why Agatha Christie is considered a master. Much was revealed casually in the first few paragraphs of  After the Funeral in the musings of the doddering old butler as he readies the house for the family gathering after the funeral. And both novels kept me guessing until the end.

I smiled at the gentle fun Christie poked at Poirot in a couple of places. Poirot was well known, but not by this particular group of people, so they did not take him seriously and were amused at him. When he gathered everyone together, she wrote, “It looked as though Hercule Poirot would have to work hard to make his proper  effect” (p. 230). Later while Poirot talked with one of the local inspectors, they had this conversation:

“The piece of evidence I have imagined may not in fact exist. I have only deduced its existence from various scraps of conversation. I may,” said Poirot in a completely unconvinced tone, “be wrong.”

Morton smiled. “But that doesn’t often happen to you?”

“No. Though I will admit — yes, I am forced to admit — that it has happened to me.”

“I must say I’m glad to hear it! To be always right must be sometimes monotonous.”

“I do not find it so,” Poirot assured him.

I didn’t see these kinds of things in Miss Marple’s books. Perhaps they were a way of deflating Poirot’s tendency towards pompousness, or maybe Christie saw Miss Marple more as an alter ego. One thing that has always bothered me a bit about Miss Marple is how in the world police, detectives, and inspectors not only listen to her but actually seek her counsel. Perhaps that’s explained in one of her earlier books. In this one. she is known by one policeman as having a knack for solving mysteries, but the main inspector on the case doesn’t want to listen to the opinions of a visiting grandmotherly woman — until he starts to see that her perceptions are right.

Though I very much enjoyed playing the armchair detective and guessing “whodunnit,” I found that murder mysteries aren’t my favorite genre, so I don’t know that I will read any more of Christie. I like figuring out the puzzle, but I don’t like the murder, even though Christie doesn’t play up the grisly details like modern TV and films do. The constant talk of motives and methods just disturbed me a little. Oddly, that didn’t bother me in the TV productions: you’d think the visual representation would be more disturbing. Maybe it has to do with spending more time with a book — a few days rather than an hour or two of a TV mystery. I was also surprised to find a smattering of bad language, particularly in the second book. I guess I thought that didn’t happen so much in books of that time.

But I can definitely acknowledge with her fans that Agatha Christie is the queen of the murder mystery!

This post will be linked to 5 Minutes For Books Classic Bookclub, which encouraged us read a classic novel once a quarter and then “meet” to discuss it. Sadly, though, this is the last meeting and the Classics Bookclub will be disbanded. I will really miss it as it did help me purpose to incorporate some of the classics into my reading, and discussing them with others enhanced the enjoyment.

(This review will be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday review of books and the next 5 Minutes For Books I Read It column.)

The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read. You can learn more about it by clicking the link or the button.

Thankfully I remembered that this meme occurs the fourth Tuesday rather than the last Tuesday of the month.

Here is what I read since last time:

Start Somewhere: Losing What’s Weighing You Down from the Inside Out by Calvin Nowell and Gayla Zoz, not reviewed. I wasn’t familiar with Nowell or his music before this book, but I got it because I saw it on someone’s blog and the title attracted me. It is his testimonial of losing 215 lbs — not so much the how to’s, though he includes some sample menu plans and workout schedules, but the inspiration that guided him along the way.

Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs, reviewed here, drawn somewhat from the storyline of Naomi and Ruth, set in 18th century Scotland.

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie, a Hercule Poirot mystery, not reviewed yet: I want to review it with the other Christie novel I am currently reading.

Wow, that’s not very many! Probably because I have more than my usual couple of works in progress. I am currently reading:

A Murder Is Announced, a Miss Marple mystery, by Agatha Christie.

In the Company of Others, a Father Tim novel by Jan Karon.

50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning From Spiritual Giants of the Faith by Warren Wiersbe.

A Novel Idea: Everything You Need to Know about Writing Inspirational Fiction.

If I finish all of those except A Novel Idea, I will have completed by fall reading goals — I think maybe the first time ever I have read everything I planned to. I usually jostle the stack of books before it’s over and add or subtract what I original planned for. A Novel Idea was one not originally on my list, and it is one I might just dip into here and there rather than reading straight through.

Finishing the above will be a priority, but waiting in the wings is  A Memory Between Us by Sarah Sundin, second in the Wings of Glory WWI series. Plus I so enjoyed reading Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas, several essays on various aspects of Christmas from Martin Luther, Spurgeon, Martin Lloyd-Jones, John Piper, and others, compiled by Nancy Guthrie, that I am thinking of reading it again. But in looking through the Christmas books I separated out when setting up my bookshelves when we moved here, I came across a few other Christmas books: 25 Ways, 26 Days to Make This Your Best Christmas Ever by Ace Collins, Finding Christmas: Stories of Startling Joy and Perfect Peace by James Calvin Schaap, and The Best of Christmas in My Heart by Joe Wheeler. So I will probably decide between one or more of those before the end of this month.