Recs and ReadsBy Anne McKay GarrisAuthor Jan Karon was the topic for the monthly Book Discussion at the Clearwater Beach Library yesterday. Karon writes delightfully about Father Tim and the citizens of Mitford. In the Mitford series she takes Father Tim from a mild-mannered bachelor priest to a retired, married priest who has charming adventures with the interesting characters of his small town. Along the way he adopts an orphan boy, a big, shaggy dog and all sorts of other friends including a "cousin" from Ireland who moves into his home for the winter. The Clearwater Library system offers at least eleven Jan Karon books in various mediums -- large print, tapes and regular reading. Try one out and enjoy the antics of Father Tim, his charming wife who writes children's stories, the bakery owner who plies him with forbidden sweets, the crew at the local lunch spot and more. My favorite Jan Karon book is A New Song, in which Father Tim accepts a temporary assignment to a church on an island along the Atlantic Coast. Here he helps his people deal with a hurricane and several interpersonal problems. This includes a next door neighbor recluse who eventually becomes organist of the church. The ending of this one of Jan Karon's books is particularly appealing to me. Another book you can get from the Beach Library is a book by Randy Alcorn entitled Heaven. Alcorn carefully notes all of the references in the Bible which give us hints as to what heaven is like and explains why the Bible's depiction of heaven is radically different from what most people believe it to be. There is a waiting list for this one, but, in my opinion, it's worth waiting for.
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