Recap Book Chat

Today we discuss a small yet impactful book called Keeper of the Doves.  This book was written by Betsy Byars a prolific children’s author, winner of the Newbery Medal and National Book Award and many others. Betsy Byars passed away at the age of 91 in February of 2020, however her lifetime of work lives on. We were grateful to experience her writing in Keeper of the Doves. The novel follows Amen McBee, the youngest of 5 sisters who is a deep thinker, a poet, a lover of words and seeing beauty where others do not. Amen uses her words for good. To bring beauty and life to difficult situations. We make some connections with People Fuel and East of Eden with Amen’s older sisters possibly being contaminates. Keeper of the Doves helps us look beyond our prejudices and first impressions. There is a mysterious character called Mr. Tominski, a hermit old man who lives in the woods nearby and tends to a flock of doves. Things are not always as they seem and Amen is able to discover another side of Mr. Tominski. Through a series of events there is a tragic death in the family that was caused by words. Words are so powerful and in our modern society we often forget this. An overarching theme of this book is that words can hold the power of life and death. Amen brings life with her poetic words while others bring death. Be sure to let us know if you have read this novel or if you have books you would like to recommend.  You can join our Facebook Group, Recap Book Chat or leave us a voice memo. My favorite way to read is curled up with a soft blanket and a hot cozy drink in my hand. Currently my go to beverage is decaf coffee with Earth Echo's Cacao Bliss blended in. Ten powerful, organic superfoods that help with relaxation, joint pain, weight goals, and mental focus. Use my coupon code KATEM10 to get 10% off your order when you try their products. Note that some of the links above are affiliate links to books and brands we love and ones we think you will too! Keep those pages turning and those book lights burning!

Come check out our recap of People Fuel by Dr. John Townsend! It was an invigorating and grounding read. People Fuel helped me acknowledge and appreciate my need for people and how to better relate and maintain relationships.  Townsend talks about how when we receive the right nutrients we are able to produce good fruit in our life. The opposite is also true, if we are missing one of the key nutrients our quality of fruit will be affected. On Dr. John Townsend's website he provides free relational nutrient cards to be printed and put somewhere to help us remember the four quadrants.  Some of our favorite quotes from the book are below. "Weakness is normal and a good part of life." "We need to experience grace before we are ready for truth." "Individuals who do well in life tend to be accountable to time." My mom first heard about this book from a podcast on Focus on the family where they discussed a few of the quadrants. If you want to listen the that episode you can check it our here.  In the novel Townsend mentions a couple of videos that we mentioned in the show. Links to those are below. *Its Not About the Nail video *Empathy video by Brene Brown Also we discussed the importance of being accountable to time and one way to help us do that is with a days of life poster.  People Fuel is a very significant read that can change your perspective of people and how we relate to each other. Townsend was a coauthor of the Boundaries book with Dr. Henry Cloud. Boundaries are briefly discussed in People Fuel. If you are interested in learning more I will link to the book and workbook.  Be sure to let us know if you have read these novels or if you have books you would like to recommend.  You can join our Facebook Group, Recap Book Chat or leave us a voice memo. My favorite way to read is curled up with a soft blanket and a hot cozy drink in my hand. Currently my go to beverage is decaf coffee with Earth Echo's Cacao Bliss blended in. Ten powerful, organic superfoods that help with relaxation, joint pain, weight goals, and mental focus. Use my coupon code KATEM10 to get 10% off your order when you try their products. Note that some of the links above are affiliate links to books and brands we love and ones we think you will too! Keep those pages turning and those book lights burning!  

Today we dive into our Kid Lit Locker and explore the InvestiGators series by John Patrick Green. We have two special kid guest on the show to get their opinion of the series from a kids perspective. John Patrick Green is a brilliant wordsmith who creates witty and engaging stories and pictures in this graphic novel series. The InvestiGators is full of fun word play, witty phrases and unexpected plot twist. It is a great series for young and older readers alike. These books started as great read aloud books for us and my older son is now going back and reading them on his own now. At the back of some of the books, John Patrick Green has added a "How to Draw" section where he shows kids how to draw different characters. My kids love this and it is one of the things that helps lessen the sting of finishing a book and having to wait on the next one to be released. Here are the books in the series that we have read so far and highly recommended. 1. InvestiGators 2. InvestiGators: Take the Plunge  3. InvestiGators: Off the Hook 4. InvestiGators: Ant In Our P.A.N.T.S 5. InvestiGators: Braver and Boulder 6. InvestiGators: Heist and Seek  Also coming out in February 21, 2023 John Patrick Green is starting a spin off series call Agents of S.U.I.T which follows some of Brash and Mango's co-workers. We are excited to check see where this new series will take the Agents of S.U.I.T.  The seventh book of the InvestiGators is also coming out this year. It is called InvestiGators: All Tide Up and is set to be released September 26, 2023.  Be sure to let us know if you have read these graphic novels or if you have other kid books you would like to recommend.  You can join our Facebook Group, Recap Book Chat or leave us a voice memo.  My favorite way to read is curled up with a soft blanket and a hot cozy drink in my hand. Currently my go to beverage is decaf coffee with Earth Echo's Cacao Bliss blended in. Ten powerful, organic superfoods that help with relaxation, joint pain, weight goals, and mental focus. Use my coupon code KATEM10 to get 10% off your order when you try their products. Note that some of the links above are affiliate links to books and brands we love and ones we think you will too! Keep those pages turning and those book lights burning!

An epic read of how a simple mindset change has a major life impact! Unoffendable is a witty, insightful, life changing beautiful book! We highly recommend it to everyone. It is in my “read once a year” list. We can’t wait to read more of Brant’s novels. Brant is a raw and authentic author as well as a nationally syndicated radio host and lover of toast. I love the way he breaks down misconceptions and inspires change in a beautiful and memorable way. Additionally Brant talks about how much more peaceful and fulfilling his life has been after implementing the major yet simple concept of being unoffendable. In this recap we make connections to other books we are reading and discuss our biggest takeaways. Mom mentions reading this book in her other book club with fellow teachers and how impactful if was. Recently an Unoffendable Study Guide was released and would be an awesome tool for any book clubs or small groups to dive deeper into the concepts explored in the novel. Correspondingly Unoffendable does not shy away from heavy issues such as trust, forgiveness, laziness, anger, grace and addiction but meets them head on and sheds light and hope where we need it the most.    The high and increasing anger in our society led Brant Hansen to release an updated version of Unoffendable at the beginning of 2023, hoping to remove some logs from the perpetually burning fire.  If you have read Unoffendable we would love to hear from you and your big takeaways. You can leave a voice memo, contact us on our website or join in and share your thoughts on our Facebook group Recap Book Chat. My favorite way to read is curled up with a soft blanket and a hot cozy drink in my hand. Currently my go to beverage is decaf coffee with Earth Echo's Cacao Bliss blended in. Ten powerful, organic superfoods that help with relaxation, joint pain, weight goals, and mental focus. Use my coupon code KATEM10 to get 10% off your order when you try their products. Note that some of the links above are affiliate links to books and brands we love and ones we think you will too!

So excited to recap The Bible today! My mom and me did The Bible Recap chronological reading of the Bible in 2022 and today we talk about what we learned and how we liked the reading guide. We used a mix of the bible app, physical ESV Bible, and The Bible Recap podcast. Below are links if your interested in joining us this year as we go through the Bible again with Tara Lee Coble and the The Bible Recap team.   * The Bible Recap website  * Link to Bible app   * Link to The Bible Recap podcast  * Link to The Bible Recap book   * Link to prayer journal mentioned   Mom discussed a helpful way to connect with any text you are reading is to find your favorite line, favorite phrase and favorite word.  I will try to be more intentional about doing this and will let you know how it goes.  Mom also shared the acronym SPA to help us remember to have a SPA day everyday.   -Study  -Pray  -Act   We discuss some big takeaways and broken misconceptions that were discovered this year through the reading.  Mom pulled out some sayings from the bible that we might not realize originated in the bible.   "Clear out the old, make way for the new."  "I took my life in my own hands."  "Like a drop in a bucket"  "Out of the mouths of babes."  "Hanging on his words."  "We brought nothing into this world and can take nothing out."  "Like mother like daughter."  "See him eye to eye."  "A house divided against itself wont stand."   "Share and Share alike."   We also talked about our word for the year. We would love to hear your word for the year. You can let us know by leaving a voice memo or by posting a message on the the Recap Book Chat Facebook group. Note that some of the links above are affiliate links to books and brands we love and ones we think you will too!

Happy 2023! We ended 2022 reading this book and started 2023 by recapping it!  Words on Fire is a historical fiction novel written by Jennifer. A. Nielsen. The story takes place in the 1800's during Russia's occupation of Lithuania. In order to help Lithuania assimilate, Russia has insisted every Lithuanian become Russian. They have banned their language, religion, culture and their books. The story follows Audra, a 12 year old girl whose parents were arrested for distributing illegal Lithuanian books. Audra soon discovers the world of book smuggling and the power of literature.  We took as detour and also talked about happy goals vs punishing goals. Happy goals are flexible and are constantly motivating where punishing goals are rigid and demotivating if not met perfectly. Be sure your 2023 goals are happy ones.  The reading journals we use are A Clockwork Reader  and Journals Unlimited Books I've Read . Our favorite being A Clockwork Reader. Note that some of the links above are affiliate links to books and brands we love and ones we think you will too!

We end 2022 with a great book from Kristin Hannah called the Winter Garden. Kristin Hannah is also the author of the The Nightingale and The Four Winds.  The Winter Garden takes place during modern times with flash backs to Russia during WWII. Hannah does a superb job of bringing to life the generational affects of war and the family dysfunction that is born from lack of communication. This story is weaved between sisters and their mother and the converging of each of their lives. The grit and determination of people that lived through such horrendous times is incredible. We greatly appreciate the reachers and historians that sought out stories such as the one in this book and preserved the truth of what really happened.  If you enjoy learning a bit of history while reading check out our other episodes where we recap historical fiction novels as well as a few true stories.  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith - Set during the great depression  A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus- Set during WWII  Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand -Set during WWII in the South Pacific  The Engineer's Wife: A Novel of the Brooklyn Bridge -Set during 1800's  Some Place to Call Home by Sandra Dallas- Set during the great depression  All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr- Set during WWII Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak- Set during Russian Revolution of 1917 Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan- True Story during WWII The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson -Set in Kentucky during 1936 The Shepherd of the Hills by Harold Bell Wright- Set in the Ozark Hills during the early 1900's  The Last Green Valley by Mark T. Sullivan- Set during WWII War and Peace by Leo Tolsoy -Set during French invasion of Russia in 1812  Projekt 1065 by Alan Gratz- Set in Germany during WWII The Book Woman's Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson- Set deep in Kentucky's Appalachia during early 1950's The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin- Set in London during WWII The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel  The Perilous Road by William O. Steele- Set in Tennessee during the American Civil War Note that some of the links above are affiliate links to books we think you will love.

Published in 1991 but set during the great depression, this novel shows that even in the worst times our best selves can be found. Nothing to Fear The story which was inspired by Koller's family history follows Danny, a thirteen year old boy and his journey of self discovery and survival. This book gives us a picture of growing up in the mist of great difficulty. We felt like this novel was the male version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. There were a lot of similarities with both stories and gave us the feeling that Francie and Danny could of been neighbors and struggling to survive together.  One of the reasons we like reading historical fiction is because when we turn the last page we are left with a connection to history through the eyes of a characters we are invested in. One of the historical nuggets we learned through this book was about the "Bonus Army". The "Bonus Army" was a group of 43,000 demonstrators and 17,000 veterans of WWI that were demanding early cash redemption of their service bonus certificates from WWI. The demonstrators were shot at, had belongings burned, and endured tear gas in an attempt to clear them from government property. The group did not give up and in 1936 were given their bonuses early and laid the groundwork for the current GI bill. Jackie French Koller is not just an author but is also an artist. She owns an art studio in Boxborough Massachusetts. Thanks for listening! Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss and episode! Connect with Kate online : https://www.katematthews.art/ Keep the book chat going by being apart of our online community on Facebook at Recap Book Chat. Note that some of the links above are affiliate links. We only recommend books and brands that we love and that we think you would love, too!

A great read to jump start the new year by understanding habits! Charles Duhigg breaks down the mechanics of habits and explains the process of creating, changing and tweaking them. An overarching theme of the book is intentionally. Charles explains why our brain is constantly trying to make habits and how we have to be intentional to develop the habits we want. Duhigg uses many stories and examples from real life to explain and inspire the reader to take action. In the podcast we cover so of his big ideas and a few of our own connections.

Set in the mountains of Tennessee, William Steele paints us a picture of what life would of been like for those caught in the middle during the civil war. This was a quick, historical accurate, powerful read. With deep relatable themes and a timely message for our current society, this novel is an adventurous book not to miss.