READ::WATCH::LISTEN::FOLLOW – December 2016
With all the visual and written media flying around these days, it can be hard to decide what to choose, what might be worth a little of our precious time. Behold! The Read::Watch::Listen::Follow link up! My friend Sheila hosts this every month, and the linked posts are chock full of great recommendations. Here are mine for this month.
READ: I’ve read some GREAT books over the last few weeks! I plan to post my “Books Read in November” list tomorrow, but today I want to give a shout out to Corner Booth by Chautona Havig. This is a fun story of a professor and the woman who invades his corner booth of a restaurant in order to skip the line at the door. He’s recently been convicted that he talks way too much, so he determines to LISTEN to the woman; no talking (on his part), just listening. And thus begins a sweet yet powerful story that I thoroughly enjoyed. I finished it last night, and I was a little sad when I woke up this morning because I wasn’t going to get to hang out with all my new friends from this book today. (Y’all know that feeling, right?!?)
WATCH: My pastor shared this video with our church leadership team earlier this week, and I watched it this morning. Wow. Just WOW! Francis Chan delivers a powerful challenge to all believers to “climb the mountain” ourselves to spend time with God and not be satisfied with “hanging out with Moses” and hearing from God second hand. Let’s just say I might have needed a tissue or two by the end of the message, and I’ve determined to lace up my spiritual hiking boots and start climbing.
LISTEN: Last week I listened to the audiobook Still Alice, written and narrated by Lisa Genova. This book is inspiring, heart breaking, and very well written. It’s a novel that reads like a memoir and tells the story of a 50-year-old, wife/mother, Harvard professor who is diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease. I don’t want to say much more than that, but the construction of the book–how she tells the story–is amazing. If someone close to you is dealing with this disease, this may not be the book for you right now. And then again, maybe it is. Note: This isn’t the most dynamic audiobook I’ve ever listened to, but I don’t think it’s meant to be. Since the author is also the narrator, she can read it just the way she wrote it. It’s a straightforward book with a straightforward narration. The genius is that a story written without excess, hyped-up drama is so very dramatic and powerful.
FOLLOW: I started following Kampgrounds of America (KOA) on Instagram, and now I want to go camping every single day! I’m a KOA girl. I grew up camping at KOAs, and Gene and I have been known to plan trips around KOA locations! The photos are fun, and they definitely inspire me to plan another trip SOON! (I’m on Instagram as outandback.live if you’d like to follow my adventures there as well as here.)
What are YOU reading, watching, listening to, and following? Link up at Making the Most of Every Day and/or leave some comments for me! This is always a fun discussion. I enjoy your recommendations.
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10 thoughts on “READ::WATCH::LISTEN::FOLLOW – December 2016”
I am finishing “Rebecca” today if it KILLS me!!!
Oh, girl! Are you STILL reading that?!? It might be time to ditch it and ask me to tell you how it ends! LOL! (I hereby give you permission to throw it across the room like I did!)
Corner Booth sounds intriguing! Adding to my TBR list! I don’t think I’m cut out for Still Alice. And I’m going to fire up the Francis Chan video as soon as I’m done with this little blog-reading break! I really want to go on a double camping trip! I don’t think we’ve ever stayed at a KOA. We tend to lean towards state parks! You’ll have to be our tour guide… Thanks for linking up!
We seriously need to get a KOA camping trip on the books! I’ll have my people call your people! Corner Booth was a fun read and packed some important stuff I didn’t expect. Let me know how you like it! And check out the comment below this one for some great news from the author!!! (I respect your decision on Still Alice. Let me know if you want to talk about it sometime because if you’re not going to read it I’d love to tell you about some of its construction.)
I’m glad yiu enjoyed Dean and Carlie. Is this whrn I tell you that I’ve been working on a sequel?
Are you SERIOUS?!? Oh happy day!!! I have been scouring your website trying to determine if there was a sequel to it! Thank you SO much for stopping by my blog and sharing this important news with me!
So much to comment on. Will listen to the video you included today. I need to have a fire set under my spiritually-dragging behind. Thank you for the share.
I have added Corner Booth to my to-read which should be to-listen-to list because now that I am listening to books on Audible, I may never read again. Think I could get blog posts read to me via Audible??
Camping. Oh, camping. I LOVED camping as a child. I would sit on the potty and look at the camping stuff in the Sears and Roebuck catalog, over and over. We only stayed at KOAs a couple of times. My parents – my dad – was big on roughing it right in the middle of wherever we were going. We usually found the KOAs to be on the outskirts of some of the parks we visited. Not close enough or deep enough in for him. Would love to camp again.
Off for a massage. Two hours worth for the donation of a $25 toy. Yay. Love that it is snowing on your blog. Will bundle up the next time I stop by.
XO
Adding Corner Booth to my TBR list. Sounds like a book I would enjoy!
We’ve stayed at KOAs a few times. Once we even staying in one of their “Kabins” when we were traveling, in lieu of a motel. The thing about that is, you have to take your own bedding and towels, and of course, the bathroom is in another building. But still, it was a good bit cheaper.
I think you’ll like Corner Booth, Karla! We’ve stayed at the KOA Kabins too. I think they’re perfect for people to try camping without having to make a huge investment in equipment. (Blog series on that is coming soon!)