The first Wednesday of each month, Carolyn Astfalk hosts #OpenBook, where bloggers link posts about books they’ve read recently. Here’s a taste of what I’ve been reading:

Fiction

The Spectacular by Fiona Davis. A terrific novel about the Rockettes in the mid-1950s, this book is both a coming-of-age story and a thriller. Marion Brooks wants more than the life of a well-heeled housewife, so she puts her lifelong dancing lessons to good use and secretly auditions for the Rockettes. But along with the rest of New York City, she finds herself terrorized by a serial bomber—and unwittingly joins the search for the killer, along with a psychologist using a new profiling technique. There were wonderful secondary characters in this book as well, including the demanding dance coach who’s surprisingly fatherly and concerned for the girls.

 

A Paper Snowflake Christmas by Maddie Evans. Because Marlie didn’t choose a professional path that met her parents’ expectations, she’s left behind when they attend a destination wedding on a cruise over Christmas. Marlie’s friends decide to spend Christmas together and make the holiday fun for her—led by childhood mischief-maker Devin, who now has custody of his traumatized 4-year-old nephew. The friends decide to show the little boy the wonders of Christmas, but no one suspects the depths of the child’s troubles. And Marlie is challenged to get over her assumptions that a onetime troublemaker could never change. As with all Maddie Evans’s books, the dialogue is terrific and the characters real enough that you can easily picture them and their hometown.

 

The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman by Louise Plummer (YA). One of my favorite “bookstagrammers,” Katie Fitzgerald, recommended this one, and I’m so glad I got a copy. Written in 1997, it didn’t feel dated (I didn’t even miss the lack of cell phones, Google, and social media.) It’s clever and hilarious, and the dialogue is terrific—there’s even a smattering of linguistics banter in there, which thoroughly delighted me. Kate, a high-school student, stars in the romance novel she’s writing with the help of a guidebook (the key to all the tropes) with her older brother’s best friend as her love interest. Along the way, she gains insight about a fair-weather friend and sympathy for others who missed out on the kind of family experiences she’s taken for granted.

 

The Charter Class by Anne Faye. As a graduate of a college that had very similar beginnings to The College of Our Lady of the Elms, I thoroughly enjoyed this look at the origin story of a hundred-year-old educational institution. This novel covers the first year of the college’s existence, and focuses on the (fictional) experiences of three of the 36 original students. From crushing on a roommate’s brother to fulfilling a mother’s dying wish to seeking an escape from an abusive father, the young women face challenges beyond the academic ones. I’m looking forward to the next book in this series.

 

Nonfiction

Scott Hahn and Ken Ogorek have put together a book that takes Sunday Mass prep to the next level. Breaking the Bread: A Biblical Devotional for Catholics not only offers reflections on the Sunday Mass readings that helps readers understand how all the readings for each Sunday Mass fit together, it also features quotes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church that provide even more background information and connection to the life of the Church. As a parish musician, at Sunday Mass I’m a bit distracted because I’m always listening for the next musical cue. Whether it’s your service at Mass or your young children that diverts your attention from the readings each Sunday, reading this book at home can help you not only stay caught up on the readings from Mass, but enrich your understanding of them with background information from the Catechism. This book can be used to prepare for Sunday Mass or to recap what you heard at Mass later in the day or week. Read my full review.

 

Come to Me: Living the Nine First Fridays by Sister Anne Flanagan, FSP, is a fascinating devotional that takes the often off-putting, flowery language surrouding some Catholic devotions and puts the ideas into plain English. It’s designed to be read one month at a time for nine months, to help the reader complete the practice of making the Nine First Fridays. The beginning of the book introduces the practice of this devotion and explains that this is not a vending-machine kind of practice, but one that fosters a relationship with Jesus that will awaken our hearts in new ways so we can love and serve Him through our daily lives. In the second part of the book, there are nine guided meditations, meant to be read and pondered during a holy hour. The final part of the book contains history of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, plus prayers that can be prayed during Adoration, or before or after Mass. I’m finding this book refreshing in its simplicity, and on every page, the author’s deep love for Jesus shines through.

 

That Sounds So Good: 100 Real-Life Recipes for Every Day of the Week by Carla Lalli Music. My older son, who’s a terrific cook, gave me this book for Christmas. I immediately started a list of recipes I want to try. This cookbook is designed for intermediate to advanced cooks, and has a feature with every recipe that I really appreciate: a “spin it” note that offers variations on the recipe. The beginning of the book is an excellent introduction to building a pantry and planning meals, so I’d definitely recommend reading that even if these recipes aren’t the types of food you normally cook. On my list of recipes to try from this book: braised short ribs with pasta, sheet pan chicken with tomato and chickpeas, chicken with burst tomato sauce, pasta with cacio and walnut, plus broccoli rabe with cheese and brussels sprouts with sesame.

 

The Heirloomed Cookbook: Made-from-Scratch Recipes to Gather Around for Generations by Ashley Shoenith, with photography by Heidi Harris. This cookbook is definitely a social-media-driven project; the photos and recipes are clearly curated with a particular vibe in mind (beyond “delicious homemade food”). While the pictures are beautiful, a filter is used on all of them that washes out or desaturates the color, which makes many of the foods look less appetizing than they likely would on your own table at home. There’s definitely a focus on Southern recipes here: okra, grits, boiled peanuts, sausage gravy all make an appearance. I’m looking forward to trying the shrimp scampi, cast-iron sauteed brussels sprouts, parker house rolls, and baked salmon with sriracha soy sauce, to name a few. And the deviled egg salad sandwich sounds interesting, too! I did love that the author recommends interviewing elder family members and friends and getting them to teach how to make their favorite recipes. That’s a wonderful practice that will help preserve those traditional family dishes! (Review copy received from publisher.)

 

Links to books in this post are Amazon affiliate links. Your purchases made through these links support Franciscanmom.com. Thank you!

Where noted, books are review copies. If that is not indicated, I either purchased the book myself or borrowed it from the library.

Visit today’s #OpenBook post to join the linkup or just get some great ideas about what to read! You’ll find it at Carolyn Astfalk’s A Scribbler’s Heart and at CatholicMom.com!

 

 

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Copyright 2024 Barb Szyszkiewicz
Images copyright 2023 Carolyn Astfalk, all rights reserved, used with permission