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 This Past Week
I read A Place to Land this past week and loved it. In fact, the story was so moving and beautiful that I had trouble putting it down. I’m not usually a huge memoir person, but this one was well-written and captivating.
Plus, I had a big personal connection to it since the author spent 10 years in South Africa! (You all know how much my heart loves that country!) Her descriptions of the food and terrain and people and even little bits of the language she threw in made my heart miss that country so much! (Gratefully, we get to go back in July! I can hardly wait!)
When I got finished with the book, I was thrilled to see that the author had sent me a message via Instagram with pictures of her family so I could put faces to the names and stories in the book. (She had seen me reading the book in a little mention and had reached out and thanked me. I told her that I loved her story so much that I had stalked her online to see pictures of her family — she was so kind to send me pictures because there aren’t many of her kids/family online!)
I loved the author’s realness and rawness to share how hard it was to live cross-culturally, to adopt unexpectedly, and to see her mom slowly lose her battle to cancer — all while she lived on the other side of the globe. If you love well-written memoirs and stories of God’s faithfulness even in the midst of the hardships of life, I think you’ll really enjoy this book!
What I Watched This Past Week
Jesse and I binge-watched the last three episodes of This is Us. (So good! But I’m sad we have to wait so long for Season 3. The mentions of their dad at the wedding had both Jesse and I in tears since he lost his mom to cancer when he was young and not having her at our wedding was hard.)
And then, of course we watched basketball. We had a friendly bracket competition going on amongst all five of us and I’m happy to report that, by some sheer miracle, I WON! Everyone else’s brackets are busted, but I chose Kansas and Villanova to go to the Final Four, so my bracket is still standing strong! 🙂
Poor Silas was not too happy to have been whooped in this competition by his mother who is not the most sports-savvy person — especially compared to himself! 🙁
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.
Thanks for sharing about Kate’s book, Crystal! Lol I tried to share this link and totally just blew up your Twitter by accident. I forgot the “@” towards the beginning is like trying to get someone’s attention. Wooooops.
Thanks so much for sharing my post!!
This year, instead of my typical 50-80 books, I decided to read only the Bible (reading it through chronologically) and devotional books. I am currently reading (for the second time) A Praying Life by Paul Miller. Excellent!!
I’m also reading Wiersbe’s commentary on 1 Peter. Found this little gem of a quote in there last week that I’ve been meditating on since, “Who can mind the journey when the road leads home?” I just love that reminder to keep my eyes on Jesus when life is hard!
Thanks so much for sharing!
You comment on how people find time to read. My question is how to find time to watch anything.
Watching shows is one of my few “hobbies” 😉 We usually do it one or two evenings a week for an hour + sometimes a few hours on the weekends.
Thank you again for reading and sharing about A Place to Land! I love that you were drinking tea while reading it . . . so appropriate! 😉 Can’t wait to follow along virtually as you travel back to South Africa in July.
I LOVE tea… especially rooibis!
I’ve been very busy with my day job + writing, but I’ve been listening to a few audiobooks (swapping back and forth) – “Daring to Hope” by Katie Davis Majors and “Undeniably Yours” by Becky Wade.
My husband and started watching “The Good Witch” on Netflix. It stars Catherine Bell, who used to be on “Jag” years ago which my hubby and I loved! We’re enjoying this series a lot – very clean and fun, which we like. I also just got a month free of Pureflix and we watched a few movies this past weekend, “Coffee Shop” and “What If”.
Thanks so much for the show recommendation!
I read Dear Mr. Knightingly because of you and loved it . I also read Born a Crime and loved that as well. Watching for more suggestions. Thank You!
I’m so glad you loved Dear Mr. Knightley!
I think you would really enjoy the book, “When People are Big and God is Small” by Edward Welch. When I first sat down to read it, I didn’t think I needed it. I don’t feel like I struggle much with peer pressure at my age, but after reading the book, I was blown away by how much I actually do live in fear of man. This is one of those paradigm shifting books that you continually refer back to that makes you think differently. Though it isn’t a marriage book, I found this book to be extremely pertinent to my marriage, as well as applicable for being a leader. If you ever get a chance to read it, I think you would find it beneficial, not because I think you are co-dependent (I don’t) or are easily pressured by peers (I don’t think that either), but simply because it is excellent food for thought. I know you’re avoiding “self-help” type books in this season, but this is less formulaic and more idea oriented.
I second Lindsey’s recommendation on Ed Welch’s book ‘When people are big and God is small’. That was my best read last year and a life changing book.
Thanks so much for sharing! I’ve seen that book before, but had never seen a review of it!
I am finally finishing “Battlefield of the Mind.” I have started to read that book two times and have never finished.
Happy Monday, Crystal. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for sharing!