Carolyn Astfalk has a first Wednesday of the month book review linkup!

In the interests of being as efficient with my time as I possibly can, I’m killing two birds with one stone.  In addition to reviewing books for #OpenBook, I’ve started a monthly event on Facebook Live over at my author page.  It’s called Sabbath Rest Book Talk, and in it I’ll talk about a few of the books I’ve read in the past month in terms of how they, as fiction, help us grow in humanity.

This month’s focus was on conflict, or how fiction–most especially a diversity of fiction–gives us a variety of tools to face our real-life conflicts.  When we humans fill our conflict resolution toolboxes, not just with the tools used by people who look and think and grew up like we do, but with the tools used in cultures and worldviews with which we are not familiar, we give ourselves greater courage, empathy, compassion, and understanding… and those virtues are just for starters.

October’s SRBT Featured Fiction:

The New Moon’s Arms by Nalo Hopkinson

(Psst–this is a book for grown-ups. My mentioning it here is not yet an endorsement.  I haven’t finished it, but I’m hard on the heels of accomplishing that.  What I’ve read, while it does have strong language and adult situations, is very much a page-turning kind of thing.)

The Well by Stephanie Landsem

(Click here for my more detailed review of The Well)

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

And a special feature of narrative non-fiction,

Ruby Bridges Goes to School by Ruby Bridges

And here’s October’s Sabbath Rest Book Talk Video

What are you reading?  Don’t forget to link up YOUR #OpenBook reviews over at Carolyn’s!