Few things excite me as much as the message from Amazon that a pre-ordered book has shipped.

When that book’s by one of my favorite bloggers, my excitement reaches Jack Russell proportions.

And when it turns out to be the kind of book I’ll want to read again and again and again…well, I’m unbearable.

Let me introduce you to one of my new favorite books:

I’ve been a fan of Julie Davis’s blog, “Happy Catholic,” for a long time. In fact, I credit her (or blame her, depending on the day) for the fact that I started blogging.

The fact that she’s done what she does so well on her blog and published it as a book is, well, delightful, among other things (including inspiring, enlightening, thought-provoking, and awesome).

Among the 149 quotes included in Happy Catholic: Glimpses of God in Everyday Life are the usual suspects: saints and well-known Catholics and the Bible. Davis, who’s one of the most avid readers I have ever known, added to my Catholic to-read list by, oh, at least a dozen.

But then there’s the rest of the gang.

Davis, as she does so often in her other pursuits, reminds us that faith and life cannot be separated. That’s why you find quotes from Alice Cooper and the TV show Joan of Arcadia. It explains the quips from the Simpsons and the dialogues from various movies and novels.

This book isn’t just a good read, though it is that. It’s also the perfect devotional for the busiest person you know. It’s a great resource for the practice of finding faith right in front of your face. It’s an indispensable handbook for a moment with the God who took the time to get down and dirty by becoming one of us.

On her blog, Julie’s tagline is “Not always happy, but always happy to be Catholic.” If you’ve ever wondered why or how, then you’ll want to read this book.

The bad news, at least for me, is that I don’t hear rumors of Davis working on any other book projects. (But I’m not going to let her off easy. We want MORE, Julie, MORE!)

Ah, well, guess I’ll have to just keep admiring her work online (which is rather extensive–check out the sidebar at Happy Catholic!).