Christian Goodreaders discussion

Yesterday, I started reading the second book of C. S. Forester's Hornblower Saga, Lieutenant Hornblower. This is a continuation of The Young Hornblower Omnibus, which I got back in the 90s; I've previously read the first novel of the series, Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, but despite my good intentions, what with one thing and another, I've had to wait quite awhile to get back to it. It'll be interesting to compare the novel with the A & E movie adaptation(s), starring Ioan Gruffudd, which I've greatly enjoyed!

I listed some great devotional a I have been reading and also an inspirational, funny book about aging. Didn't my skin used to fit ? It was great in pointing to things we all share and struggle through getting older, and it reminds us to keep smiling and thanking God for the privilege , of having another day.

Having finished the second installment of the Hornblower Saga, I'd planned to start the third over the past weekend. To my surprise, though, I discovered that the third and last novel of The Young Hornblower Omnibus is the fifth novel of the series, not the third (and I want to read them in order). That left me scrambling to choose a different read from the many here at my house. The one I picked is one of the many Westerns my wife Barb owns, The Ballad Of Cat Ballou (1956) by Roy Chanslor. It's been on my to-read shelf for quite awhile.

Have read a few clean romances and a few clean gothic they remind me of Victoria Holt. Taking a break from murder and mayhem.

In keeping with my program of more seriously following up on the many series I've started and left hanging, I've finally started on the second installment of the adventures of my favorite urban fantasy heroine, Jane Yellowrock: Blood Cross by Faith Hunter. (It will also count towards my goal of reading 10 books with action heroines this year, for a challenge in another group.) I read the first book, Skinwalker, a bit over three years ago (my review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ), but was able to re-immerse myself in Jane's world very quickly!

As I mentioned earlier on this thread, in connection with the first book, it isn't clear whether Faith Hunter is a Christian writer; she speaks of having been bullied in school as a child because of her Christian faith, but I've never found anything on Google or other online sources that clearly identify her as a Christian now, as an adult. Her Jane Yellowrock character, though, definitely is a practicing Christian.

I read the Highland Vow, The Hexed, The Hesitant Heiress, Ancient Magic, and finishing Mirror Mage. A few of these qualify for female adventure character. My next book is Betrayed. The hot weather means more reading time, but I wish it would rain. We need it.

I am currently reading The Progeny by Tosca Lee.

Over the weekend, my wife and I started a new "car book:" by Catherine Coulter. It's actually one she got for me for Christmas a few years ago at a local flea market, picking it because of the supernatural element (though truth to tell, Coulter is a writer whose work I've never read, and would probably not have picked for myself). Although it's the tenth book in a series, Sherbrooke Brides (Barb didn't know that when she bought it), my impression is that the series is a multi-generational saga, in which the books can stand alone pretty well. We'll see how we like it!

I love Catherine Coulter. She has some great older murder mysteries that keep you turning the pages. I've read pretty much all she has put out there. She is a lot like Nora Roberts in that she does not cover just one genre I hope you like it. The series was good if I remember right.

I noticed that you'd given this book four stars, Pamela! I'll let you know if I like it. :-)

Ok. Try some of the older ones like. The Maze. Or The Cove. Her early works were really good.

Pamela wrote: "Ok. Try some of the older ones like. The Maze. Or The Cove. Her early works were really good."

Well, I'll first see how I like this one. :-) At the moment, I've got so many books on my to-read shelf already that I'm not really looking to add more for awhile; and I'm only trying this book because I got it as a Christmas gift. But I'll keep those titles in mind!

The ones I mentioned are psychic FBI paranormal. Edge of seat. Keep them in mind. Two very different types of books. The one your reading and these I mentioned. Enjoy.

Thanks for the tip, Pamela!

I am reading The Storyteller, by Jody Piccoult - a deeply moving story about a young woman who befriends a man who was an SS guard- and through his story, discovers more about her own family's secret. The book is a bit confusing with the writing switching between characters' points of view, but the story line is excellent - I am learning more about the holocaust as I read, details that I have not hear during previous travels and studies.

Make Me Love You. Johanna Lindsey. Just finished Only Beloved. The survivors club. By Mary Balogh. Brilliant heart felt. Feel good series. Bittersweet at times. Each book deals with a survivor who was an officer during the Napoleonic wars. How they all band together and get well. Seven books in this series. Start at book one. You won't want to miss any. The survivors club. Seven book in all. All compelling because each face some major issue. How they find a reason to live and find love. Amazing. Some had no hope yet. Through friends and work and believing and doctors all hired by the Duke. They learned to cry and trust , love, and decide they want to live and have normal lives, and go back into society. the cost is high since they have been hidden with the Duke , there is always some one to help them. Leaving and rejoining your life hard

Just finished Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God's Spoken World

Author has a unique style. I found it very refreshing.

Just finished with Alexia. , Only Beloved, and Make Me Love You. All good clean romances. Great plots and characters.

by Josephine Tey (1951) is the fifth novel in her mystery series featuring Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant. This one, however, is unusual in that it finds Grant laid up in the hospital, recovering from a work-related injury. To cope with his boredom, he decides to investigate and "solve" (at least to his own satisfaction) a real-life mystery nearly 500 years old: what really happened to the sons of England's King Edward !V, supposedly murdered by their usurping uncle Richard III? This month, I'm joining in a read of this book in another group.

I have read several different books that address that question. I have a hard time thinking he would so coldly kill his nephews but, of course family killed family all the time back them. Rumors were they were buried under the stairs in the tower, but I think that has been proven false. Good mystery though. There is also the notion that the queen in sanctuary sent only one son and one imposter and got the other out of England.

Pamela wrote: "I have read several different books that address that question. I have a hard time thinking he would so coldly kill his nephews but, of course family killed family all the time back them. Rumors we..."

Pamela, have you read Richard III: The Great Debate? I can personally recommend that one (although editor Kendall's contribution does have at least one factual error).

Workmen repairing a staircase in the Tower found the bones of two children in 1674. There's no evidence that they were the bones of Richard's nephews, but King Charles II had them placed in an urn in Westminster Abbey under that identification (with an inscription accusing Richard of their murder). An examination in 1933 found that the skeletons were incomplete, and mixed with animal bones. Subsequent requests for permission to do further examinations have been refused. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_... .

In 1497, some of the Yorkist remnants raised an unsuccessful rebellion in the name of a young man claiming to be Edward V's younger brother Richard, Duke of York (the other "little prince in the Tower"), who told a similar story of being spirited out of England, except that he claimed that when his brother was murdered, the killers had pity on him and let him go after he promised not to reveal his identity for several years. He was subsequently convincingly identified as (and confessed to being) an imposter, whose real name was Perkin Warbeck (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perkin_... ).

I don't read a lot in the electronic format; but last night, when my Internet access was down for a time, I started on a sci-fi novel I'd recently downloaded to my Kindle app, The Fated Sky: Transgressor Trilogy Book One. It's written by my Goodreads friend E. M. Swift-Hook, and has a kind of Edgar Rice Burroughs vibe to it, only with more polished writing. Currently, it's only available as an e-book, but the self-publishing author hopes to bring out a paperback edition eventually.

While on vacation recently, during the times when I was reading in the fine public library in Harrisonburg VA, I started on an anthology edited by Marvin Kaye, . I plan to finish it when I come back up there, Lord willing, next summer; so it goes onto my "being read intermittently" shelf.

Thanks Robert. I had read about the bones, and the imposter There have also been several books of fiction that have done excellent research on the subject. The fake prince lived quite nice and had quite a few that believed in him. I believe he was still put to death after the uprising , though admitting to being a fraud. Am I right ? I have known to be wrong. Lol.

Yes, Pamela, Perkin Warbeck was executed after the uprising. But an earlier pretender, Lambert Simnel, the figurehead behind the Yorkist revolt ten years before Warbeck's, was pardoned and given a job in the royal kitchens. He's sometimes mistakenly said to have impersonated one of the "princes in the Tower" as well, but he actually was passed off as Richard III's other nephew, Edward, Earl of Warwick.

I just finished Gilead a few days ago and still the book floods my memory. Perhaps like many of the books I have enjoyed, timing plays apart.

The School of Christ

By T. Austin Sparks

I am reading this one for the second time... powerful!

The unifying theme of the anthology is, as the title implies, choices or actions that turn out (for good or ill) in unexpected ways. It's newly released by WolfSinger Publications (which also published Misunderstood and Tails From the Front Lines); and since my friend Andrew Seddon has a story included, he was kind enough to send me a review copy. I've just started it today, and I expect it will be a fairly quick read.

Banner wrote: "I just finished Gilead a few days ago and still the book floods my memory. Perhaps like many of the books I have enjoyed, timing plays apart."

It's funny that you mentioned Gilead. I've been thinking of pulling it off the shelf and rereading. Perhaps after my to-do stack shrinks a bit?

Terry wrote: "It's funny that you menti..."

This is definitely a book that warrants a reread. It is so rich I believe much could be enjoyed.

I will do so in about a year.

I am reading The Dead Play On. I have finished four this last couple of days. I had been down with a lung infection, so I got to sit and just read

Pamela wrote: "I am reading The Dead Play On. I have finished four this last couple of days. I had been down with a lung infection, so I got to sit and just read"

Every cloud has a silver lining, Pamela! Glad you're feeling better.

One of the books I'm currently reading is . I love reading about the journey the author went through, so I'm trying to read the book slowly and absorb as much info as possible, since the novel is also apologetic in nature. I just recently discovered that the author Nabeel Qureeshi is now part of the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries which is also really cool as Dr. Zacharias is one of my favorite apologists.

While I'm waiting to take part in a common read in another group next month, I'm filling in the time by starting on . Of course, I consider this a continuation of my read of ; I'm reckoning the whole set as one three-volume book.

Thanks. Werner. I am better. I am finishing Night Shift. I should be through, but a few others snuck in. I want to start an Elegant Facade. By Kristi Ann Hunter. She writes inspirational fiction. So many books. So little time. LoL.

This week, I started two new books. My current main read --that is, the paper book I'm reading to myself-- is (1912) by Jean Webster. I'd never heard of Webster, and the book wasn't on my radar, until it was nominated for a common read this month in one of my other groups. It won the poll, and I'm taking part in the read.

The book I'm presently reading to my wife Barb is one I picked up a number of years ago at our local flea market: (Arkham House, 1999) by Frederic S. Durbin. A former Lutheran missionary, he's a little-known author who's new to me, but I'm greatly enjoying the book so far.

Pamela, I said I'd let you know my reaction to Wizard's Daughter. Here's the link to my three-star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . And since in Goodreads scale, three stars is a positive rating (equivalent to Amazon's four), that means that yes, I did like it.

I read your review. I primarily follow her FBI series. I finished book 21 a few days ago. Insidious. The Sherbrooke Brides are probably something I read a few of. The FBI books do not all have sex, the last one did not. Sherlock and Savich. Married agents to each other. Talk about having time to be together but murder or their son Sean comes first. Sometimes she will match an agent to a person in the story. I usually skim anything I feel is graphic and go right back to the story. She also has been known to add a supernatural flavor using unique talents that certain agents poses.

Thanks for the information on the FBI series, Pamela! (I'll keep it in mind.)

I just finished a good murder book about the tragedy of bullying and how it can get out of hand. Hour of Need. Melinda Leigh.

Usually, books I buy sit around for quite awhile (as in years) before I ever get around to reading them. But my Goodreads friend David Wittlinger, who recommended by J. C. Antonelli (which I bought earlier this year) to me, is anxious to know how I like it. So I promised him I'd give it as much priority as possible; and I've just started on it today. It would count toward a challenge this year in one of my groups --except that I already met my goal before I learned that you can't raise your goal after the fact. :-( (But I'll keep that lesson in mind the next time I take part in a challenge!)

I'm reading Temptation. Badly named. By Jude Deveraux. Good book about second chances. I also admire people who put there self second and others first. Both main characters do that, but they both we really stubborn. I am about seventy percent through it, and enjoying it

I've just started , the sixth novel in Don Coldsmith's multi-generational Spanish Bit saga, tracing the history of a Plains Indian tribe, "the People," from the introduction of the horse through the succeeding centuries. This installment is set in the late 1500s, and the heroine is a young Indian woman who chooses to opt for the path of a warrior. This is a re-read for me; I want to review it for another site, but to do so well, I'll need a refresher for my memory!

Starting Bullseye. Michael Bennett mystery. By Patterson. I love his brood of children and his home life and his father in law priest. His stories are always good. Finished new J D Robb. So awesome. Just like a Christmas present. Only bad part was it had to end.

This month, I'm taking part in a common read of Stephen King's in my Supernatural Fiction Readers group. Despite his popularity, I've only read two novels by King before (and some of his short stories).

Reading a Charles Todd book about Bess Crawford who doves murder and is a nurse in WW two. It is very sharp reading about usually a soldier who dies mysteriously or a soldiers family. This one concerns a patient found in her sector dressed in a ragged French uniform, yet speaks fluent German. A spy? Or worse helping the Germans assemble and use the weapon called the Paris Gun. You get lots of was history and intrigue and up front battle injuries, plus a good murder mystery.

I just picked up Love Wins by Rob Bell, basically because I had previously dismissed it before I ever read it. Not a good practice. Of course, I will not be posting about it, because my church leaders would go through the roof if they found out I was reading it.

Another of my groups, Reading for Pleasure, also has a spooky mini-common read going this month, of Henry James 1898 classic The Turn of the Screw; so having finished Joyland, I've now joined that one. This will be my third read of this tale, which is unusual for me in recent decades; but I want to re-do the review which I've posted here on Goodreads, focusing more on the text itself, and I want to do a re-read so the text is fresh in my mind.

Following up on my reread of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, I'm now reading . I'd originally had this on my "read" shelf, but I'm thinking now that I only read part of it the first time around.

I'd be suspicious of church leaders who go through the roof just because you read something controversial.