February is almost here, which means it's time to think about book clubs!

 

Friends! I hope that you're staying warm this extra chilly January day. 🤗 As for me, I'm bundled up in a hoodie layered with a blanket, because both Mike and I working from home means that the thermostat is set at a temperature comfortable to both of us 0% of the time. 🤣 It's a bit rough, but we're makin' it! The weather has taken a definite turn for the wintry here in WNY. Highs today are in the teens Fahrenheit, and I just can't seem to get warm!

But I'm in great spirits, and it's Friday, so life is good. I've been doing a little book club work in the background this month that I wanted to share with you, and I want to start to plan for Lent, so we have a great booky theme for today!

Since the new year, our fab friend Allison Gingras, and editor of the Stay Connected Journals series, has been leading a book club for Our Sunday Visitor featuring the book of none other than yours truly! I've been at two out of the four sessions so far, and they are an absolute delight. They're concise 30 minute sessions featuring a discussion of one chapter a week, group questions and other musings on the chapter theme for that week. You can catch up on the recordings and/or register for the remaining sessions here. They are totally free, and the live sessions take place at noon EST, great for lunchtime book clubbing! If you'd like to purchase the book, OSV's bookstore has a coupon code for 50% off my book, Exploring the Catholic Classics, with the coupon code: CLASSICS. Free shipping with any $20 purchase over there, too! AND, of course, the rest of the books in that series are available there (if you're like me and spend more just to get to free shipping thresholds every single time, LOL!) and the new series themes are pretty amazing! I want to get all three of the new ones that I don't yet have, actually. We have one on living the liturgical year (this is my favorite new theme of the three, I must get it!), managing anxiety and learning to trust, and the theological and cardinal virtues. In fact, the virtues book will be the focus of the Our Sunday Visitor Lenten Book Club, and is available for 50% off with code: VIRTUE. These coupon codes are single use only, but you can order as many copies of each book that you like in that order! I'm plotting my order right now, pretty much guaranteed to get all three of the newer books, ha ha!

But this got me to thinking: what would be like to do for Lent over here on the blog? I tend to enjoy book clubs or related Lenten themes for that particular liturgical season. In the past, we've actually done historical fiction for our Lenten Book Club, which I absolutely loved, since there are lots of other book club choices for non-fiction. We featured the Living Water series by Stephanie Landsem, I remember that very fondly. I could scour for some other title ideas for next week if a fiction book club sounds of interest. We could also intersperse with other Lenten themed posts about liturgical living and even related crafts. Let me know your ideas, and we'll begin exploring these and nailing down our ideas next week! Ash Wednesday is in two and a half weeks, if you can believe it! :-0