Literary Update: Sunday Salon, Mailbox Monday, Faith 'n Fiction Saturday

Upcoming Review: So I finished The Shape of Mercy finally! Okay, so that was a few days ago. :-) I LOVED it! I've got my review all rough-drafted and ready, just have to catch a moment when I'm not working or chasing my daughter around the room now. Yes, chasing - she's into everything! It's so funny, she can be surrounded by the most colorful and noisy toys and STILL she determinately scoots across the floor toward my cell phone, the TV controllers, or any wires in sight. *sigh*

Or MY books, of course. She's rather book-obsessed. By the way, that picture isn't what it looks like. I don't let her near my books normally, but this was the first time she rolled her way over to my book while I had my back turned for ONE SECOND and she looked so thrilled I had to capture the moment on camera. Anyway, getting off track here (surprise, surprise) - I'll have my review of The Shape of Mercy up this week God willing! :-)

On My Nightstand:

I'm kind of in between books right now and reviewing the children's books I received last week (see below). I'm going to start Hannah Grace (Daughters of Jacob Kane #1) by Sharlene MacLaren as soon as I get a moment. I'll probably feel a little guilty for reading until I have all my Christmas crafting/shopping done, lol. But that doesn't usually stop me. ;-)

Since the last What's On Your Nightstand event, I've read and reviewed:

♥ It's Not About Me - Michelle Sutton, 2008
♥ The Shadow of Colossus - T.L. Higley, 2008
♥ Until We Reach Home - Lynn Austin, 2008
♥ Fossil Hunter - John B Olson, 2008

Mailbox Monday: Yesterday I received Hannah Grace, set to be released by Whitaker House in January 2009. I also received three children's books:

Don't they look sweet? They are! My favorite is Toot and Puddles: I'll Be Home For Christmas.

Amy over at My Friend Amy asked this question on Saturday:

We've been blessed to finally start seeing some of our favorite Christian books come to life on film. So far, these have been largely low budget films, but they generally get the heart of the books across. But my question for you is...if you had an unlimited budget, what Christian fiction book would you like to see made into a film? Who would you cast in the main roles? Would you have a preference on director? Any songs you'd like to see on the soundtrack?

Without a doubt my top pick would be the Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers. Amazing. But it would definitely have to be a top-budget movie. It has SO much potential and the scenes would be very moving.

My other choice would have been Blink by Ted Dekker, but supposedly that one is in the making or has already been made. I kept hearing about it but lost track of it at some point.


Other book musings:
I'm trying to be more open about what I think about books I've read because sometimes I put them down for one reason or another and don't say anything because I don't want to offend anyone. Isn't that horrible? But the subject of offending authors or readers has gone around so much I've decided to not worry about it and to just be honest about how I feel. After all, what's a blog for if not to post your thoughts? :-)

So with that in mind, I started to read The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (and I truly doubt I'll be offending this author since she's so popular my opinion isn't going to phase her or even come before her eyes I'm sure, lol). I actually did enjoy the writing and the characters - I can see why Gregory's books are so widely read and raved about. The reason I put the book down before finishing it is because the subject matter was a bit depressing for me and it was too sexually explicit for my tastes. Some things I just don't want to know - ever. lol (Kind of like Edward and Bella's honeymoon. ;-) Anyway, I kind of skimmed through to the end and was glad I had stopped reading because I know I would have been depressed by the time I finished it. That said, this IS the story of Anne and Mary Boleyn so I should have known that. ;-) And it says on the back cover that it's about sex, so I should have known that, too. LOL I'm glad I gave it a try, though - it's a very interesting part of history and I was able to get into the characters' minds and hearts... I wanted to know what drove Anne and Mary. I would read other books by this author if I knew they didn't contain explicit content.

And that's my literary update - if you have a link to a literary post, feel free to leave it in a comment so I can check it out! Or just let me know in the comment... what are you reading, what books have you received lately, what are you reading next? Or do you have a book review up?

God bless!

Lindsey