Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Book of the Year 2011

Dear Readers
It is that time of year again.  I feel like I just wrote a blog on my favorite book for 2010 and here it is already December and I haven't written the one for this year.  I have known for quite a while which book I was going to pick and I bet over half of you already know who the winner is, but I still want to announce it for those who don't know and of course for the prestige that goes with this award.  (Haha.)Love Amid the Ashes: A Novel, , r9780800734077
Love Amid the Ashes by Mesu Andrews is this year's winner.  It is the one book that I kept comparing the other books to when I thought about the book of the year.  It was the one book this year that just completely caught my attention.  There are so many good books that release every year, but I am always looking for that one book that just stands out from the crowd for me.   
For those of you who don't remember this is a telling of the story of the book of Job.  It is a bit different from some of the traditional thinking of Bible scholars, but that doesn't take away from the story.  In fact when I have talked to different people who have read the book it seems to make it even more interesting to them.  They had the same experience as I did, it made us want to read the Bible story and to look into the whos and whys and thoughts on Job and his story.
The bookclub that I belong to just read and discussed this book and we as a group really enjoyed the book.  It doesn't happen often that we all like a book, which makes for a lively discussion, but we did.  What was so interesting is the many different reasons we liked the book.  Some because of BIblical content, some just because it is a really good story and some because it made them really dig deeper in to the Bible story.  We had a wonderful conversation that actually lead into many different threads and even at one point wandered away from Job into even deeper topics.  That was so interesting.  
I know that Mesu is working on her next book, Love's Sacred Song, which is about the Song of Solomon and the woman who inspired that book of the Bible.  It is due to release in March of next year.  I also happen to know she is working on a third book, but for the life of me I can't remember the topic of that one.  This means that she is going to be releasing good books for years to come.  
Happy Reading

3 comments:

Mesu Andrews said...

Woohoo! Hey, you sweet thing! Thanks so much for the kind words! I'm thrilled you enjoyed the book and that your book club had such a lively discussion! The greatest compliment I ever get is that Love Amid the Ashes motivates folks to search God's Words for the TRUE story of Job. That's my goal in writing FICTION--to stir reader's curiosity for TRUTH. Blessings, dear one, and thanks again!

BTW...that third book you couldn't remember...Gomer and Hosea! It's scheduled for a March 2013 Revell release! Woot! ;)

Laura Frantz said...

SO happy for Mesu and this beautiful book! She's a wonderful author and one I've just become friends with. Can't wait to hold her next book in hand. Thanks for the great post!

Chris Jager - Baker Book House-fiction buyer said...

Mesu - you are so very welcome and it is well deserved for a very good book. Oh yes now I remember the third book. :-D Thanks for the help.

Laura - Thank you.