15 Comments

Wondering how I have lived this long without hearing of this book...!

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it is a truly wonderful book! If you read it, I hope you enjoy it.

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I love this book, as well as Foster. Claire Keegan’s writing is so tight…not one word wasted. I was looking forward to reading her new book, but have only seen negative reviews. Such a bummer!

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Yes, I just discussed Foster with a group of women on Monday. Her writing is economical yet exquisite.

And so sad to hear that about her new book! I was so excited.

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I bought So Late in the Day, her newest book, anyways. It’s worth a try! I’ll be reading it this weekend, as my last book of 2023.

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I just realized that I worded something incorrectly! I meant her writing and writing is tight (no excess words). Not sure why I wrote “wasted.” Oh well! You got my point. :)

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Jane Eyre was the book my mom made me read when I was in a period of being totally over reading novels (like junior high or something) -- and it ending up changing my reading life. It enveloped me and I was like "why aren't other books this good!?"

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YES! And I think Jane Eyre is such a gift to young women because you can grow up with it. Every time I've read it, I feel like I'm reading a new book in some ways because I'm different.

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Read Hannah Anderson's Heaven and Nature Sing last Christmas and will probably go through it again this year. Accompanied by beautifully simple sketches by her artist husband too.

This year I'll also be picking up The Advent of Glory by R.C. Sproul. And I plan to try O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, a daily liturgy for Advent by Jonathan Gibson, if I can handle it! And, not a Christmas book but my book club is tackling A Tree Grows in Brooklyn over our Christmas break and I really can't wait to dive in.

In years past I've enjoyed Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, a compilation of essays edited by Nancy Guthrie.

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All of these sound wonderful! And you're reminding me that I have Anderson's book somewhere in my house and I need to find it!

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Jesus Calling For Christmas

- Sarah Young

I feel like a kid in a candy store with this book in hand, a warm quilt, a mug of tea. Filled with soothing, personal, Christ-centered devotional readings, favorite Scripture, and stunning wintertime photography, this is a gorgeous book.

Wonder in the Waiting

- Angela Burtis

A unique devotional memoir written by my crazy-about-Christmas & deeply-in-love-with-Jesus friend.

She’s living proof that yes, you can embrace both at the same time. We chatted about her labor of love just a few days ago on my site.

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thank you for sharing! I'll have to check both of those out along with your post!

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My favorite Christmas read is Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher. It’s the story of 5 people who inadvertently end up spending Christmas together on the coast of Scotland. I listen to it on audio every December and it makes my heart happy.

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I also loved Small Things Like These - disturbing but beautiful.

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Abigail, you are the second person in the last several months who has recommended this book. Thank you for the reminder.

What do I like to read at Christmas? "Mr. Dickens and His Carol" by Samantha Silva--a fictionalized imagining of the way Dickens came to write his Christmas Carol. So good.

I've also just ordered a new collection of reflections edited by Leslie Leyland Fields of work from poets and essayists in the Chrysostom Society...."A Radiant Birth: Advent Readings for a Bright Seasons."

(also kinda like my own small ebook of 11 poems "Emmanuel Poems: Verses for the Holidays." :-)

((thanks for asking.))

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