Thursday, October 05, 2006


Pass the Salt Thursday!

In a previous post I mentioned how I have too many books and not enough room or time for them all. I have published reviews of around 500 books (four more came out in a magazine this week) and there are more books than I have reviewed.

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky.
My piles of books are a mile high.
How I love them!
How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.

--Arnold Lobel author of Frog and Toad , children's book

Well, I have another book I can't wait to read by one of my favorite people, Mary Connealy. It comes out in February and don't you just love the cover? I have books stacked to the ceiling and my beard to the floor and here I am anticipating another book.

Anyway, why Mary is extra special to me is that she is a fellow book reviewer. We both belong to the American Christian Fiction Writers and she led a forum class in teaching participants how to review books. Since it was an overwhelming class in participation, she enlisted some fellow reviewers to help with critique and in tips on reviewing books. They all have blogs, so be sure to check out each one:

Mary Connealy: Her blog, Petticoat Ranch, is an author-driven blog. She's very funny. Eventually, she'll figure out how to do her blog and it'll be something you might want to bookmark.

Michelle Sutton: She maybe reads more than I do. Her entire blog is devoted to book reviews, so if you want to know the latest in Christian books, read Michelle's Edgy blog.

Sara Mills is also reviewing books on her blog, but she throws in some other edgy thoughts and writerly perspective.

Linda Mae Baldwin: She often reviews at Road to Romance, so if you like romance books, check her out there.

And then Sheryl Root who was reviewing at Armchair Interviews took the forum class and you can check her reviews there.

I cannot leave this topic without visiting my favorite site for book reviews, Faithful Reader. Even editors like Terry Whalin and writers like Marcia Ford do reviews there.

4 comments:

Sheryl said...

Crystal,
Mary's review class on the ACFW forum was great, and I learned so much from Mary and all who participated in teaching the class.

I can't recommend ACFW highly enough for anyone interested in writing Christian fiction. It is a wealth of knowledge and encouragement.

Thank you for your kindness in putting the link to my reviews up.

Blessings,
Sheryl

Anonymous said...

Yayy!!! WooHoo!! I'm doing a happy dance! You made it onto my comments!! I'm really glad you're still going to email though!

I love reading book reviews, but I'm not good at giving one, lol. If I like the book, I tend to give out too much information.

Mary Connealy said...

Delia, You've got to watch those spoilers in book reviews. The minute your review of Cinderella includes, The Shoe Fits, you've just gone way wrong. I write reviews so when my husband comes home to cold, dark, foodless kitchen and finds me reading the the living room, I can say, 'Honey, it's for work.'
thanks for mentioning my on your blog, Crystal. Mine is still very much a work in progress. In fact half the posts say things like, "I wonder if this will work."
Not exactly riveting. :)

Crystal Laine said...

Not everyone is a reviewer--it's just another form of writing. Some have to be book reviewers and some have to be book review readers. (ha) Sheryl and Mary are reviewers and I just found a match for you--Delia to read you.

Anyway,I can't tell you all how hard it was for me to post on Delia's blog--I never could until yesterday (Gatorskunz and Mudcats--now doesn't that sound like my kind of place??)

Eventually Mary's humor will out on her blog and Delia is fun, and poignant no matter what she talks about.

You all honor me just being here.