755 ratings | 8 reviews | avg rating:3.77

more photos (1)

Christa’s Year In Books

Christa’s 2023 Year in Books

Take a look at Christa’s Year in Books. The long, the short—it’s all here.

Go to Christa’s 2023 Year in Books

Christa Banister’s Followers (96)

Christa’s Bookshelves

read (779)
currently-reading (0)
to-read (0)
books-i-wrote (3)
cookbooks-i-love (34)

Christa’s Friends (3,032)

Tabitha

2,502 books | 639 friends

Deena

7,279 books | 211 friends

Booksandchinooks (Laurie)

1,035 books | 459 friends

Carolyn Bryant

1,215 books | 139 friends

Rebecca Minton

527 books | 596 friends

G. Lawrence

2,938 books | 1,793 friends

Suzy

1,510 books | 800 friends

Kendy Pearson

135 books | 719 friends

More friends…

2024 Reading Challenge

2024

READING

CHALLENGE

Christa has read 133 books of her goal of 52!

256%

View Books

Christa Banister

Goodreads Author

Born

in Madison, Wisconsin, The United States

January 02

Website

http://www.christabanister.com

Genre

Fiction, Contemporary, Foodie

Influences

Emily Giffin, Nick Hornby, Nora Ephron, Rebecca Serle

Member Since

November 2007

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/chicnovelist

edit data

While growing up in a no-stoplight town in a land of perpetual winter in northwest Wisconsin, books were author Christa Banister’s constant companion during hundreds of freezing days spent indoors.

Reading was Christa’s window to a world she was dying to explore. She didn’t travel much until after college, so those frequent trips to the library took on special meaning because it allowed her to escape to the English countryside. The bustling streets of New York City. Or the far-flung islands in Greece.

Surrounding by a veritable sea of books, Christa had an important epiphany as a pre-teen re-reading Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. When she figured out that Judy’s job—her actual paying gig—involved making up stories for a living While growing up in a no-stoplight town in a land of perpetual winter in northwest Wisconsin, books were author Christa Banister’s constant companion during hundreds of freezing days spent indoors.

Reading was Christa’s window to a world she was dying to explore. She didn’t travel much until after college, so those frequent trips to the library took on special meaning because it allowed her to escape to the English countryside. The bustling streets of New York City. Or the far-flung islands in Greece.

Surrounding by a veritable sea of books, Christa had an important epiphany as a pre-teen re-reading Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. When she figured out that Judy’s job—her actual paying gig—involved making up stories for a living (!!!), well, Christa knew that’s what she wanted to do.

Christa majored in journalism at North Central University in Minneapolis and worked as a reporter at a medium-sized newspaper an hour away during her junior year. After covering a couple of horrific events she couldn’t unsee, she realized that being His Girl Friday wasn’t in the cards. After graduation, she moved to Nashville where she wrote about singers because no one would ever mistake her for having musical talent.

Nashville is where Christa’s professional writing career took off. She wrote about music and books for a number of print and online publications. One of the best writing gigs she snagged involved reviewing movies for 15 years. Good, bad, really bad, and everything in between, she screened 60-70 films a year and acquired a PhD in the Marvel/DC universe. Celebrity profiles were also a favorite part of her job.

As much as Christa loved her work in the entertainment industry, writing a novel was never far from her mind. When one of her editors passed along a contact at a publishing house he wrote for in Colorado Springs, she pitched what became her first novel, Around the World in 80 Dates. A year later, Blessed Are the Meddlers followed, a modern take on Jane Austen’s Emma.

As her print clients dwindled with the changing of the guard and many online outlets no longer wanted to pay for content, her beat changed in 2018. The bulk of her freelance work centers around mental health, addiction, and recovery these days, which has been incredibly rewarding.

When Christa wasn’t ticking assignments off her to-do list, she wrote The Honorary Italians. The idea sparked by stirring a homemade Bolognese sauce with a complete stranger at a pasta-making class in St. Paul, she says she never had more fun writing and researching anything in my life.

“It’s the book I always wanted to write,” she says.

Christa is represented by Susan Nystoriak with Golden Wheat Literary Agency.

She and her husband Will ditched the snow for the blazing heat in DFW and love to travel, watch old movies, cheer for their respective NFL teams, and are always on the lookout for a new restaurant, bookstore, or watching their favorite bands when they come to town.
...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Christa Banister questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Christa Banister’s books

Average rating: 3.29 · 245 ratings · 45 reviews · 3 distinct works

	Around the World in 80 Dates: Confessions of a Christian Serial Dater (Sydney Alexander Series, Book 1) 3.21 avg rating — 199 ratings — published 2007 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blessed are the Meddlers (Sydney Alexander Series, Book 2) 3.59 avg rating — 44 ratings — published 2008 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hungry: An Ultra-Vertical Devotional Adventure really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2003 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

194 posts
Christa Banister's Blog

Happy National Read a Book Day!

It's no secret I'm crazy about books. Always have been. The day I found out you could, gasp!!!, check out as many as you wanted from the local library, well, that news sort of changed my life. Continue reading

View more on Christa Banister's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on September 06, 2024 08:50

View all 194 posts »

rss
Christa’s Recent Updates

Christa is now friends with Sam
21 hours, 42 min ago · like
Christa rated a book really liked it The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 25, 2024 05:14PM · 1 like · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Christa rated a book liked it San Francisco Chef's Table: Extraordinary Recipes From The City By The Bay by Carolyn Jung	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 24, 2024 08:47AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of San Francisco Chef's Table by Carolyn Jung. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — San Francisco Chef's Table by Carolyn Jung <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Christa rated a book liked it Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 23, 2024 01:58PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Christa is currently reading The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 20, 2024 04:16PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Christa is currently reading Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 20, 2024 04:16PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Christa rated a book really liked it River Cafe London: Thirty Years of Recipes and the Story of a Much-Loved Restaurant: A Cookbook by Ruth Rogers	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 02, 2024 05:31PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of River Cafe London by Ruth Rogers. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — River Cafe London by Ruth Rogers <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Christa rated a book liked it Tables and Spreads: A Go-To Guide for Beautiful Snacks, Intimate Gatherings, and Inviting Feasts by Shelly Westerhausen Worcel	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 02, 2024 04:52PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Tables and Spreads by Shelly Westerhausen Worcel. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Tables and Spreads by Shelly Westerhausen Worcel <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Christa rated a book liked it Everything I Want to Eat: Sqirl and the New California Cooking by Jessica Koslow	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 02, 2024 04:30PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Everything I Want to Eat by Jessica Koslow. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Everything I Want to Eat by Jessica Koslow <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Christa rated a book liked it Elizabeth of East Hampton (For the Love of Austen, #2) by Audrey Bellezza (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 02, 2024 04:28PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Elizabeth of East Hampton by Audrey Bellezza. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Elizabeth of East Hampton by Audrey Bellezza <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

More of Christa's books…

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The 104 Book Chal...: Aerykah's 2012 Book List	12	33	Jan 02, 2013 08:00PM
Christian Fiction...: What are You Reading?	520	368	Jul 29, 2016 11:05PM
♥Books, Coffee, M...: What are you currently reading?	2518	378	Mar 29, 2017 04:51PM