SK Bell

Saturday, June 3, 2023

3 books I hope to read in June

I hope to read more than three books, especially thanks to help of audiobooks, but here are a fiction, nonfiction, and children's book I hope to squeeze in:

Shiny Things... I'm really enjoying having a motherhood-focused morning read along with a me-as-a-person read (motherhood, after all, is my great ministry!) and I hope to try this one in June. This 2023 world is nothing if not full of distraction so it seems very fitting.

Take Three... This is the next installment of Karen Kingsbury's Baxter Family books. This is my first time reading them and I'm finally up to this one. It feels like it's been too long since I got to enjoy one of these so I'm very much looking forward to it!

Vanished... This Christian middle grade is about a young girl in a boarding school trying to uncover the mystery behind a missing school bus her friend was on... could be fun! I would have been very excited for the premise as a sixth grader.

What are you hoping to read this month?

Thursday, June 1, 2023

Bookish links, June 2023

June new releases I'm excited about: The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley // Man of Shadow and Mist by Michelle Griep // A Shadow in Moscow by Katherine Reay

Lovely bookshelf watercolor tutorial!

11 tips for enjoying reading aloud

Lots of "must-read" Christian books, yes please!

I don't have an iPhone but this book-and-butterfly case is so pretty!

Interesting read- the difference between character archetypes and character tropes

Stop comparing your reading life to someone else's!

Blast from the Past: Documenting Motherhood // Leavenworth, Washington // A Mother Who Reads to Me

Book recommendations by Enneagram type!

Pretty impressed with this LEGO typewriter that actually moves!

Currently reading: Kingstone graphic novel Bible // The Peacemaker // This Changes Everything // Face to Face // Heaven is Here // A Long Time Comin' // Horace and Bunwinkle

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Recent Reads

The Auschwitz Escape by Joel C Rosenberg (Christian, historical fiction)... This book was intense and depressing at times but overall so great! My grandpa loved it, too. Great book for men.

Eat for Life by Joel Fuhrman (secular, nonfiction, health)... I already know "all the things" about health and nutrition. I know about it from every angle- why fat is the best and why it's the worst, why protein is king and why it's overhyped, why fruit is perfect for human consumption and why it's bad for blood sugar. At some point you just have to get intuitive. You know there are dissenting opinions everywhere you turn and you know what feels right in your body... And maybe you aren't sure if you should be eating meat + no grains or grains + no meat or small amounts of both, but you know that Taco Bell wasn't part of God's design for people food and that there wasn't one in the center of Eden. I overall agree with his approach- whole foods, mostly plants- but the nitty gritty details don't sit quite right for me. I will continue to eat lots of fruit. But if you're not sure where to start, this could be a great starting point!

Just Beyond the Clouds by Karen Kingsbury (Contemporary Christian fiction)... This is the sequel to A Thousand Tomorrows and is primarily focused on Cody's brother, Carl Joseph, and his struggles with independence vs Down Syndrome. Loved it!

A Novel Proposal (Contemporary Christian romance)... This was cute and I could picture it like a good, clean romantic comedy. Not my favorite kind of book but still enjoyed it.

The Secret Seven series by Enid Blyton, books 1-2 (secular, middle grade, TGTB)... These were fun, clean mysteries perfect for 4th/5th-ish grade readers. My ten-year-old says these are "awesome." I will happily read the next books in the series.

Shadows of Ladenbrooke Manor (Christian, time slip)... This time slip was set primarily in England and our past storyline moved from the 1950s through the 1990s. One of the main characters falls on the Autism spectrum per the author's note at the back and I felt that she handled this so incredibly well!

Stories from a Snowy Meadow (chapter book, TGTB book list)... Tender and sweet with adorable illustrations!

Stuff I'd Only Tell God by Jennifer Dukes Lee* (Christian, nonfiction)... My family and I stayed in an AirBnB last year where there was a neat stack of Table Topics at the kitchen table. At each meal we'd read a question (or more!) and go around the table answering it. We loved it and now we write out questions to do at our table at home, too. This book felt a lot like that with so many questions to get you thinking. Some were fun and some were deep. Some got copied into my notebook of questions for our own table. 😊

The Underground (Left Behind: the Kids #6)... I am really enjoying this series! This one, book 6, finally showed its age a little as the kids were testing out some newfangled pager they could type messages (text!) with. Doesn't bother me and wont bother my kids but maybe important to share!

* I received a free copy of Stuff I'd Only Tell God in exchange for an honest review.