Please welcome super reader and all-around-great-gal Toni Linenberger to Murder She Writes to talk about favorite books.
Shared Books
By Toni Linenberger
Everyone once in a while a book comes along that grabs a hold of you and won’t let go. Something about the storyline and the characters and the general intangible quality of certain books resonates in such a way with a reader that even months or years after reading they still return immediately to that fictional world when thoughts of the book or author come to mind. This is a book that you recommend to complete strangers in bookstores, and airports, and coffee shops, and at work, and pretty much anywhere else you find a person willing to listen to you prattle on about this amazing journey you took within the pages of a novel.
These books are rare.
Don’t get me wrong, as readers we love. We love character and story and authors and everything else that is housed between those magical pages. We love to recommend our favorites. However, the ones that truly transcend, those come along like blue moons and fine gemstones. They are out there, but by no means are they found on every street corner and within the pages of every book. There is no formula to understand which book is going to become one of the chosen. It might depend on a mood or an experience related to the book. It might be a small tidbit of connection within the story itself. Sometimes these are books I read kicking and screaming (I’m looking at you A Wrinkle in Time). Sometimes these are books that I pick up for the cover off the bargain shelf (Gone Too Far). Sometimes they are books by a favorite author that I buy because they are the latest publication (Zero Day).
I know I haven’t figured out the magic triggers; I only know that I appreciate it when it happens.
The most recent of these coveted reads is Toni Causey’s The Saints of the Lost and Found. I read the Bobbie Faye series and got to know her via Murder She Writes. (Don’t tell Amazon, knowing authors is bad!) I coveted her photographs. My heart broke for her when her brother Mike died.
SAINTS is the book Causey was meant to write. The heartbreaking loss of her brother shines throughout. More importantly, their relationship provides the core of the book. At its heart, this book is about Avery and Latham. The older brother does his best to protect his sister. While he ultimately fails in his desire to protect her from all bad things, his love and support are what gives Avery the strength to survive when the bad things happen. SAINTS is richly layered and personal. The story spins out like a spider’s web. The silken strands tie everything together, but it is only with distance that you can see the true beauty and mastery of the creation.
Now it begins. The creation leaves the authors hands and becomes part of the collective book landscape. I can unleash my almost evangelical fanaticism encouraging others to READ THIS BOOK! It may not be one of those books for you; though I hope it is. No one book is everything to everyone. Others will see different things within the pages than I did. At the end, the shared reading experience and subsequent conversations will make us all richer. Stories, after all, are better when they are shared.
Thank you SO much Toni for blogging for me today, and raving about one of my favorite books of the year. If you want to read more about SAINTS please visit Toni McGee Causey’s website. And for a fun and informative interview I did with Toni for International Thriller Writers, mosey on over to The Big Thrill. THE SAINTS OF THE LOST AND FOUND is on sale TODAY in print and ebook.
What was the last book YOU evangelized for?
Allison Brennan is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nearly three dozen romantic thrillers and mysteries, including the Lucy Kincaid series and the Max Revere series. She lives in Northern California with her husband, five children, and assorted pets.
Thank you so much for blogging today, Toni! I, too, am an evangelical for SAINTS. EVERYONE needs to read it.
I remember reading one of the first drafts of this book. That was…a long time ago. It has haunted me every since and in every sense. I couldn’t put it down. When I had to, I worried for the characters. Not as characters but as people real and important. And Toni L., you are so right. This IS the book TMC was meant to write. Her prose, the weaving of the story, the characters, the setting into a tapestry as rich and varied as a bayou dawn calls out to something in my soul.
So yeah. I’m on the evangelical board for this book!
I read an early draft … and then the final ARC. Both amazing, but the changes she made really pulled the story together, even though it was a slight shift in focus. LOVE it! And yes, the story sticks with you.
Thank you, Allison, for having me today. I always love an opportunity to talk books.
Silver – there’s plenty of room on the raft. Thanks for joining us. 🙂
LOVED Saints of The Lost and Found SO SO much!! This definitely the book Toni McGee Causey was meant to write. The last book I shoved in someone’s hands at B&N was Valley of Ashes by Cornelia Read. Knowing that’s it’s basically her own personal story and what happens at the end of book, just got me. I’ve LOVED all the Madeline Dare books, but Ashes is just special to me.
Thanks for the recommendation!