The Goodbye Season

I just listened to The Goodbye Season by Marian Hale, and recommend it. I wish I had read it, simply because I kept getting distracted while I was listening so didn't pay quite enough attention.

It's about a girl who loses her family to the Spanish flu, and she goes around trying to find work. One of her main hopes in life is to not end up like her mother, trapped in a marriage instead of living her dream, so that desire shapes her decisions.

From the Christian Genre

Having found myself in a home with shelf upon shelf of Amish/Christian books and plenty of time on my hands to read, I'd like to announce that with the exception of being clean, a lot of these books are poorly written and not worth reading. So of the four authors I've read in the last several days, here's how I rate them, worst to best:

I won't bother to read another of Wanda E Brunstetter's books. I read Going Home and the plot was totally predictable and the dialogue was horrible.

Even though I only skimmed the second half of B.J. Hoff's A Distant Music, I was just curious enough to read/skim the second book in the series. But I didn't bother with the third.

Beverly Lewis is a pretty decent author, with an intriguing insight into Amish culture in the book I read, The Parting.

I was about to give up on the shelf of books when I read When the Heart Cries, by Cindy Woodsmall. And then I stayed up too late last night finishing it. The plot was in-depth and heart-wrenching, and made me cry. Today I'm almost through the second in the series, When the Morning Comes, so except for the titles that shout pretty loudly that they are Christian books, I do recommend them. They aren't your typical "everything works out in the end because of their faith" books.

The Gift of an Ordinary Day, Katrina Kenison

If you google the title of this book you will find a YouTube video of the author reading a portion of the book. Just that made me want to buy this book to keep in my home library. Tammy Langill said she bought it and is reading it now and the report is "it's very good"! So I'll be making an Amazon order soon.

Thanks for the tip

I just listened to Mennonite in a Little Black Dress and really enjoyed it, thanks for the recommendation Tawn. It's a book that I would like to read in book form because I think I missed a lot by listening to it and not being able to re-read and focus on some parts. Plus when I listen while I walk it's hard to grab a dictionary.

Gordon Korman

I remember enjoying Korman's books as a teen, and recently have read a few of his newer books and enjoyed them too. Korman's first books to be published were written while he was still in high school. I just read No Coins, Please, one of his earlier books, and there was a definite lack of believability in it--no parent in their right mind, even in the 80s, would send their 11-year-old child on a road trip with a couple of 18-year-olds they had never met--but I still enjoyed the sense of humor.

Awhile back I listened to Pop, which I recommend for an entertaining read that also has some depth to it.