I’ll admit that when I saw none at first, I wondered if it was truly “Christian fiction.” Oh, me of little faith. The spiritual element of the book surprised and delighted me. And she did it with characters instead of mirrors. Instead, she used the potentially familiar to give lovers of Jean Webster’s work extra foreshadowing while not leaving the clueless, well… clueless.

And with Katherine Reay’s writing skills, it probably would have been.īut she went beyond that. It would be tempting, in a project like this, to take the familiar, just rehash it in modern situations and ideas, and call it good. Knightley shows keen insight into humanity as well as a commitment to make this story her own. The complexity with which she layers each character in Dear Mr. She kept just enough similarities to make it a recognizable story but gave her characters their own lives. Reay didn’t just copy the book idea bit by bit. Both are college students, both have seriously sad pasts, but Ms.

Instead of Jerusha a.k.a Judy from Daddy Long Legs, we get Sam(antha) Moore. The adventure begins with the delightful epistolary style of the book. Reay has definitely improved her mind (and now ours) “by extensive reading.” But better than that, she pulls out the characteristics of characters from those books. Reay manages to crawl into my head and heart and pull out some of my favorite quotes from many books. What Happens When an Author Mashes Two of My Favorite Books? Note: links may be affiliate links which means I’ll receive a small commission but it won’t cost you anything extra. The entire community, all 10K readers of it, seem to shout, “It left us speechless, quite speechless I tell you, and we have not stopped talking of it since.” Then there’s a sequel coming, and the recommendations are already flying-by those who haven’t even read it yet!Īnd one other book that I kept seeing in an almost perfect parody of a scene from Miramax’s adaptation of Emma. The House on Foster Hill.That one makes every list it can possibly fit in. Someone suggests it at least once a week.

The book has to be good because for months, every time someone asks for another “good read,” you see the same book-even older ones. If someone made it, someone would have a suggestion.īut some books get mentioned over and over-in waves. No, I haven’t seen that request yet, but let me tell you. “I’m looking for a book set in Zimbabwe with Irish settlers who only speak sign language. I see it every day, “I’d like something set in the 1930s.” A dozen… or two… or five suggestions appear.Īnother person asks for books about foster kids. I say, “Check out Avid Readers of Christian Fiction on Facebook.” Why? Because that place has seriously good book recommendations. If anyone asks me, “Where should I go to find a good book to read,” you might assume I’d say, “Um, the library” or “a bookstore, duh!” Even, “Amazon,” would suffice, right?

Dear mr knightley