A little break

Okay, I am such a bad blogger on here. 

Things have been crazy busy and I have fallen behind on my personal blog as well. 

I have decided to step back from this one for a few weeks until I get caught up on my other blog and have some more time. Hopefully by the time I come back I will have some awesome things to blog about and can feel better about taking the time to do it!

So check back in a few weeks and I will try not to make it too long of a break.

David Tennant

Almost a year and a half ago I did my post all about David Tennant. 

It's no secret that I love him as an actor and as a Doctor. 

My friend shared a video on Facebook of him winning an award the other day and I loved watching it so much that I decided that I would share that today....

Here it is!

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

This month I read The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis for book club.

I have loved everything I have read by Lewis so far so I had high expectations for this book. 

Then I was a bit disappointed.

As I read I had to keep re-reading passages because my mind would wander or I would forget what I was reading. Then out of nowhere I would come to a passage that said something to me and I would underline and annotate. 

I went through this pattern throughout the entire book. Lewis is so intelligent and sometimes his writing can feel daunting and overdone. I felt this way frequently.

In this book he discusses what he thinks are the four different types of love that we have the ability to feel: affection, friendship, eros, and charity.

My favorite chapter by far was friendship. I felt like he nailed what it is like to really be friends, not just acquaintances or companions. And also how distance and time won't change that friendship if it is a real one based on mutual interests and that, "What? You too? I thought I was the only one!" feeling.

So I came out of this book thinking... meh. Mostly good but not my favorite.

BUT... then I went to book club. 

I love my book club but we do have the tendency to talk about the book, go off on a tangent, go back to the book, then off again for the entire night. 

This was the first time we stayed on topic for the entire time once we got started. Also we talked for probably 2 hours or more. What I found was that things that didn't stand out to me while I was reading did stand out to the others and as we discussed them, all of a sudden I was passionate about that part of the book too. 

It was a really interesting thing to experience and I found that I actually got so much more out of this book than I thought I did. Because of how I felt talking about it I would really recommend this book. I think it is a great book to use in a book club or to buddy read with someone so that you have someone to bounce ideas around with.That way you will probably experience, as I did, a renewed appreciation and interest in it as you share with others. 

Doctor Thorne

For Christmas I got the new series by Julian Fellowes (the creator of Downton Abbey), Doctor Thorne. It is a shorter mini- series with only a few episodes. 

I loved it right from the start. 

The actors are great. The story was really good and one that I didn't know as I have never read the book it was based on. 

It made me happy, sad, and at the end it made me laugh so hard. 

I took it down to my parents house within a couple of weeks to share it with my mom and I loved it just as much on the second viewing... and she really enjoyed it as well. 

I think if you like period dramas and Julian Fellowes' other works I think you will really enjoy Doctor Thorne as well. 

It was also really fun to see the filming location of Castle Combe as we visited there!

Here is the trailer:

Sorry!

Sorry guys that I have missed my Thursday's post! I have had two kids sick back to back and then I have been sick this entire week. I will be back next week!

Let's talk about: The Case of Beasts

Last year I was there on opening night to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. 

I loved it so it is no surprise that for Christmas two of my gifts were Fantastic Beasts related. 

One of them is The Case of Beasts, Explore the Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them written by Mark Salisbury and designed by Mina Lima.

I love the look of this book. It is quite big and heavy and the outside is made to look like his suitcase. 

You open up the side. It is magnetic so that it flaps down on the front of the book and holds. 

When you open it up it is like a lot of the movie tie ins I have with pictures, information, and fun design bits and bobs. 

There is a section of the different characters. 

 

We also have sections for Macusa, New York City, The other characters, visual effects, and the Beasts themselves. 

There are so many fun pull out items. 

 

The design is beautiful and so fun to flip through. 

 

I read through the entire thing in the days after Christmas and really enjoyed the background information and pictures. 

It would make a great coffee table book however I have it on my Harry Potter shelf with my other books!

If you are a huge Harry Potter fan that now also loves Fantastic Beasts and you also like to get behind the scenes information you will love this book. 

Let's talk about: Mr. Holmes

Last week I watched Mr. Holmes starring Ian McKellen. 

Mr. Holmes is the story of an older Sherlock Holmes. He is suffering from worsening dementia and has retired to his cottage with his housekeeper and her son. He is trying to remember the details of his last case, one that haunts him as he is sure that he did something wrong because of it being his last... but he can't remember what it was.

Along the way he befriends the his housekeepers son, Roger, and shares his struggles to remember the case with him and teaches him to take care of his beloved bees. 

I really enjoyed this film. 

It is superbly acted, as you would expect from Ian McKellen and Laura Linney (she plays the housekeeper). Milo Parker plays her son and he is so adorable and wonderful in this role. 

There were a few times when I thought I wasn't going to like it anymore as it had a few really sad parts and one part that seemed like it was going to be... but thankfully got better. 

I loved the idea of seeing Sherlock Holmes in a way that we haven't seen him before. 

I highly recommend it. 

Here is the trailer: