New Mormon Books

…from my experience as a Mormon missionary, I have found that virtually every philosophy presented by the world contains at least some truth and can be related to the gospel. This sister, however, decided it would be her job to completely erase everything the investigator had learned from her professors and then replace it with the missionary lessons. The climax of her story came when she finally convinced the woman that secular teachings were derived from the adversary, and that all the truth she needed, she could find in the church.

A summer reading list for the thoughtful Mormon reader
By McKay Coppins
Mormon Times, Jul. 18, 2009.
http://mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/mckay_coppins/?id=9716
Books by Mormon authors included were:
* The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen
* To Draw Closer to God by President Henry B. Eyring

Though it might be common for a reader to turn to a commentary in search of a particular doctrine or passage of verses, the two volumes’ construction also gives them a format friendly to reading chapter to chapter. Nyman even suggests portions that might be skipped in each chapter for a reader who is continuing from chapter to chapter.

Monte S. Nyman’s latest commentaries: 2 volumes on the D&C
By Steve Fidel
Mormon Times, Jul. 17, 2009
http://mormontimes.com/arts_entertainment/books/?id=9524

Since leaving his accounting job last year, Mormon author James Dashner has been spending his days in libraries, bookstores and movie theaters. But he can hardly be accused of idleness. After all, Dashner is producing books that have him poised for arrival on the national youth fiction landscape.

Accountant to author: James Dashner trumps the odds
By Aaron Shill
Mormon Times, July 1, 2009.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705314078,00.html

Camille Call Whiting wanted grieving mothers to know they were not alone in their heartache, so she decided to write a book relating her experiences of losing a son and a daughter.

Book: ‘For They Shall Be Comforted’
By Molly Farmer
Deseret News, June 11, 2009
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705310019/Book-For-They-Shall-Be-Comforted.html?linkTrack=rss-44

The new stage show “Receive These Things,” produced in Utah County by Sally Johnson, brings the truths of the Book of Mormon into the modern-day world and sets them to music.

Musical draws from Book of Mormon lessons
By Sharon Haddock
Mormon Times
Thursday, Jun. 04, 2009
http://mormontimes.com/arts_entertainment/music/?id=8111

I’d like to recommend three books that I have found vital to understanding our faith in relation to the rest of Christianity.

Relating our faith to the rest of Christianity
By Orson Scott Card
Mormon Times, May. 28, 2009
http://mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/orson_scott_card/?id=7991

With the overwhelming popularity of her fairy tales, one has to wonder why she would make the jump to books for adults. The truth is, however, Hale’s books for adults are really just modern-day fairy tales cast for an older audience. As with her first novel for adults, “Austenland,” Hale’s latest work, “The Actor and the Housewife,” takes an average woman and throws her into a situation that is beyond her wildest dreams and not as perfect as initially thought.

‘Actor and Housewife’ an entertaining tale
By Jessica Harrison
Deseret News, June 6, 2009.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705308768,00.html

Shannon Hale, who is LDS, is the author of five award-winning young-adult novels, starting with “The Goose Girl,” published in 2002; its sequels, “Enna Burning” and “River of Secrets”; Newbery Honor Book, “The Princess Academy”; and another stand-alone title, “Book of a Thousand Days.”

She has written two adult novels, “Austenland,” and her soon-to-be-released “The Actor and the Housewife.” And she and her husband have written a graphic novel, “Rapunzel’s Revenge,” illustrated by Utah artist Nathan Hale (no relation), and recently nominated for an Eisner Award (the Oscars of the comics industry).

Jessica Day George, who is also LDS, has written a trilogy of adventure books in “Dragon Slippers,” “Dragon Flight” and her newest, “Dragon Spear,” which came out this month. She is also the author of “Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow,” a re-telling of Norse legends; and the recent “Princess of the Midnight Ball,” a story of the 12 dancing princesses of storybook fame.

Mette (rhymes with Betty) Ivie Harrison’s latest book, “The Princess and the Bear,” is a sequel to her earlier “The Princess and the Hound.” She has also written “Mira, Mirror,” the story of the mirror of Snow White fame, and a non-fantasy novel, “The Monster in Me.”

Dream makers: 3 LDS authors gaining far-reaching reputations as fantasy writers
By Carma Wadley
Deseret News/Mormon Times, Jun. 01, 2009
http://mormontimes.com/arts_entertainment/books/?id=8061

When Julie Berry’s debut novel, The Amaranth Enchantment, was published in March, it triggered a front-page story in the Boston Globe about the growing number of female LDS authors who are “surging into the genre of young-adult literature” with “wholesome” fantasy books. But for Berry, the book is just a logical extension of what she, herself, always liked to read.

Author draws her inspiration from fairy tales
By Carma Wadley
Deseret News, May 30, 2009.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705307336/Author-draws-her-inspiration-from-fairy-tales.html?linkTrack=rss-44

Once when he was a student at the University of Utah, Lance Allred received an incomplete for his grade in a Middle East history class. It didn’t make sense to the academic all-conference basketball player with a 3.8 GPA, who had submitted a well-researched 10-page final paper. Apparently the paper was so well-written that the professor assumed the paper had been plagiarized because Allred was an athlete.

Utah Utes basketball: Lance Allred chronicles his amazing life in new book
By Mike Sorensen
Deseret News, May 31, 2009.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705307607/Utah-Utes-basketball-Lance-Allred-chronicles-his-amazing-life-in-new-book.html?linkTrack=rss-32