Collection Development - Winter Edition

I wasn’t sure what to name this post. Winter spending spree? February buying binge? Both of these options seemed a little vulgar. Since I was coming to the end of my “new books” collection for the church library, it was necessary to do a little shopping trip in order to present some fresh titles!

Here’s a list of the latest:

Lady in the Mist by Laurie Alice Eakes 
Heart’s Safe Passage by Laurie Alice Eakes
Community by Brad House

Relentless Pursuit by Kathy Herman

Summer of Promise by Amanda Cabot

Waiting for Spring by Amanda Cabot

Swipe by Evan Angler

Sneak by Evan Angler

A Quilt for Jenna by Patrick E. Craig

The Tutor’s Daughter by Julie Klassen

Rebekah by Jill Eileen Smith

A Place to Belong by Lauraine Snelling

The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickinson

Truth-Stained Lies by Terri Blackstock

Enticed by Melody Carlson

Replication by Jill Williamson

*Any suggestions for additions? 

Book Review: Hidden in Dreams

In Hidden in Dreams, Davis Bunn manages to twist the plot into an inspired course of events that comes as a shock to the unsuspecting reader." To check out the new book review, click here! 

Winter Releases for 2013

There are a few books that will hit the shelves at the beginning of 2013 that will definitely cause some chatter.

After the overwhelming success of his first novel, The Shack, Wm. Paul Young returns to the literature scene with his newest work of fiction Crossroads. This book is sure to generate controversy similar to its predecessor. As in his first book, Young assigns a face and a personality to the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. You can read more about the novel, the author and how the story came to be here.  

Dr. James Dobson has also published a work of fiction this year alongside Kurt Bruner titled Fatherless. It’s a dystopian thriller set in the year of 2042 – a time of economic turmoil and social dysfunction. (Sound familiar?)

Terri Blackstock delivers once again with her latest novel, Truth Stained Lies. Cathy Cramer, finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation of her brother’s ex-wife. Her brother stands convicted of the crime and Cathy and her sisters must work together to uncover the real killer before the next attack. 

Book Review: The Sanctuary

Check out the latest book review here. The Sanctuary by Ted Dekker: "This novel highlights the strength of the human heart and the extent of love’s power until it yields to revenge and retribution. It also stresses the need for grace and illustrates what God would be like without unmerited mercy: a vindictive, divine tyrant devoid of hope or salvation."

New Year's Resolutions

If you’ve been following my tweets you’ll know that I’ve had a countdown to December 31 highlighting my top five new year's resolutions. Now, a new year's resolution can be a wonderful thing. There is potential for fresh beginnings and developing new (good) habits. Notice that I said potential. Making a resolution is all well and good but sticking to it is something else altogether. Apparently 8% of those who actually make a NYR are able to keep it! Last year I resolved to stop smoking. Fortunately for me, I’ve ever smoked a day in my life. This year I’m taking it up a notch. Actually, five notches. In 2013 I’m hoping to see through a number of changes in the church library. 

#5 Move the new bookcase into the church library
We’re mega short on space. This is more of a required necessity than an ideal objective.

#4 Boost collection development of fiction for guys
I’ve been working towards improving this section of our church library. I have made great strides in this area but I still seem to have an enormous ratio of romance to mystery novels. 

#3 WEEDING 
Admittedly a continuous work in progress.

#2 Update/Improve the nonfiction section
About four years ago I removed over eight full boxes of books from the nonfiction section in the attempt to keep the materials’ year of publication hovering around 1990. Although it’s a lesser used section than the fiction (by a long shot) it would still be nice to have items available that were published during this century. Time for another purge!

#1 New volunteers!  
The wonderful people I have helping me in the church library have been faithfully showing up every third Sunday for as long as I’ve been there. It’s definitely time to get some new faces in the mix! This resolution is one that I’m going to really focus on this year and do the research to ensure success. 

Here’s hoping I’m in that 8% for 100% of my resolutions! 
Have a safe and happy New Year!

Book Review: Waiting for Mr. Right

Check out the latest book review here! 
Waiting for Mr. Right by Lisa Raftery and Barbara Precourt

"[This book] outlines the roles of godly parents, daughters and boyfriends and how all of them interact and work together to fulfill their calling as true followers of Christ."

Free Ebooks!

E-books are all the rage what with the tidal wave of Playbooks, iPads, e-book readers and other personal tablets hitting the market. Although e-books are a 10 on the scale of niftiness for their accessibility, portability and availability, the potential ‘spendability’ can be sky-high if you don’t practice a little self control! Once you have an account with Amazon or any similar e-book retailer, it’s easy enough to click ‘buy’ and charge it to your credit card. It’s almost magical! But that magic dissolves pretty quickly once your bill comes in at the end of the month.

There are two major advantages to buying e-books online:
1) Overall, they’re considerably cheaper than print versions
2) Downloading = no shipping charges
However, wouldn’t reading your e-book be all the more sweeter an experience if said experience was, wait for it, FREE?! 

There are plenty of ways to accomplish this so read on, fellow e-reader, read on!
First of all, there are a number of websites that are run by non-profit organizations such as Global Christians or Jesus.org. They offer a list of free e-books on their site that can be downloaded in a number of different formats. For the most part, many of these books are of the non-fiction variety and quite a bit older in terms of their publication date. On the Global Christians website, they also promise a free e-book in your inbox every two weeks for two years if you fill out the form on the top of the screen. That’s a lot of reading! 

There are also publishers that offer freebies through their websites. These books might be a little more recent and include fiction as well as non-fiction. Plough has a great list of free e-books that are searchable and include a short description under each title. Bethany House also has monthly specials where they offer free e-books of various titles. Some publishers also have a blog where they are able to highlight new products and promote free materials, such as Tyndale’s blog. The freebies are usually a limited time offer though so you have to check often! 

Thirdly, there are the book distributors, the big one being, of course, Amazon. These websites will also offer free e-books of various titles from time to time but you have to know how to look for these deals! The process is actually very simple. Simply visit Amazon.com and search for Books on the left menu. (If you’re searching on Amazon, you should note that you need to have a Kindle in order to read the e-books they offer). From that point, I usually type “Christian” in the search bar on the top of the page. But one could type in any number of keyword combinations including ‘romance,’ ‘mystery’ or ‘Amish’. Amazon will then list all the materials that these keywords describe. Click on ‘Kindle Format’ in order to list all the e-books. Once this is done, just choose to sort by ‘price: low to high’ to have the free e-books listed first! If the list is still too long, there are a number of limiters in the left menu to make the list a little shorter.  Christianbook.com also provides a collection of free e-books – although these materials are much easier to find! 

Finally, there's the, you guessed it, Library!! Libraries have been offering free reading material for thousands of years and a little bit of new technology won't stand in their way! Many public libraries give their patrons access to e-books through Overdrive. A consortia of church libraries have also managed to put together a deal with Overdrive to offer e-books to their patrons! It's an amazing accomplishment - read more about it here! 

There are plenty of free e-books out there for you to find and enjoy! Happy reading! 

Published at 16

I find that I'm feeling older every day. You might say, "Come now, Devout Librarian! That's only natural!" Well, alright then. Perhaps a better way to phrase it is, I'm feeling a little more out of date every day. I have a laptop, but it's from 2008. I have an iPhone, but it's been recently slotted into the "older version" category. But the thing that always make me think I've prematurely joined the ranks of the seniors' society is the fact that whenever I see a human being between the ages of 10 and 18 I think, "Ach, we never did/wore/used that sort of thing when I was that age." The fact is, 'that age' wasn't that long ago for me. The other fact is, we probably did.

So it's a little ray of sunshine when I see an article like this pop up on my Google news feed: Busy Lynden Christian student finds time to write adventure novel set in the middle ages. Jeff Hamstra is 16 with a book published and two more on the way! I am impressed. I don't really remember what I was doing when I was 16 but I'm pretty sure it had more to do with stocking up my wardrobe than reaching my literary aspirations. 

I found the book available on Amazon. It had no reviews yet but I had a look through some of the chapters. The dialogue flowed with good description and a sense of intrigue - a great option for a church library YA collection. Although it may be Robert Liparulo novel, this author is well on his way! Kudos Jeff!

B.F.F. with Books

Books are very friendly. Except the ones that give you a paper cut.

Book Review: The Choice by Robert Whitlow

Check out a new book review here! The Choice by Robert Whitlow

Fall Book Buzz

As we head into the Fall and all the insanity that surrounds the word 'September,' it might be nice to find a comfortable hiding place and kick back with a few good novels until October arrives. Christian fiction has begun to explore new horizons in terms of plot lines and character development. Don’t get me wrong, historical romance and Amish/Omish family drama will remain popular! However, some authors out there are highlighting genres such as medical crime, animal features and cross-cultural romance. Will these books make it on your “to read” pile?

Proof by Jordyn Redwood 

To Write a Wrong by Robin Caroll

Two Destinies by Elizabeth Musser

Trinity: Military War Dog by Ronie Kendig

Found in the Woods by LoRee Peery

E-Reading Christian Fiction

I came across this article from the Wall Street Journal a little while ago. It begins by discussing the growing numbers of ebooks being sold and then launches into its effect on the religious fiction market. The writer wonders why Christian fiction sales have gone up 7% over the past year and attributes this success to privacy. Actually, the author writes that privacy is one reason but doesn’t bother to examine other possibilities (Convenience? Price point? Environmentally-friendly? Immediate access?)  In any case, “privacy” in this context seems to be linked exclusively to embarrassment. Just as those who enjoy reading erotic fiction are thankful for the freedom an e-reader brings (no more raunchy paperback covers to attract questioning stares from spouses or coworkers), this post seems to indicate that readers of Christian fiction experience the same level of mortification for their choice of literature. I believe the author includes a quote that reads, “Book jackets covered in angels and rainbows may be equally uncomfortable for some people to read in public.” Angels and rainbows? I’ve seen my fair share of Christian fiction book jackets and I can’t recall any that included angles and rainbows. Perhaps they were referring to children’s Christian fiction; that seems a little more plausible.

       
Another posting that carries similar conclusions includes this little dagger of a quote: “It is easier than ever before to buy books while on the go via WIFI and not have to advertise to the world the essence of your faith, unless you want to.” Ouch! Is this quotation included simply because it has an excellent “zing!” factor or because there is actually fact (through observation or shared experience) to back it up? Although I am, by no means, condemning the use of e-readers (I hope to get one myself….someday), I truly hope that those reading Christian literature electronically are doing so for convenience sake and not in an attempt to “hide it under a bushel.”

Sources:

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/07/22/fifty-shades-of-christian-fiction/

http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/christian-fiction-undergoing-a-resurgence-via-ereaders/

2012 Christy Award Winners

On July 16th the 2012 Christy Awards were announced!

For those who aren't familiar with these awards, each year publishers are invited to submit works of fiction that reflect a Christian worldview and that are copyrighted for the previous year (in this case 2011). These books are then entered into one of several genre categories and then evaluated against a 10 point criteria by judges who are made up of librarians, literary critics, reviewers and others.

Some of the winners this year are:

Contemporary / Romance: Wolfsbane by Ronie Kendig

Historical Romance: The Maid of Fairbourne Hall by Julie Klassen

Suspense: The Queen by Steven James

For more of the winners and finalists click here!

Top Ten Things Your Church Library Needs

1.    Reference materials, concordances, commentaries, Bible dictionaries, atlases, different versions of the Bible.

2.    Books and videos about caregiving, coping with grief, dealing with elderly parents, family, marriage.

3.    Books with good Christian humor.

4.    Books for every age level, including good Christian fiction.

5.    Books for meditation, devotions, inspiration, prayer.

6.    Books that men will want to read, such as biographies, political commentaries, what to do when you lose a job or retire, and how to be a good father and husband.

7.    Biographies or histories of your church and denomination.

8.    For young children: toys, puzzles, heavy coordinating tapes, and video tapes.

9.    Music and books on tape.

10. Computers to access the Internet and to catalog library resources.

Taken From: ChristianityToday.com Your Church “Church Library Makeover” Mar/Apr 1998, Vol.44, No. 2, Page 44