Okay, it's a deceptive blog title. I have no idea how to make my book a best seller, and even if I had the time to try, I'm not sure I'd be willing to devote the energy. But I do know that two major factors in whether or not books continue to sell are 1) word of mouth (so if you liked A Good and Perfect Gift, do tell people about it) and 2) familiarity, which is to say, hearing about the book over and over again from a variety of sources–news, friends, etc.
So I'm grateful for a few more positive mentions of A Good and Perfect Gift across the blogosphere last week. First, from Fred Barnes, editor of the Weekly Standard, who placed it at the top of his "Five Books Worth Reading" list last week. I don't post all the blog reviews A Good and Perfect Gift receives, but I really appreciated two that appeared last week. The first is from Minimal Spin Mommy, who writes:
I started Becker's book thinking it might be a bit dry and depressing as it appeared to be a very deliberate treatise on faith and pain and their connections. I was delighted to be proven very wrong. Becker's book is a glass of fresh cool water on a difficult and often very confusing topic. She presents the story of her daughter, Penny, who has Down Syndrome and Becker's journey into being her mother. The best way I can describe Becker's work is that it is just beautiful. Gorgeous in its simplicity and clarity. Though I wonder if that's what she intended when writing it. Because it's beauty is not due to some dramatic written effort, in fact it's the lack of pretense that gives the book a soul.
I am sitting here, having just finished (I literally just put it down) a book that I was asked to review. It has transformed me, taught me, encouraged me and at the same time it has called me to account.
So while A Good and Perfect Gift is not a best seller, people continue to read it and talk about it and pass it along to others, for which I am very grateful. I hope you'll consider doing the same.
