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Christian Fiction January 2023 |
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Booked for Lunch
Wednesday, January 4, 11:30 am
Community Room
Join us as we discuss chapters 1-17 Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow. Copies of Titan will be available at the December meeting and at both libraries prior to the January meeting."John D. Rockefeller, Sr. - history's first billionaire and the patriarch of America's most famous dynasty - is an icon whose true nature has eluded three generations of historians. Now Ron Chernow, the National Book Award-winning biographer of the Morgan and Warburg banking families, gives us a history of the mogul "etched with uncommon objectivity and literary grace.as detailed, balanced, and psychologically insightful a portrait of the tycoon as we may ever have" (Kirkus Reviews). Titan is the first full-length biography based on unrestricted access to Rockefeller's exceptionally rich trove of papers. A landmark publication full of startling revelations, the book will indelibly alter our image of this most enigmatic capitalist.John D. Rockefeller's story captures a pivotal moment in American history, documenting the dramatic post-Civil War shift from small business to the rise of giant corporations that irrevocably transformed the nation. With cameos by Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, Jay Gould, William Vanderbilt, Ida Tarbell, Andrew Carnegie, Carl Jung, J. Pierpont Morgan, William James, Henry Clay Frick, Mark Twain, and Will Rogers, Titan turns Rockefeller's life into a vivid tapestry of American society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries." - Goodreads Masks are now optional at in-person library programs held indoors. Please do not participate if you feel ill or are exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. If conditions warrant, programs may be offered virtually or cancelled.
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| Anything but Plain by Suzanne Woods FisherA young woman contemplates leaving the Amish community in this enjoyable romance from Fisher (The Sweet Life). Nineteen-year-old Lydie Stoltzfus is easily distracted and struggles to hold down a job. Though most of her peers have been baptized, she still feels she isn't ready and believes that she's a disappointment to her family and friends, so she's secretly planning to leave the Amish community. Then her domineering grandmother, known to Lydie as "Mammi the Meddler," arrives in town and announces her intention to keep an eye on Lydie and help take care of her younger siblings. Lydie takes a job as a receptionist for her aunt, a doctor who left the Amish community as a teenager and who diagnoses Lydie with ADHD, offering her a new perspective on her troubles. Meanwhile, Lydie's 19-year-old neighbor Nathan Yoder competes with his brother for control of the family farm. He develops a crush on Lydie, but she fights her feelings for him because she plans to leave soon. Readers will be won over by the delightful leads, and the nuanced treatment of Lydie's ADHD and crisis of faith brings depth to the narrative. This is another winner from Fisher. |
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| The Blackout Book Club by Amy Lynn GreenAfter her librarian brother joins the army during WWII, Avis Montgomery, not much of a book lover, reluctantly agrees to oversee his beloved library in his absence. With increasing blackout-compliance pressure in their small coastal Maine hometown and the looming threat of a library closure, Avis establishes an evening book club in an effort to save the institution. As the devastation of war marches closer to home, the club confronts its own battles against suspicion, prejudice, and dangerous secrets. What starts as a group of strangers passing the dark hours with discussions of Shakespeare and Wordsworth evolves into a cohort of unexpected advocates and friends. Green (Things We Didn't Say, 2020) presents another brilliant work of WWII historical fiction, an empowering story of friendship, community, and humanity. The book-club trope is elevated by the drama of loss during a time of war and a cast of lovably fallible characters attempting to reconcile life through literature. The Blackout Book Club reprises Green's ingenious use of a creative format as she alternates between book-club meeting minutes and sections narrated by members in a way that gives voice to the group's dynamic growth. Readers will revel in this charismatic novel of camaraderie, empathy, and the power of stories to unite us. |
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| What We Found in Hallelujah by Vanessa MillerTwo sisters reunite with their mother in Hallelujah, S.C., in the satisfying latest from Miller (Something Good). The death of family patriarch Henry Reynolds followed by the disappearance of his youngest daughter, 14-year-old Trinity, fractured the relationships among the remaining family members: Henry's wife, Ruby, and daughters Faith and Hope. Eighteen years later, Hope lives in California and Faith lives in Atlanta, dealing with her strained marriage and obstinate teenage daughter, Crystal. Ruby convinces Hope and Faith to come home, citing an unwise business deal she's made that's put their beachfront home at risk of repossession, but their visit is tense and painful. As Hope confronts Ruby about a devastating family secret that's kept them estranged, Faith starts to suspect that Crystal has been suffering from the same mental illness that ailed Trinity. With a hurricane approaching Hallelujah, Ruby must confront how her stubbornness and distance from God have kept her from having fulfilling relationships with her daughters. A dramatic plot and uplifting resolution make up for the occasionally stilted dialogue. The result is a potent testament to the power of faith and family in the face of tragedy. |
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| Sundown by Susan May WarrenEveryone else might believe the mysterious woman at Sky King Ranch has lost her memory, but Colt Kingston knows when someone is lying. Now he just has to find out if the lies are meant to save her . . . or protect them. |
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| The Premonition at Withers Farm by Jaime Jo WrightA woman's death dredges up memories of a serial killer who stalked Kilbourn, Mich., in the early 1900s in this hair-raising thriller from Wright (The Souls of Lost Lake). In 1910, 24-year-old Perliett Van Hilton joins a murder investigation after the town doctor, George Wasziak, asks her to help clean the body of Eunice Withers, a young woman who was stabbed to death. Then another young woman turns up dead, and after Perliett's mother—who is a medium—contacts Eunice's spirit, Perliett becomes convinced that she's the killer's next target. In the present day, Molly Wasziak's husband finds the body of a young woman in a ditch weeks after they move onto the property where the Withers' farm once stood. Molly is shocked when she discovers her new home's connection to the unsolved "Cornfield Ripper" murders and fears that a new killer is on the prowl. Hearing mysterious noises and seeing ghosts, Molly is uncertain if her supernatural visions are real or the product of depression that's plagued her since having multiple miscarriages. Molly and Perliett must protect themselves while reconciling their faith in God with the supernatural events they've witnessed. Wright excels at wringing the eeriness out of her premise and elegantly weaving the thoughtful meditations on what happens after death into the fast-paced murder mystery. This will delight Wright's fans and earn her some new ones. |
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Books You May Have Missed
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| The Lady of Galway Manor by Jennifer DeibelStephen Jennings knows heartbreak, and now he wants nothing more to do with romance. Unfortunately, selling true love in the form of Claddagh rings is pretty much the basis of the Jennings' family business. Now, if watching besotted couples celebrate their love isn't annoying enough, Stephen's father, Seamus, saddles him with a new apprentice, Lady Annabeth De Lacy. While she is a member of the British aristocracy, Anna wants to chart a different course in life, but getting Stephen to take her seriously seems to be an uphill battle. While Stephen and Anna try to find a way to bring down the temperature in the shop, things are heating up outside as some of the residents of Galway push the cause of Irish independence by targeting British officials, including Anna's family. Deibel (A Dance in Donegal, 2021) deftly weaves fascinating details about Irish history and culture into the plot of her latest sweetly romantic love story, with an underscoring of the importance of compassion and faith in our lives that could not be more timely. |
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| The Winter Rose by Melanie DobsonAddie Hoult is widowed, pregnant, and about to lose the only father figure she has ever known. The search for a bone marrow donor for her beloved Papa C leads her to the coast of Oregon and down a rabbit hole of dusty genealogy records and decades-old secrets. Meanwhile across the ocean and the years, Quaker Grace Tonquin feels called to save Jewish children from Nazi Germany—no matter the personal cost. One little girl named Marguerite, who can see the colors of people's emotions, finds a special place in Grace's heart. Grace realizes that though she can carry the children over the Pyrenees Mountains to physical safety, but the things they have seen and done to survive still haunt their dreams even in America. |
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| Life Flight by Lynette EasonRomantic suspense star Eason's latest grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go; readers will have a hard time putting it down long enough to focus on real life. The daring and heroic rescue of a young climber during a storm results in a helicopter crash landing on a mountain in North Carolina, and makes EMS pilot Penny Carlton the latest target for a serial killer. Penny previously saved the life of FBI agent Holton Satterfield; this time her life is on the line if Holton can't track down Darius Rabor after he escapes from death row. Penny and Holt have been on a few dates over the last year or so, but they haven't been totally honest with each other about their backgrounds. Penny is the daughter of a successful Hollywood actress; she met her best friends when they were in a juvenile detention center together as teens. Holt's sister is in jail after killing her husband, which Holt still has a whole lot of questions about. This sweet but thrilling romance is a great start to Eason's Extreme Measures series and may also be her best book yet. |
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| Harvest Moon by Denise HunterHunter's third novel set in Riverbend Gap, a Southern town on the Appalachian Trail, involves a second-chance romance between a divorced couple, Laurel Jenkins and Gavin Robinson, who were named by friends killed in an accident as guardians of their young child, Emma. The story alternates between their high-school sweetheart romance, their marriage and divorce, and the present, when they try to figure out what to do. The two live in different towns but move together into Emma's home to take care of her. Emma's grandparents, who have never met her, have petitioned for custody, but neither Lauren nor Gavin want Emma to go to them. As they work through all this, they realize that they do still love each other and discover that they have to go through a court process to ensure that Emma is theirs. Like Hunter's other titles, this is a sweet, heartwarming romance with mild Christian religious undertones and a lovely, engrossing story with a satisfying if fairly predictable ending. A worthy entry into the Riverbend series, it also reads well as a stand-alone. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Centerville Library
111 W. Spring Valley Rd.
Centerville, OH 45458
(937) 433-8091
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Woodbourne Library
6060 Far Hills Avenue Centerville, OH 45459
(937) 435-3700
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