Meet the Team: Megan at Christmas

As 2020 draws to an end, we know we’ve added a lot of new readers. So, just in time for last minute Christmas ideas, here is Meet the Team, Christmas 2020 edition!

Hayley plays interviewer to introduce the Redeemed Reader team. Today let’s chat with our Associate Editor and Staff Writer, Megan Saben.

1. What are some books you’d like to give this year?

Picture Book: The Hiccupotamus by Aaron Zenz. A friend gave it to me as a baby gift for my firstborn thirteen years ago, and it’s still a fun read-aloud! I also gave a copy of A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker and hunted down a used copy (in good condition) of one of our all-time favorites, The Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake. I hope they bring it back in print! My fourth son is receiving the Miss Nelson collection by Allard, and my youngest can lift the flaps in an Usborne Construction/Demolition picture book.

Middle Grade: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson and Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake. I can hardly believe that most of my family hasn’t read Best Christmas Pageant Ever! Both authors are great storytellers. We’re giving my 11yo the first Septimus Heap book, and I hope that the Green Ember will arrive in time. My middle son is eager to read it.

YA: For Jolabokaflod this year we are giving permission for my eldest to finally read the last three Harry Potter books. I’m giving my husband Watership Down because keep I hearing how good it is and I think we’ll both enjoy it. I need to read it, too.

Adult nonfiction/other genres: I’m adding to my husband’s collection of New International Commentaries on the Old Testament. Or maybe it’s a New Testament book—I can’t remember which one!

2.  Lots of good ideas! Now, what book would you like to receive?

One that I will actually sit down and read! I’ve been eyeing a sourdough bread cookbook, but I would like to read a book by Wendell Berry. I bought myself Beate Not the Poore Desk (Betsy reviewed it) by Wangerin, Chesterton’s Orthodoxy, and Every Moment Holy by McKelvey. Sigh…they’re in my ever-growing stack.

3.  What is a bookish gift you like to give (or receive!)? 

I bought myself two literary t-shirts, and I’m giving my husband a literary t-shirt.

4.  Ooh, I think I have one of those under the tree, too! Moving beyond gifts, what is an audiobook you have enjoyed recently?  I’m listening to the BBC audio version of Persuasion and enjoying it immensely.

5.  Finally, most book lovers know the quote, “I can’t imagine a man enjoying a book and reading it only once.”  What is a book you have recently re-read?

I was recently in a book group discussing Adorning the Dark, and we’re doing Till We Have Faces next. I just listened to a Literary Life podcast discussion on TWHF and keep going deeper into my understanding of the book. It’s a book that not many grasp easily the first time, so I’m eager to share it with other readers over coffee with knitting in my lap!

6. Bonus question! What’s a favorite stocking stuffer in your family?

Ferrero Rocher chocolates and the boys love kinder eggs. All forms of chocolate, as long as it’s good quality, is most welcome!

Oh yes, I can’t agree more when it comes to chocolate, and I’m sure many of our readers are nodding, too . . . . Thank you, Megan!

What books or bookish gifts are you planning on giving this Christmas? And what books would you like to receive? Comment below to join the conversation!