Watch the movie, skip the book. The book is a cute little children’s story. The movie is funny and engaging for all ages. It’s one of our favorite family movies!
I absolutely LOVED this book. It’s RARE that I find a fiction book that I love so much that I not only recommend it to others, but also re-read it. This is one of the few. The MOVIE was nearly as good as the book. I recommend you read the book and watch the movie!
The book is a classic, so I have to give credit to the original novel that has been loved for generations and inspired so many spin-offs. But I watched the movie first and read the book second and enjoyed the movie more than the book.
BOTH!!! The movie highlights Michael Ohr and has football as a backdrop. The book highlights football with Michael as the backdrop. Both are excellent and earn 10 out of 10 stars.
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So what’s your opinion? Have you read/watched the same story and have something to share? Leave a comment!
Review: Brene Brown recommended this book and wow, it contains SO many Gold Nuggets for relational connection! There were many practical stories, tips, and steps. I listened to this on the free Hoopla App but now want the actual book so that I can re-read it and underline/highlight my favorite parts.
Here are a few points I appreciated:
Honesty is great but spontaneous, uncensored expression of feelings and thoughts is not always a good thing. If it’s unbridled, it can damage motivation for future communication.
Not everything has to be talked about and addressed. So be strategic, have self-restraint and have tact.
We need to rehearse silence more than we need to practice speech. Being quiet and listening is harder than sharing our opinion.
Wish to hear and understand more than you wish to be heard and understood.
We need to muster a huge amount of maturity and discipline to say less when you feel compelled to say more.
If you want to be the sort of person who has connections, always leave open the possibility of connection even if the other person may take a long time to reconnect.
People sometimes stonewall, respond with silence, or minimize the effects of their harmful actions not because they feel no remorse, but because they feel too much guilt or shame to face up to taking accountability. It’s protective self-deception.
When someone critiques you, listen for the bits you can agree with and discuss them. Don’t focus on the bits you want to refute.
Fights are healthy. But fight well, not reactively.
We need to ask ourselves if we are more invested in our anger than we are in changing the relationship.
The author shares STORY after STORY of difficult relationships and how people successfully worked through conflict. Though there were a couple parts of the book that I didn’t completely align with, there was much more to the book that I thought was helpful! It’s a short book and I recommend it to anyone interested in strengthening your communication in marriage and/or with extended family members!!
Review: First of all, I loved the title of this book. I’m not good at following lots of rules. Second, the cover is so pretty – I love the water color look of this book.
Review: Hudson Taylor was a missionary in China and this book gives an overview of his life. He had an interesting and impacting life, but I don’t think this book captured it well. This has been my least favorite of the Benge biographies.
Review: Excellent book for kids and adults alike! Our family loves biographies by Janet & Geoff Benge. They are well written, engaging, and informative. I loved this biography about our 16th president.
Review: I enjoyed the book, but thought it was a little too wordy. Ted recommended I read just the parts he highlighted. I couldn’t do that, but I did skim through some of the book.
The book uses ancient wisdom to discover the source of Happiness. I’m all about finding sources of happiness in 2020!!! Here are a couple points and quotes that I enjoyed most from the book:
Activities connect us to others, objects often separate us. Work less, earn less, and “consume” more family time, vacation, and other enjoyable activities.
Children need plenty of failure to learn that success takes hard work and persistence.
Work more on your strengths than your weaknesses.
Something about the vastness and beauty of nature makes the self feel small and insignificant. Anything that shrinks the self, creates an opportunity for a spiritual experience.
Just like plants need water, sun and good soil to thrive, people need love, work, and a connection to something larger.
Studies that have assigned people to perform a random act of kindness every week, or to count their blessings regularly for several weeks, find small but sustained increases in happiness.
Jonathan Haidt
I love the following insight from the book and plan to add it to my post on 17 reasons to serve:
Review: I was picking up some “Who Was” books for my boys at the library and grabbed this one for me. It’s a super quick read and a good overview of Julia Child’s life.
Review: I read this book with my son, Paul. We enjoyed the book and thought it was a good overview of the brothers who invented the airplane. It showed how hard work and perseverance can make a huge impact on the world. Now Paul wants his Poppy to take him flying.
Review: This book is so incredibly inspiring. I could read it over and over. The book shares stories of Andrew bringing Bibles behind the Iron Curtain. He’d find a church with a hundred people all sharing one Bible. I read this book in 2019 and loved it so much that I re-read it with Clark. He enjoyed it too!
What have you been reading? Leave me a comment!
Disclaimer: All the books are linked to Amazon, if you choose to purchase one, I will earn a small commission for the recommendation.
Sometimes people ask how or why I read so much. So here’s the answer to that:
I LOVE reading! You find time for things you love.
I have books everywhere. One by my bed. An audiobook on my phone. A book by the couch. Another in the kitchen. One in the car.
I take 10-30 minutes to read in the morning. I usually take about 10-20 minutes in the afternoon to read. In the evening, I’d rather read than watch TV. If my kids or husband are watching something, I’ll sit with them on the couch and read next to them, OR, I’ll read for a little while after the kids go to bed.
If I have to wait for my kids at a practice or an appointment, I’ll read.
I read WITH my kids. This is a little challenging with FOUR boys, so I pick a book and read one-on-one, or read SHORT segments with more than one child.
The free HOOPLA app allows me to download excellent books for no cost, so I will listen to books while doing household chores or exercising.
My increase in reading may also be related to the fact that I’m new-ish to Minnesota, so I don’t have as many social commitments, also #MinnesotaWinter and #QuarantineLife! 🤔
They say that truth is better than fiction, and this book is the PERFECT example of that. The author had me hooked into her life story from the very first page. She does an excellent job of recreating her childhood so the reader feels like they were there. I could feel her pain, joy, and disappointment. It’s an incredible story of survival, perseverance and resilience by four children being raised in the midst of poverty. Her story surprised me constantly – from how smart her parents were in some aspects, to absolutely dysfunctional in other areas. What an interesting story!
The author shares a wealth of information on everything from presidents, to war, to religion and theater. She wants her readers to be able to have intelligent conversations on many topics. Overall – the book was just okay and I skimmed through parts of it.
She includes a few ‘charts’ which contain a wealth of information – I enjoyed the chart on the presidents. She listed when each president served and highlights from their presidency. I thought that was incredibly informative! Now I want to read more about many of our presidents. You can skim or just skip this book.
Review: This is the story of the author telling us about teaching a college level world religion class and what she’s learning from her students and studies of various religions. There were some gold nuggets in the book, but overall, I found it a little boring – as if I was back in my own World Religions class – some head knowledge but not much depth.
Review: I was so excited to read this book because it’s written by another mom with FOUR boys! Her youngest son is the age of my OLDEST son, so she’s just a little bit ahead of me and I wanted to hear what she’s learned and how she’s parented her boys. This book is incredibly practical and inspirational. I have enjoyed reading her blog for a couple of year now, and am so happy she’s written this book. I recommend it to every #boymom!
This month I read one a book by a former President, another by a former First Lady, one celebrity memoir, one celebrity biography, and the final was a book on writing by a well known author.
I listened to this on my free Hoopla app. The book started a little slow, but as Theodore Roosevelt (aka Teddy) went to college, his life became very interesting. He grew to become a remarkable man who fought against cronyism and crime in government.
I loved the story of how he became president. It started when he was asked by William McKinley to be his VICE president. He said NO. He didn’t want to be Vice President for three reasons:
He enjoyed his current job as of governor of New York.
The pay wasn’t enough. He was making $10,000 a year as governor, and his home in New York was paid for. If he became Vice President, the pay was only $8,000 a year – and he’d have to rent a home for his large family in Washington DC. He honestly didn’t think his family could survive on that smaller amount of money.
He just wasn’t interested in being Vice President.
Well, the public LOVED how ‘humble’ he was about not wanting to be Vice President. There was enough pressure for him to change his mind and accept the position. McKinley-Roosevelt won the election in a landslide. As Teddy expected, he didn’t love the job of VP. He had to remain mostly quiet and listen (he preferred talking and sharing his point of view), and he didn’t feel like he could make much of a difference as Vice President. However, six months into his new role, McKinley was killed, and Teddy Roosevelt became President. He served for the next 7.5 years, and loved his role. He was only 42 years old – the youngest man ever to be president.
Review: I slowly listened to the audiobook (that Michelle reads herself) in my car over the last few months.
The beginning is slow. Michelle is a lawyer and the beginning chapters feel like she’s reading a deposition. The first 7 chapters could have probably been summed up in two. I skimmed over a few parts, waiting for this book to get better, and it finally did. When Michelle introduces us to Barack, the story gets interesting.
I enjoyed learning what it was like for a young family to be in politics. I admire how she stuck through the challenges of political life – sharing her husband with the world and carrying the load of raising their daughters, while trying to keep some semblance of family life. She talks about buying lots of “take out” and fast food during their busy life, and how that began to negatively affect their health – especially the health of their children. That’s how her platform as First Lady was born – encouraging Americans, and especially children, to eat a little healthier and get some exercise. She was the first First Lady to have a garden at the White House!
I loved the part of the book where she shares what life was like in the White House. They have a cleaning staff, a cooking staff, etc. There are fresh flowers daily and someone constantly cleaning up behind them. There’s a bowling alley and movie theatre. She compares it to living in a fancy hotel. However, I didn’t know that the Presidents pay for their own groceries. They got a ‘food bill’ at the end of each month!
I didn’t agree with or support everything written in this book, but I think we could all benefit from getting to know and try to understand people who are different from us – different skin color, different beliefs and different politics. Politics can be so mean and ugly. I would love to see Democrats and Republicans work respectfully together to make this a better nation. Michelle and I do agree about this :).
I wasn’t really planning to read this celebrity memoir, but I kept hearing other’s say that they really liked it, so I gave in and checked it out from the library.
The title “Open Book” is exactly what it is. Jessica shares way more details of her life than I was expecting to read. She holds nothing back and everyone is fair game – her ex-husband Nick, her parents, her ex-boyfriends, her current husband, and of course, herself. Jessica shares how she got into music, about her marriage and divorce, about her struggle with addiction and more. She tries to pull out the good and shares the lessons she’s learned along the way.
We received this book free from our library as part of the summer reading program, so Clark and I read it together. Jackie Chan has had a very interesting life. He began his life with his family in ONE room of a larger house where his dad worked. Jackie began training in Kung Fu and theatre at the young age of 7 – working up to 16 hours a day, sleeping only 5 hours each night. His career began as a stunt person in the film industry, then he began acting, writing, singing, and directing. I had no idea how much he had accomplished in his life – it was a simple and fun book to read together. I love the “Who Was/Is” series for kids!!
This is a book on WRITING…written by a well-known author. I wanted some insight and inspiration as I consider my next book, and work on this blog.
Here are a few of the gold nuggets I pulled from the book:
One of the gifts of being a writer is that it gives you an excuse to go places and explore. It motivates you to look closely at life.
There are stories and ideas and vision and memories and plots inside me, and only I can give birth to them.
“Present and in awe” is how we should be in the world. There is ecstasy in paying attention. You can find holiness in everything, a sign that God is implicent in all creation. We can see everything as an outward and visaible sign of inward invisible grace. Anyone who wants to can be surprised by the beauty or pain of the world.
How often have you opened a book and said “YES!” … I want to give people that too!!
I automatically think that closing down is safe, but really – staying OPEN and LOVING is safer, because then we’re connected to all that life and love.
Maybe what I’ve written will help others, maybe it will be a small part of the solution. You don’t even have to know how or in what way, but if you are writing the clearest, truest words you can find and doing the best you can to understand and communicate, this will shine on paper like its own little lighthouse. Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save, they just stand there shining.
All quotes by Anne Lamott in her writing memoir, Bird by Bird
Have you read anything interesting lately? Leave a comment!
Review: This is such a wonderful, powerful book. I listened to it on my free Hoopla app, but now want to buy my own copy. This book is full of good truths about the enormous love God has for each one of us – just as we are. This book would make a great gift. Thanks to my sister Krista, for the recommendation!
Review: This is the story of the life of a black male (Kiese Laymon) growing up in the south. I appreciated how the author opened the curtain of his life. Kiese was raised by a single mom in a dysfunctional home – filled with abuse and poverty. The book’s title “HEAVY” – has a couple of different meanings. First – the author is large for his age and his weight is a theme throughout the book. Second, the story itself is “heavy” with a lot of struggle and very little redemption.
Review: I read a few pages out of this book most mornings for the last few months. It’s a book you’ll want to read slowly and absorb. I took pages and pages of notes. The book gives lots of inspiration and truth into how to move past insecurity and weakness and make a positive difference in the world. If you have goals and dreams for your life that you are waiting to see fulfilled, this book would be great for you!
Review: This book is a warm blanket and a gentle push in the right direction. It brought joy-filled tears to my eyes as I read each page.
The author is someone I worked with at New Life Church. He’s a great leader, pastor, and friend. I knew I’d like his book, I didn’t know how MUCH I’d like it.
This book answers the questions:
How do we become the kind of people who know how to handle whatever life throws at them?
Review: I cannot recommend the Biographies by Benge’s highly enough. They are so well written and always about the most fascinating people from history.
I watched the new movie “Harriet,” and wanted to know more about her life. I listened to this book on my Hoopla app and it was EXCELLENT. The book shares hard and fascinating stories about Harriet. I can’t believe one woman did so much in her life. She was a phenomenal woman!
Let me share one story from the book:
Harriet had freed many slaves, but had not been able to free her parents. Her parents were old, had lived hard lives as slaves, and could not “runaway” to freedom. Harriet had a dream that her father was in trouble, and she knew it was time to help. Harriet needed $20 to get them transfered safely North. She went to the Abolition office to ask for help. They had no money to give her. She went to the waiting room and decided she would not eat or drink until she had the money to free her parents. She fell asleep in the chair, and when she woke up, money was tucked inside her shawl. The lady at the front desk told her that people kept coming in, and when they saw Harriet, they gave whatever they could. The amount totaled $60! When Harriet arrived at her father’s shack, she discovered he would be arrested the next day and sent to jail. He was being falsely accused of a crime he did not commit. Often, slave owners would accuse their elderly slaves of a false crime, so the slave would be send to prison and the owner no longer had to house or feed them when they were too old to work. Harriet got both of her parents to freedom, and they lived in her home for the rest of their lives.
When I finished the book, I took a moment to thank God for how far we’ve come. Days later, George Floyd was killed and I realized we still have a long way to go. I’m incredibly grateful for women like Harriet Tubman and think we all need to hear her story!
Review: This is a memoir of a Patti Smith – who shares what life was like in New York City during the 70s as an artist. The writing was excellent, but the content is gritty.
Review: Another great book by the Benges. George Muller was a simple man who housed and fed HUNDREDS of orphans. He didn’t have much, but always prayed and trusted God to provide. Let me tell you a story from the book:
One morning, the cook let George know that there was not going to be enough breakfast to feed several hundred orphans. He calmly replied: God will provide. Tell the children to come and eat. As soon as the children prayed and sat down, a local baker knocked on the door and said: I couldn’t sleep last night. I had this feeling you all would need bread today, so I baked all night for you. A few minutes later, a local milk delivery man knocked on the door. He shared that his truck got stuck right outside the orphanage. He asked if they would please take all the milk he had, so that his truck would be light enough to get out of the hole.
That’s just one morning in the life of George Muller – the book is full of incredible stories like this as you follow his life through the book. This would be a great story to read or listen to (on the free Hoopla App) with kids ages 8 and up.
Review: I started reading this several months ago and finally finished. This is a book I would hear people mention, so I finally read it. It tells the story of a family growing up in Brooklyn, NY. The characters are well developed and believable. It’s a novel that loosely follows the life of the author.
Review: I’ve been reading a couple pages out of this book most mornings since January. It’s a Bible Study filled with practical wisdom and inspiration for moms of all ages.
This has been a unique season for all of us! I usually read about 5 books each month, however, I only finished 5 books in March and Aprils. My reading rate has been cut in half over the last two months. There are several reasons I haven’t been reading as much.
I have very little “downtime” with everyone home all day, every day.
Review: It took me a LONG time to read this book. I started it in JANUARY! The book is packed with stories and research – almost too much for me to consume. Finally, on the first Saturday after this quarantine began, I left Ted in charge, “quarantined” myself to the bedroom, laid in bed, and finished this book. The book builds the case that success comes with being a GIVER, not a TAKER.
Here are some key points I pulled from the book: 1. Admitting your weakness makes you appear human and approachable. 2. When selling, ask questions. People enjoy talking. By listening, you will learn about the person and how to sell to them based on their interests. Change your mindset from selling, to helping! Givers outsell takers. 3. People who maintain an equilibrium between benefiting themselves and others achieve significant increase in happiness and life satisfaction. 4. This book has lots of good stuff on the value in volunteering! For instance, those who volunteer 2 hours a week find that their happiness, satisfaction and self-esteem go up within one year. Those who volunteer see a drop in depression. Elderly adults who volunteer live longer. (I personally loved his chapter on volunteering. I wrote an entire post about the value in volunteering here.) 5. Decide to be a giver. Focus on making a difference and success might follow!
“By shifting ever so slightly in the giver direction, we might find our waking hours marked by greater success, richer meaning, and more lasting impact.”
I started reading this book with George in February. As I began reading, the lifestyle of the Ingalls family seemed SO foreign to me. I couldn’t imagine living back then, and was honestly glad that I didn’t. Let me describe a little bit of their lives to you:
Ma spends most of her days cooking and doing laundry.
The kids don’t go anywhere. They have no one to play with, except each other. They would create games to entertain themselves. They could play outside – but had to stay close by their home.
Pa works from home and only goes to the store to get “essentials.”
By the time we finished the book at the end of March, I realized we were living the “Little House” life!!!
What seemed so foreign at the beginning, felt suddenly, VERY familiar. However, I realized this slow-placed life really isn’t so bad. I’ve been wanting time to SLOW DOWN and finally got my wish. I’m thankful for this time with my family and feel like it’s given us an opportunity to grow closer. And just like the Ingalls family, we are all finding joy in the SIMPLE things!!!
Shauna Niequist recommended this book, and because I’m living in Minnesota, I checked it out from the library. (Our library is allowing us to do curbside pickup!!)
This book was an entertaining novel. I enjoyed that the book was set in Minnesota, and how the author refers to towns all around me. The novel follows the lives of a few women as they enter the ‘lager/beer craft industry.’ The ‘characters’ in this story are believable and endearing.
Review: This book was written by a parent and psychologist. It’s a practical and helpful parenting book. Topics include respect, chores, homework, helping your child deal with a ‘bad day,’ and building ‘faith practices’ in your home.
While some parenting books have left me feeling overwhelmed, that was NOT the case with this book. It was inspiring and useful. It’s a book I’ll go back to again and again.
Review: The “Who Was/Is” series are GREAT biographies to read with kids. The books are short, easy-to-read, and filled with the most interesting facts. I love that the books give me a ‘refresh’ on important historical figures.
This is a fantastic book and perfect if you want to know a little more behind the “Hamilton” phenonenom!
Have you read anything interesting lately? Leave me a comment!
I LOVE reading! You find time for things you love.
I have books everywhere. One by my bed. An audiobook on my phone. A book by the couch. Another in the kitchen. One in the car.
I take a few minutes to read in the morning. I usually take about 10-20 minutes in the afternoon to read. In the evening, I’d rather read than watch TV. If my kids or husband are watching something, I’ll sit with them on the couch and read next to them, OR, I’ll read for a little while after the kids go to bed.
If I have to wait for my kids at a practice or an appointment, I’ll read.
I read WITH my kids. This is a little challenging with FOUR boys, so I pick a book and read one-on-one, or read SHORT segments with more than one child.
The free HOOPLA or LIBBY app allows me to download excellent books for no cost, so I will listen to books while doing household chores or exercising.
My increase in reading may also be related to the fact that I’m new-ish to Minnesota, so I don’t have as many social commitments, also #MinnesotaWinter! 🤔
Here are the 5 I read this month, as well as one we finally finished after nearly a year.
My son George was intrigued by this book and asked me to read it to him. We’d read a chapter each day at breakfast.
The book is about a young man who is set to inherit a LOT of money if he completes several tasks that will teach him valuable life lessons, like:
The Value of Money
The Value of Time
The Value of Work
The Value of Good Friendships, etc.
I’d highly recommend this book if you have any teenagers in your house. It’s easy-to-read and talks about 12 life lessons that will lead to a meaningful life.
This book is filled with a hodge podge of the author’s thoughts, ideas, and stories from his life.
My favorite parts of the book were:
His reminder to look for the good – it’s all around if you are paying attention.
Seeing the Good is a Key to Happiness!
His encouragement to invest in another kid who isn’t your own child. 50% of kids will go through a divorce and another percentage of kids don’t have a relationship with one of their parents. Kids truly benefit from another person encouraging them and teaching them something new. I STRONGLY agree with him on this topic. Having another person who wasn’t a parent invest in me, changed the trajectory of MY life!
Giving Back is a Key to Happiness!
Compound interest – most of us know how it works with money, but we forget how it works with relationships. Small investments made on a regular basis over a long period of time have a huge payout.
Bob is the CEO of Disney. In this book, he shares stories from his career (before Disney), and how he’s transformed Disney since he began leading the company 15 years ago. He shares life and leadership lessons.
It’s a well-written book with some interesting stories and good lessons, but I was hoping it would be more of a memoir and story of his life.
If you are a business leader, you will enjoy and benefit from this book.
Rating 7/10
Interested in learning about the ‘inner workings’ of Disney? I’d recommend a phenomenal book called: Creating Magic by Lee Cockerell. I LOVED this one and consider it a MUST read.
I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to read this classic. I wish I would have read it as a teenager. It’s such an endearing story about four sisters, and I grew up with four sisters!
I watched the new movie recently and fell in love with the story, so I checked out the audiobook from the library. The book was written in the 1800s, so some of the language is a little outdated, but other than that – the story is wonderful. The new movie is EXCELLENT!
Janet Benge is one of my favorite authors. She tells the stories of men and women who’ve done fascinating things with their lives.
I started reading this book with George but he was not engaged. I wouldn’t recommend it for kids.
I’ve heard of John Wesley as a pioneer in church history and wanted to learn more about him. I was UN-pleasantly surprised by his story.
He was raised by an extremely strict father and that became a BIG part of who he was. He lived by RULES. Those ‘rules’ or METHODS became the foundation of the Methodist church. Most of his life was about how much he could DO without really understanding or experiencing the love and grace of God. For better biographies by Janet Benge, I highly recommend Corrie Ten Boom, Gladys Aylward and Amy Carmichael!
Rating 7/10
An awesome book I’ve been reading to the boys for about a YEAR that we FINALLY FINISHED IN FEBRUARY:
I think every family should own a copy of this book! The short devotionals teach something about science and how it connects with God and us. We find each page fascinating. We’ve just purchased, and started reading, the second book in the series.
A super short, easy-to-read book that I could recommend to every person in this world. Whether you are grieving something simple like canceled plans, or something much larger – like divorce or loss of a loved one – this book is a MUST READ!
I’m making a new goal to start each year with a Zig Ziglar book. However, since he’s written over 200 books – I may need to start each MONTH with a Ziglar book. He is absolutely inspiring and the master of motivation and success!
If you want a fascinating story – check this book out! (I listened to the audiobook in my car.)
The author spent many years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit. After he works through the anger of being wrongfully imprisoned, he realizes they’ve stolen his life but they can‘t steal his joy. He chooses to make a positive difference right there on death row. He brought light and life to a very dark place. He gets to know each prisoner –and their stories filled my heart with compassion and it gave me a different perspective on our prison system.
The book is an excellent example of CHOOSING JOY in ANY situation, as well as the difference that ONE PERSON can make.
If you were a Full House fan, or enjoy watching “Fuller House” in Netflix, then you’ll like this book. It’s “Kimmy Gibler’s” autobiography. I like how she takes you behind the scenes of her show and into her life.
She’s shares stories of how she’s gotten through some “lows” in her life – mainly anxiety and an unwanted divorce. I appreciated her insight into what’s helping her through those struggles.
I read the book several years ago and after watching the movie, I decided to re-read the book.
There are parts of the movie I liked better (Cate Blanchett portrayed an Oscar-worthy Bernadette!) and there are parts of the book I liked better (so many more details).
It’s an entertaining story of a lady – Bernadette – who is a fabulous architect. Once she has a baby, she stops creating and focuses 100% of her attention to her daughter for the next 15+ years. Instead of finding creative outlets, she starts to become a menace to society. The story is super entertaining.
The lesson I gleaned from the book (and movie) is that we were all born to create. If we aren’t fulfilling our God-given purpose in life – we start to act out in ways that are problematic. We fill legitimate needs in illegitimate ways.
This would be a great book to take on vacation! And I recommend the movie too! Both are entertaining.
The movie
The movie
