title: Book Girl: A Journey through the Treasures and Transforming Power of a Reading Life
author:  Sarah Clarkson 
description: <b>Starred review.</b> Blogger and author Clarkson (Read for the Heart) shares her deep affection for books in this enlightening mix of memoir, spiritual affirmations, and reading lists. A woman who reads is a woman who ponders, who knows the holy secret of time spent in quiet, she writes, and reading her book feels akin to walking into a library or bookstore and spending a few hours browsing. Her suggestions are wide-rangingFyodor Dostoyevsky, George Eliot, C.S. Lewis, Thomas Merton, A.A. Milne, Lucy Maud Montgomery, among many othersand are introduced by Clarkson asking, What makes a book acceptable to me as a Christian reader? Great books, Clarkson contends, wrestle with lifes great questions and influence readers worldviews and theologies. Not all suggestions are overtly Christian, but they do speak to spiritual truths: Anna Karenina is about adultery, for instance, but also about the consequences of putting self-fulfillment above other people. Whether highlighting fables, novels, or works on church doctrine, Clarksons fun lists will prompt bibliophiles to rediscover books they have loved and help readers looking for books to deepen their spirituality (Publishers Weekly)
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  Praise for _A Ritchie Boy_
  
  “Linda Kass’s eagerly anticipated second novel, _A Ritchie Boy_ , is an
  engrossing, deeply moving story of the immigrant journey, a profound and
  timely reminder of how refugees have woven their strengths, talents,
  successes, and sacrifices into the fabric of America.”
  
  —JENNIFER CHIAVERINI, _New York Times_ best-selling author of _Resistance
  Women_
  
  “Told as a series of interconnected stories, Linda Kass’s captivating, based-
  in-truth novel _A Ritchie Boy_ is about assimilation, hope, and perseverance.”
  
  — _F_ _OREWORD_ _R_ _EVIEWS_
  
  “A mesmerizing kaleidoscope of stories about displacement, finding home, and
  the kindness of strangers. Haunting and heartfelt.”
  
  —FIONA DAVIS, national best-selling author of _The Chelsea Girls_
  
  “I devoured _A Ritchie Boy_ over a single weekend. What a rich, beautiful book
  Linda Kass has written. I found such poignancy and delight in every facet of
  these characters’ lives. This is first-rate histor