Browsing Category: Reviews

The Ministry of Ordinary Places: Waking Up to God’s Goodness Around You {a Review}

Honestly, my interest in this book was solely because of the cover! It’s so simple and welcoming….which is a good way to describe the entire book. This adult thing is hard, it’s hard to make and keep friends, it’s hard to extend ourselves to others, when we barely feel like we’re keeping our own heads up.

Martin’s book, The Ministry of Ordinary Places, is about just that; allowing the little things, allowing the ordinary things of our days to be our ministry to others and to ourselves. We have become a society that is obsessed with the extraordinary. So much so that we’ve forgotten about the beauty in the every day ordinary.

This book does a great job of paving the way and letting us see how God can work in even the most mundane.

What I’ve Been Reading – November 2018

I was doing REALLY good in August and then….It’s been a struggle to read these past few months. I know the holidays are just around the corner and it’s a crap-shoot as to whether I have more or less time to read. I was thinking there’s no way I’m going to read my 35 book goal for this year, but I’m at 31….so I’m hopeful!

FAVORITE FICTION BOOK

This is always so hard! I love fiction, especially historical fiction and I managed several of them this fall. I’m going to have to be completely cheesy and say that To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before was my favorite. Yes, I know. I’m rolling my eyes while typing this. The rest of the fictions I’ve read were all great and I enjoyed most of them, but ATBILB was just a goofy, girly read.

My sister and I watched the movie on Netflix and both thought it was a fun, fluffy movie…and can we just say give all the heart eyes to Noah Centineo. The writing and the story were nothing spectacular, nothing surprising, but it was just a heartwarming teen romantic comedy. Something that just struck a chord in the teen girl in each of us.

Jane of Austin was right there with ATBILB, and honestly I may have loved a bit more. I’ve loved everything I’ve read my Hillary Manton Lodge. Her stories and characters are endearing and her knack for incorporating food and recipes is exquisite, not to mention very yummy. I’ve always had great success with ANY of her recipes.

 

FAVORITE NON-FICTION BOOK

By default the Clarkson Ladies have it, The Lifegiving Home. I honestly haven’t read much by any of the Clarksons that I didn’t love, but The Lifegiving Home was a different read. Month by month Sally and Sarah go through how they make a house a home, which is perfect for this time of year.

We’ve actually been going through TLH with my Raising Generations Today mom group; it’s been a great resource for discussing our homes and what we want our homes to be for our families. It’s a slow, thoughtful read (which is sometimes hard for me), but it would be a great book to take slowly over a year and really think about what you want “home” to mean to your family.

 

THE BOOK I DIDN’T LIKE

Big Little Lies. I tried, really I did. Some of it I liked. Some of it I skipped (like the last 1/4 of it). There was just way too much and it was drawn out and I just wanted to know what had happened. I listened to it on audiobook. I seriously skipped a couple of HOURS of reading, and I didn’t miss anything.

This is the first book of Moriarty’s that I read and people have raved about it for years, especially as her BEST book. I’m thinking I probably won’t pick up another book of her’s again. It’s just not my cup of tea.

 

What have you been reading?

Keep up with what I’ve been reading on GoodReads or Instagram 

(I’ve notated books I’ve read for my book club * and F for Fiction, NF for Non-Fiction, and A if it was an Audiobook).

*This post contains affiliate links. You can read my disclosure policy here.