Welcome to my weekly Book-ish post where I share what I’ve been reading and watching recently. If you missed it, you can see my Reading Goals for 2018 and 44 Books I Plan to Read This Year.
What I Read Last Week
I read Sisters First — the story of Jenna and Barbara Bush. I found their accounts of growing up as the granddaughters of a President and then the daughters of a President to be really fascinating. They did a great job of sharing stories of the wonderful things, hard things, and crazy things that come along with being in this position.
The book also did a great job of shying away from politics and just focusing on telling the stories of what it was actually like to grow up in their world. I found it interesting, intriguing, and inspiring and was glad I read the book.
What I Watched Last Week
Jesse and I went on a date and saw Black Panther. It was very different from the other Marvel movies and we didn’t enjoy it as much. It was okay, but definitely not one that I would say is worth seeing in the theater — unless you have MoviePass! 😉 It was fun to see all of the African undertones, since we love South Africa and the people there.
We also went to see The Post — a movie I have wanted to see for some time. It was a fascinating look at some parts in history that I actually didn’t know a whole lot about (Jesse, on the other hand, knew pretty much ALL of it… but I call him a walking encyclopedia ;)). While it wasn’t 100% historically accurate, there was a lot of truth and accuracy in it and I thought the film was well done. Not a must-see movie, but well done and one that I was happy I watched.
(By the way, we got MoviePasses for Christmas and we have fallen in love with them. You just can’t beat $10 per month to be able to see one movie of your choice every single day. Read my in-depth review of MoviePass here.)
How I Find Time to Read
People are always asking me how I find time to read. Honestly, it’s because I love to read, because I’ve chosen to prioritize it, because I don’t have a lot of other hobbies, and because I can’t not read. Also, when you love something, you usually can find ways to get creative to find time to fit it in — even if it’s in the little nooks and crannies of life.
I wrote a post on 3 ways to find more time to read — even when life is busy. And here are 7 more ways to find time to read.
I loved Black Panther! Yes, it’s different than your typical superhero movie, but that is something I really liked about it. I would highly recommend this movie! Just go in with an open mind 🙂
This week I read Shonda Rhimes The Year of Yes. I’m not sure she and I would see eye to eye on politics, but there were a few great nuggets of truth from this book, and it was interesting to hear a little bit about the behind the scenes of a TV show (even though I’m not a huge TV fan)
I *loved* that book! And, yes, she and I have vastly different political views but man, there was a lot of good stuff.
I’m glad you loved Black Panther. I think I was disappointed that it felt like the Africans were (mostly) all painted in less of a heroic light than in previous super hero movies and it just bothered me. My husband and I both felt the same way. Maybe it’s because we’ve been to South Africa multiple times and we’ve seen how caring and loving and amazing the people are there and we just felt like there was such a disconnect between the people we know and how they were painted in the movie. And we also felt like it painted African-Americans in a poor light, too. Overall, we just felt like it could have been so much better and it fell short for us.
However, I’m holding out hope that they are setting the stage to paint the Africans in a more heroic light in the future.
Oh and I enjoyed The Year of Yes, too!
I just finished Jamie Ivey’s book “If You Only Knew”. It was convicting and encouraging. I’m getting ready to dive into ” Barking at the Choir”. I have high hopes since Father G’s other book “Tattoos on The Heart” was life changing for me.
Yay to going on a date night. That sounds very cool. Sorry you didn’t enjoy the movie as much. I’m a Tom Hanks fan, so The Post is on my list to check out one day soon. The book about the Bush sisters sounds pretty fascinating. I’m a useless trivia fan, soI try to keep up with as much news, pop culture and news as I can. Steve Berry does a really good job of mixing fiction, non-fiction and suspense with past presidents. I’m almost finished reading End Game by my pretend boyfriend David Baldacci. As always his writing is right on point. Thanks so much for sharing your reviews! Hugs…RO
I just finished reading “The Great Alone” by Kristin Hannah. I loved it. I was a big fan if Kristin’s other book, “The Nightingale “…. which was one of my all time favorite books. I highly recommend this one I just finished. It’s set in a tiny, remote Alaskan town, where the people homestead during the 1960s/70s. Anyway… I enjoyed it!
Thanks so much for the suggestions!
I watched Victoria season 1 and really enjoyed it. It’s inspired me to learn more about the young queen. I read The Masterpiece by Francine Rivers and liked it so much. She made extraordinary characters seem real and nailed it with her message of healing after great adversity. Highly recommend it.
I am so glad you gave an honest review of the Black Panther. I wanted to see this movie with my husband at the end of this week and if it wasn’t that good I am not going to waste my money.
I watched the Arrow show you mentioned the last couple of weeks. And I thought it was good.
And I am reading and recommend Different: The Story of an Outside-The-Box Kid and the Mom Who Loved Him by Sally Clarkson. It is really nice to read and feel like I am not alone with the struggles of raising a child with a clearly different way of thinking. I enjoyed this book a lot.
I LOVED Different. Such a great book!
Megan, I really enjoyed Black Panther. It is a bit different than your typical superhero movie, but that’s one of the this I really enjoyed about it. I highly recommend it!