Books, Blogs, & Business

This monthly column is an important part of our business, we feel, as we are called to let folks know the kind of books that we, at least, think readers should know about. We are thrilled most days with the quality of titles and the helpfulness of contemporary authors. (Ahh, don’t forget C.S. Lewis’ wise counsel about reading old books, too.) So we like to keep this monthly gig going, reviewing, recommending, reporting about great new titles.

February has been a hard month, not snowy as usual in this part of Pennsylvania, but complex, with our 13-year old’s chronic pain getting worse (and a weeklong stay in the hospital.) There have been some untimely deaths and some computer snafus. Staff have been heroic, and a few have gotten sick. Customers are usually wonderful to us (you wouldn’t believe the nice notes we get) but a few are, uh, cranky. Or downright cantankerous. Sales slump, and in the biz world, that sends owners scurrying off to their accountants. We don’t really have an accountant, so we just keep doing what we do: telling people to “Read for the Kingdom” and encourage social transformation by forming faithful communities that practice this old habit of pondering the printed page.

I am avoiding things, though, and I must come clean: I’ve got no column this month. But, yet, late as it is, I want to keep our archives full, so visitors don’t see a missing month. Ahhh, you say, this is fraudulence and hypocrisy— Hearts & Minds polishing their image with no substance this month.

But wait: I’ve written about plenty of books this month. Our new and nifty blog space allows us to give shout outs and annotations to books as we feel led. Not perhaps long reviews (although some are a bit much, perhaps, for the medium) but still fun recommendations and stories, plugs and promotions.

I thought for our February monthly installment that I would simply list for you some of what I’ve been busy writing about these past weeks. There are, I promise, some good books mentioned and, I’m told, some helpful sentences of my own, trying hard to convince you to pay attention to these authors. God bless “Ëœem for giving us their work. God bless the readers who purchase their books. Somehow, our love for books, the writing I do on the blog, and our success as an indie, small business, just might come together. If you haven’t dipped in much, yet, here is a month of what we call Hearts & Minds BookNotes, found at www.heartsandmindsbooknotes.blogspot.com. You can stop by for a virtual visit and offer your comments, feedback, or greetings, and, if you’d like, you can subscribe, so an email shows up in your inbox whenever I post a new review. You, of course, need not open that link on the spot, but I know some folks appreciate having the ease of us sending our work to you. (Someday we may do this with the bigger monthly columns.) For now, if you find our comments even a little helpful, we’d ask you to check out the BookNotes and help us spread the word far and near. Books, blogs and business. It makes sense to us, and hope it serves you well. Thanks for reading.

January 7 God Between the Covers

January 13 Eat This Book

January 21 Why James Frey Gets It Wrong

January 27 Free of Charge

January 26 Rest of God

February 5 Super Bowl Free Book Contest

February 8 Hidden Power of Electronic Culture

February 16 Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture

February 17 more on Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture

February 20 Picking, Pulling, Packing: Jubilee or Bust

February 21 Jubilee authors

February 23 Serious Times

February 27 Jubilee Best- Sellers

March 1 Jubilee Not So Big-Sellers