January 2023 Picks and Pans

  I don’t know what I’d do without books. They keep me company when I am lonely, they fill long quiet nights of insomnia, they bring me to locales all over the world, and introduce me to extraordinary people. For those of you who love books, too, here are the ones I read in January. With suspense, thrillers, mysteries, devotionals, historical fiction, classics, and contemporary fiction, there’s something here for every taste. Enjoy!   Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection By Kate Bowler, Jessica Richie “Blessed are you who realize there is simply not enough—time, money, resources. Blessed are you who are tired of pretending that raw effort […]

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The Night Ship

  “As is the way with souls confined, tempers fray and flare, ill-spoken words fester, coincidences become intrigues. Minds seethe with resentment and revenge like the worms in the water barrels. As the ship spoils, so does the air between the people.”― Jess Kidd, The Night Ship. 1629: nine-year-old Mayken leaves the Netherlands with her nursemaid to join the merchant father she’s never met across the globe in the Dutch East Indies on the Batavia, one of the greatest ships of the Dutch Golden Age. Curious and mischievous, Mayken begins a secret, second life as the cabin boy Obbe, befriending a soldier, a sailor, a kitchen boy, and the ship’s barber-surgeon while trying […]

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