Recommendations

As I have mentioned before, I am always on the lookout for a book recommendation or a movie recommendation.  I love it when someone tells me I just have to read this book or watch that movie. 

So it makes me happy to pass along some recommendations that I have recently enjoyed.  First, anyone reading this post must go see The King’s Speech.  I have been hearing many positive remarks about this movie, and I am pleased to say they are all true.  Brad and I went and saw it yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed all two hours of the movie.  Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush deserve any and all nominations/rewards they receive. 

The movie does a good job of depicting the life of royalty, the power of friendship, the tension of looming war, and how powerfully one’s childhood and experiences affects a person even as an adult.  Go see this movie!

While staying at my parent’s house over Christmas break, I found a new cookbook that I fell in love with—Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  Of course, I had to get over my envy as I read the author’s introduction as she talked about visiting France and later living there.  But after I did that, I found her recipes and notes about French cooking to be very good.  Here was a French cookbook that I could cook from!  (My apologies to Julia Child.)  So far I have only made two items from the cookbook which I did on New Year’s Eve for my family.  For an appetizer I made her cheese puffs, and for the main course I made her roast chicken in a dutch oven.  Both were very good.  I look forward to making many more dishes from this cookbook.

My last recommendation is a two-for-one.  Early in our marriage, Brad and l learned about Ransom  Fellowship which is a ministry we support based in Rochester, Minnesota.  Their purpose is to help Christians model discernment is all aspects of life.  They publish a magazine, Critique, approximately six times a year.  To get an idea of the kinds of topics they discuss, here are some of the articles from a recent issue:  immigration, a review of the movie, Get Low, a review of a book called, Snow, and an article about prohibition.  It really runs the gamut!  Over the years, many of the books I have read, movies I have watched, and issues that I have struggled to understand and think about happen as a result of Critique.  In addition to receiving Critique, Ransom also sends us Notes from Toad Hall which is a newsletter written by Margie (Denis and she are the founders of Ransom) in which she reflects on what it means to be faithful in the ordinary and routine of daily life.  Sounds like stuff right up my alley! 🙂  I love it when I open the mailbox and find copies of either one waiting for me to read.  They have a very user friendly website that you can check out at www.ransomfellowship.org. 

The reason I said this is a two-for-one recommendation is that each Christmas Margie puts together a Christmas gift suggestion list.  This list shapes my own Christmas list, and is where I look first whenever I need something good to read, watch, or listen to.  This year’s list is especially good.  One recommendation she included is a collection of essays entitled, The Spirit of Food.  Any food book immediately catches my attention.  A variety of authors and cooks have written about their love of food and its connection to the grace of God in our lives.  I am about two-thirds of the way through, and I am enjoying the variety of writing styles, and the discussions about the importance of food in our lives.  Each chapter also ends with a recipe. 

May these recommendations inspire you and cause your reading/viewing list to grow longer!