Christian Best Sellers September 2019

The Christy Award™ was established in 1999 to acknowledge the value and impact of the novel of faith in contemporary culture. The awards honor and promote the best accomplishments of writers who write from a perspective of faith and who create stories with matters of belief at their core. The following books are some of the 2018 award winners.  A summary of each book can be found in the most current Off The Shelf edition provided with your membership. For a complete list, including information on all the finalists in each category, go to www.christyawards.com.  Thank you to the Off The Shelf editor, Laura, for this information.

True to you by Becky Wade
Missing Isaac by Valerie Fraser Luesse
Life After; a Novel by Katie Ganshert
The Delusion: We All Have Our Demons by Laura Gallier
Isaiah’s Daughter: A Novel of Prophet & Kings by Mesu Andrews
The House On Foster Hill by Jaimie Jo Wright
The Lacemaker by Laura  Frantz

National Library Week Information

http://www.ala.org/conferencesevents/celebrationweeks/natlibraryweek

Book News from St Philips Lutheran Library 2017

New Titles in the Library  (information obtained from the church website)

St. Philip’s Library has added many new titles, which will be inspiring reading for the whole summer. Stop in soon to check them out.

FICTION

Gruen, Sara. Water for Elephants. (FIC/GRU) Algonquin Books, 2006. A best-selling novel and a motion picture telling the story of a Depression-era circus and the unlikely heroine, an elephant named Rosie.

Hanson, Warren. Dear Me: Life Shared in Letters Between the Younger You and the Older You. (813.54/HAN) Tristan Publishing, 2011. Think of all you could share with your younger self. What would you say?

Husby, Jean Vaatveit. A Return to Willow Water. (FIC/HUS) Loonfeather Press, 2011. The author invites readers to lose themselves in stories of her fictional Minnesota town. This is nostalgia at its best.

NONFICTION

Allen, Ronald J. A Faith of Your Own. (230/ALL) Westminster John Knox Press, 2010.This book is a helpful guide to defining and articulating one’s personal beliefs in a consistent way.

Arab Detroit 9/11: Life in the Terror Decade. (305.8927/ARA) Wayne State University Press, 2011. This book contributes to Arab American studies and fills the gap of how Arab Americans react to the horror of 9/11.

Barth, Karl. The Call to Discipleship. (248.4/BAR) Fortress Press, 2003. The author articulates what it means to follow Jesus in faith.

Brueggemann, Walter. The Collected Sermons of Walter Brueggemann. (252.05834/BRU) Westminster John Knox Press, 2011. A collection of powerful sermons from a distinguished scholar and preacher.

Council of Churches, Minnesota. This Much I Can Tell You: Stories of Courage and Hope from Refugees in Minnesota. (305/COU) Beavers Pond Press, 2011. Here are stories of hope and courage from 18 new Minnesotans, refugees and asylees from nine different countries.

Dregni, Eric. Vikings in the Attic. (973.04395/DRE) University of Minnesota Press, 2011.The author writes with humor and affection of the historical sites, folk tales and traditions of Scandinavians in the Midwest.

Kebede, Shegitu. Visible Strengths, Hidden Scars. (921/KEB) Hennepin House, 2011. The author was born in Ethiopia, orphaned at age 5. This is her story of her hardships and survival.

Lohse, Bernhard. Martin Luther’s Theology (230.41/LOH) Fortress Press, 2011. This is a scholarly study of the historical and systematic development of Luther’s theology.

Luther, Martin. Day by Day We Magnify You: Daily Readings for the Entire Year. (242.3/LUT) Marshall D. Johnson, ed., rev. ed. Augsburg Books, 2008. This is a book of daily meditations based on the writings of Martin Luther.

Nouwen,  Henri J. M. The Only Necessary Thing. (248.32/NOU) Crossroads Publishing Co., 1999. This is a collection of the author’s writings on prayer and meditation.

Taylor, Barbara Brown. An Altar in the World. (283.092/TAY) HarperOne, 2009. The author continues her spiritual journey by revealing how she learned to encounter the sacred everywhere in the world.

25 Books Every Christian Should Read. (016.230/TWE) HarperOne, 2011. This is a guide to essential spiritual classics and includes selections from each book.

Vermes, Geza. The Real Jesus: Then and Now. (232/VER) Fortress Press, 2010. The author is best known as an editor and translator of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

CHILDRENS

Askani, Tanja. A Friend Like You. (E/ASK) Scholastic Press, 2009. Simple text and photos of unexpected animal pairs reveal different aspects of friendship.

Buscaglia, Leo F. The Fall of Freddie the Leaf. (E/BUS) SLACK Inc., 1982. This classic has been republished on its 20^th anniversary. It is truly not just for children as the author tackles the difficult subjects of life and death.

Girard, Linda Walvoord. Adoption Is for Always. (E/GIR) A. Whitman, 1986. Although Celia reacts to having been adopted with anger and insecurity, her parents help her accept her feelings and celebrate their love for her by making her adoption day a family holiday.

Lindbergh, Reeve. Homer the Library Cat. (E/LIN) Candlewick Press, 2011. A cat’s quiet life is disrupted one day until he finds the perfect spot.

DVDs

Absie, Fathia. Broken Dreams. (DVD/ 973.049677/ABS) This video is a documentary about the exodus of Somali youth recruited from the United States for jihad.

New Christmas books plus some old favorites from Calvary Lutheran Church Library, Golden Valley, MN

Christmas Traditions at Grace Chapel Inn
Jane, Alice and Louise are the three sisters who run their beautiful old home as a bed and breakfast.  In this volume each sister relates a favorite Christmas memory.

A Patchwork Christmas Collection
This collection includes three Christmas romances with a bonus knitting and quilting pattern and recipes for the holidays.

Seems Like Love by Judith Miller
Karla Stuke from the Amana colonies packs away her wedding quilts after being jilted in 1890.  Her faith in men and marriage are destroyed.  Then…an apprentice pharmacist moves to town.  Hmmm.

A Patchwork Quilt by Stephanie Grace Wilson and The Bridal Quilt by Nancy Moser are other two similar stories but are not Amish.

A Lancaster County Christmas by Suzanne Woods Fisher
This is a heartwarming country story of two couples in a winter storm.

The Sound of Sleigh Bells by Cindy Woodsmall
Beth Hertzler is unable to let go of a past tragedy and sure she can never be happy again.  Then she finds an amazing carving of Amish children playing in the snow.  She meets the carver and ….

Sharing Christmas Every Day by Helen Steiner Rice
Only have a minute or two to read?  Grab this book and be refreshed by one of Ms. Rice’s lovely poems or one page devotion.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside by Susan May Warre
Dottie Morgan’s Christmas spirit froze over when her son was killed.  But when the blizzard of the decade landed on Frost, MN along with 4 strangers Dottie discovers that opening her door to strangers could help her open her heart to a reason to keep Christmas.

The Treasure of Christmas by Melody Carlson
One of our favorite authors brings us three in one.  The Christmas Bus, The Gift of Christmas Present and Angels in the Snow.

Old Favorites

 A Midnight Miracle by Gary Parker
Christmas is not always anticipated with happiness.  A young couple finds this out.  Jenna tries and tries to raise funds for a little boy who needs medical help.  It’s hard to raise money.  Rene Lincoln doesn’t believe in Christmas but he is home for the holiday to see his Dad who he doesn’t get along with very well.

Holiday Hope by Wanda Brunstetter and Diann Milk
Love has much to give in two stories from the 1940’s.  Can a patchwork quilt help hearts and bring comfort and joy?

The Christmas Wish by Richard Siddoway
This is a story of a little four year old boy who lost his parents.  He went to live with his grandparents and had a wonderful life.  Years later he comes back for his grandfather’s funeral and to help grandma.  What surprises he found!!

The Christmas Child by Max Lucado
A story is about finding your way home for the holidays.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
This is a very funny and memorable story of an outrageous family of children who discover the Christmas story and help everyone else rediscover its true meaning.

 book reviews

Lady Maybe

by Julie Klassne

In Lady Maybe, by the three-time Christy Award-winning author of The Maid of Fairbourne Hall, a woman’s startling secrets lead her into unexpected danger and romance in Regency England…

One final cry?”God almighty, help us!” and suddenly her world shifted violently, until a blinding collision scattered her mind and shook her bones. Then, the pain. The freezing water. And as all sensation drifted away, a hand reached for hers, before all faded into darkness…

Now she has awakened as though from some strange, suffocating dream in a warm and welcoming room she has never seen before, and tended to by kind, unfamiliar faces. But not all has been swept away. She recalls fragments of the accident. She remembers a baby. And a ring on her finger reminds her of a lie.

But most of all, there is a secret. And in this house of strangers she can trust no one but herself to keep it.

Published July 2015
ISBN10 0425282074        ISBN13  9780425282076

A Spirituality of Fundraising by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Have you ever raised funds for your church, another organization, or a mission trip? Maybe you felt uncomfortable about asking people to donate money. It’s time to change the way you view this important task.

• Series: Henri Nouwen Spirituality
• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Upper Room (January 19, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0835810445
• ISBN-13: 978-0835810449

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

Krueger, the author of the best-selling Cork O’Connor mysteries, largely set in Minnesota, has written a stand-alone novel that is part mystery but mostly an extended (and often overly extended) meditation. The narrator, Frank Drum, writes as a middle-age man looking back on a summer in 1961 in New Bremen, Minnesota, when he was 13; the Minnesota Twins were in their first season; and death, in five different instances, shook his family and their community in the Minnesota River valley. The first death is that of Frank’s sometime friend Bobby Cole. The proximate cause was a train, but the mystery is whether Bobby stood in front of that train, or was pushed or placed there. More deaths follow, one of which rips apart Frank’s family. This coming-of-age story is obviously an attempt to show how grace can work through the fissures of suffering. While the setting is well rendered, the characters are too flat, and Krueger keeps striking the same monologist’s meditative note throughout, while most readers will long for variety in style. –Connie Fletcher

• ISBN-10: 1410458229
• ISBN-13: 978-1410458223