Book Post Series : Beka of Hold On, Love

Over the course of the coming new year, I intend to post the occasional book review by fellow bloggers.  That way all of us book-lovers get lots and lots of new recommendations ... plus a chance to write about the books we love most!  Let me know if you're interested in participating!

The book to read is not the one that thinks for you, 

but the one which makes you think.

- HARPER LEE -

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BIO : 

Beka loves coffee, painting, photography, people, anything in the kitchen, and Jesus 
[most of all]. 

BLOG : Hold On, Love

TWITTER : Beka_holdonlove

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What is your favorite book?

Embrace me, by Lisa Samson, was the last book I remember stapling that blessed award to...for quite a while. I just love the diversity of characters and showing of grace, and Lisa's writing has always been at the top of my list. Always. Sadly, over the past year, I haven't been reading quite as much as I used to. 

When did you first find it?

I was around 17.  I believe I bought it right when it came off the press. :) I had been obsessed with getting her books from the library after reading Quaker Summer and Women's Intuition.

What impression did it make it on you and your life?

People really are fighting hard battles and grace is so needed, even when it doesn't seem deserved; wounds are all over the place.  Some of us have lived simpler lives, and some of us have never been sheltered, but we all have a purpose.  This purpose is found in caring for others and finding the strength to forgive that can heal.

Why is it your favorite book (or one of your favorites)?

Because it doesn't end stereo-typically.   Not at all.  My older sister was actually disappointed when she finally read it, because I had psyched her up for it and forgot to tell her that it's an unusual book … Not the fairytale most of us are used to having, at least in pieces.

A Brief Synopsis, in your own words:

Honestly...I really stink at writing any sort of synopsis. :P 

[As found on Amazon: When a lizard woman, a self-mutilating preacher, a tattoed monk, and a sleazy lobbyist find themselves in the same North Carolina town one winter, their lives are edging precariously close to disaster . . . and improbably close to grace.]

What did you like about the 

genre/plot/characters/writing style/illustrations, etc. 

(Whichever apply?)

Lisa's writing nearly doesn't fit in any genre. Or maybe it's just my bias speaking here.  If I were wanting to write like any writer...she'd be the one I'd aspire to be like. 

Do you like any other books by the same author? 

The Passion of Mary-Margaret; Resurrection in May; Club Sandwich; The Church Ladies; Women's Intuition; Tiger Lillie; … I even like her young adult series titled Hollywood Nobody.

What are the top five books you would recommend to a stranger?

In no certain order ...

Remember : Karen Kingsbury

Resurrection In May : Lisa Samson

Jesus Calling : Sarah Young

Baby Catcher : Peggy Vincent

Blessed Child : Ted Dekker

What are you reading right now?

The Bible.....and Black, by Ted Dekker. 

What's on your Must Read Next list?

The Departure Lounge and The Sibling Effect.

Have you written any books, or do you hope to someday?  

I have not...and though I used to have dreams of writing one someday, there is only one that I can guarantee will probably, most likely, someday, hopefully be written for sure.  It’s a nonfiction-ish book about the 3 years and 4 months that my gram lived with us, with dementia as the changer.   I do believe it was one of the toughest, most learning times in my life; and it has shaped a lot of who I am today.  Hopefully sometime in the next 10 years, in between everything that comes at me, I'll be able to type up all my journal entries from that time and add thoughts from the present time me as well. 

... Thanks Beka!