Karen Kingsbury is another one of my favorite authors. She writes Contemporary Fiction or as she calls it “Life Changing Fiction.” I only discovered her recently but I can’t get enough of her books! I want to read them all but there are so many it would take me a long time to read them!
I love the fact that she bases some of her characters on real people. One of her characters Bailey Flannigan is based on her own daughter Kelsey, and Bailey’s family is based on her own. She also offers fundraisers for organizations called “Forever in Fiction”, where she gives an auction item and whoever wins chooses someone they know to be a character in one of her books. Sometimes its a minor character, sometimes a major character. (Never a main character) I love this idea, every time I pick up a new Kingsbury book I immediately turn to the section where she lists the ones for that book to learn about them. If I ever become a fiction writer I want to do something similar.
When I first started reading Kingsbury’s books I didn’t completely understand the whole “Life Changing Fiction” thing, but now I think I’m beginning to get it. My favorite of her books is Unlocked which is about a boy who is locked in the prison of autism but through the power of music he opens to the world around him. It completely changed my perspective on autism, and I’ve recommended the book to so many people!
But the book that’s probably had the biggest impact on me is one that came out last year, Coming Home. This one features the Baxter family who Kingsbury wrote three series about (none of which I’ve read, Yet!) who suffer unimaginable tragedy on the day of their father’s 70th birthday celebration. How the family deals with the tragedy would help anyone dealing with loss, but I never imagined how it would help me. In the middle of reading it a very special little girl in my life died Very unexpectedly; an hour after crying my eyes out I picked up the book to read chapter 20, the next chapter, and what happened at the end of that chapter helped me a great deal in coping with the loss.
Day 36: Thank you Lord for Karen Kingsbury! Thank you for all the lives she’s been able to touch through her novels, including mine. Bless her writing and may she continue to touch lives for years to come!
What are you thankful for today? Leave a Comment and let me know, I’d love to read it!
365 Days of Thanks 