Homemaker Chats: Reviewing Books I've Read in 2023

[@TheOldPathTheGoodWay]

I recently read The Enchanted Barn by Grace Livingston Hill. Absolutely loved it! 💕. Felt like it gave me a glimpse into the era my Great Grandmother grew up in. Faith, family, & feminity are key themes in her novels. She wrote them at a time that these values began to be deconstructed in America.

[@homewithkelli]

Oh that sounds like a lovely book!! I will look this up on thriftbooks!!

[@JillianBentley-b7q]

I love Janette Oke’s books! My favorite of hers is the Love Comes Softly series, though I do remember also enjoying the When Calls the Heart series :)

[@angelamarie8634]

I LITERALLY just found these books at my dads today and I was debating reading them again. I might have to!

[@homewithkelli]

Oh, I need to read these! I have the movies and they are my favorite- also very sad but wholesome! Thank you for reminding me that they are actually books!

[@cherylpresleigh6403]

I love that you and Scott read together. My husband and I might be able to listen in the car but we currently don’t have that option. We are very different when it comes to reading lol. I do and he doesn’t lol. Well, he does on a tiny scale, and it’s usually a hunting magazine etc. I use books, I like to feel it in my hands, and I love that they will be around for a long time. A few years ago I donated several boxes of books to the local library. Many of them were series from the authors you mention. I’m having a little remorse for doing that right now. I’ll be making a new list to check out from the library. Thanks for the video and Happy New Year!

[@homewithkelli]

Haha that is very understandable!! And I feel very much the same way as you as far as holding a book. I've tried listening to the second book of anne of green gables and decided it wasn't the same as reading. And I focus better when my soul focus is reading, rather than listening and doing something. You are always so encouraging and I pray that God will continue to bless you and your family this year.

[@cherylpresleigh6403]

@@homewithkelli Thank you, consider yourself hugged. 🤗 I’m headed to the office to wrap up some retirement changes. Retired in October but new changes to how things are structured for referrals requires additional changes on my side. It doesn’t change things a whole lot but enough that it leaves me scrambling to get some professional email things taken care of. Nothing like a good scramble for me over things that are out of my control. 🤦‍♀️🙏 You are a joy and a blessing!

[@MrOivei]

I loved these book reviews! I have been trying to read more books recently so I will check some of these out! Thanks Kelli! -Melissa S.

[@amyd4797]

Thank you for the book reviews! I’ve gone in and saved some of them to read. :)

[@homewithkelli]

I'm so glad it was helpful!

[@been3388]

I read Killing Lincoln this year (I haven't read Killing Kennedy) - it was very interesting!

[@missymyers7043]

Great reviews, honest and fair. I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts on the many diverse books. I just finished reading Anne of Green Gables, for the first time and now reading Anne of Avalon. The secret therapy of trees sounds intriguing as I LOVE being out doors among the trees…I’ll add it to my 2024 reading list. Thanks for a great video!

[@homewithkelli]

Thank you Missy! And reading the Anne of Green Gables books in the winter sounds so cozy and lovely! And yes, the secret therapy of trees book did have some weird stuff in it, but it did encourage me to get outside!

[@AC_2.4-10]

Oooo - I was SO excited when I saw the title of this video, Kelli! Thank you so much for taking all the time you did to thoughtfully create it! I have been reading a lot more lately, and was able to find a few you shared that I added to my "Books I'd Like To Read" list on my library app. ☺ I'm excited for the Janette Oke books, in particular! I sense they may remind me a bit of the Anne of Green Gables series I just finished and loved SO much!! So yes, you ABSOLUTELY need to read all eight books in that series! And keep going after that too - L.M. Montgomery wrote many others my library has and I'm excited to read now too! 🥰 Blessings to you, my sister!

[@homewithkelli]

Aww thank you so much, you are always so encouraging! And you are exactly right, the Janette Oaks books have that same "feel good" reading that Anne of Green Gables has! Also, I didn't know the author of A of GG had other books as well. I will have to look into those, so exciting!

[@AC_2.4-10]

@@homewithkelli ❤

[@sozod2000]

Thank you for this list!! Anne of Avonlea is #2 and they are on Libby 😊 however you would want to buy the physical books because you need the whole collection, of course! I was trying to get into Wendell Berry last Fall but must of picked his slower books 😬. I do have Bring it to the Table (I think that’s the right title) which I would like to try this year. I’ll for sure read some of which you recommended. I’m challenging myself to make it through the Jane Austin and Brontë sisters books this year 😊. I started Pride and Prejudice a few days ago. Just last year I read Jane Eyre, so here goes! I’m also reading chronologically through the Bible in one year. 📚Book suggestion… I think you would like Jan Karon Mitford series. I’ve read through it twice and would definitely read through it again. ❤

[@homewithkelli]

I love book suggestions, thank you I will definitely check out this series! And so cool- I started listening to Pride and Prejudice on the Libby app when we had an 8 hr layover in New York. Then when we got on our flight, I saw that they had the movie and watched it. Now when we get home I want to read the book, because we have it, I've just always felt intimidated by it! Jane Eyre has also intimidated me, so that is encouraging! And I love that you're doing the Bible in a year challenge!

[@mrs.h7711]

I Love Bulala! I need to get the sequel now that it's out.

[@homewithkelli]

I had no idea there was a sequel, this is so exciting. We will have to look and see if any bookstores here sell it!!

[@brooke6504]

I love When Calls the Heart!!! My favorite.

[@homewithkelli]

Oh, I need to find these books!!

[@tanyagreco2743]

There are some of those Thomas Edison concrete house, I saw a you tube about it a couple of months ago. I think it was Chicago or Detroit not sure though. Happy New Year 🎉

[@homewithkelli]

Oh that is so cool!! Happy New year to you too!!

[@amyburleson9302]

Thanks for sharing your book review with us enjoy your videos so much! I just finished a book from Francine Rivers called A Voice in the Wind Mark of the Lion Book1. It is so good I had a hard time putting it down there is two more books in the series and I can’t wait to get them. The only thing is this book is very real and raw about how things were in Rome. The story takes place after Jesus’s death and the fall of Jerusalem and follows a young Jewish woman named Hadassah who is a Christian and the only surviving member of her family and has been sold into slavery. Just a beautiful and inspiring story about growing and staying true to your faith and trusting in God.

[@homewithkelli]

Amy, thank you so much for sharing this! I actually have this book, I bought it probably 10 years ago when a Library was having a book sale, and for some reason I've never read it! I will definitely be reading it when we get home!!

[@leahjoy2305]

​@@homewithkelli I read the Mark of the Lion series when I was a teenager (would never recommend any teenage girl reading them!). While the storylines were great, she packs so much sensuality in there! Francine Rivers used to be a "bodice-ripper" author before she came to Christ and unfortunately I feel it still shows in her writing. I personally have been convicted not to read her books anymore for this reason.

[@Littleprarrieonthehouse]

Kelli, if you love Wendell Berry, have you ever read any of his fiction? If not, I would highly recommend “Hannah Coulter”. It’s a gorgeous novel.

[@homewithkelli]

I have not read any of his fiction! I will add Hannah Coulter to my "to read" list this year, thank you so much!

[@SkylarWhitmire]

I second this. Hannah Coulter is amazing.

[@CammyHell]

Roger Stone also has a book on Kennedy I recommend

[@onlyapilgrim]

What a great video idea!

[@homewithkelli]

I'm glad you liked it 😊

[@leahjoy2305]

I felt the same way about that Karen Kingsbury series! By the fourth book I felt like it was a big soap opera 😂

[@homewithkelli]

haha YES! That is the perfect description of it, I felt so uncomfortable!

[@SkylarWhitmire]

Completely off topic, but are you two still doing the local only shopping? Just curious how it’s going for you!

[@homewithkelli]

Yes, it's now very much a habit for us. We buy locally as our first option, then if we can't get it locally, we get it from someone who shares our values (not woke and not a big box shop). And then as a last resort, we get it from a big box place that seems more wholesome than most big box places because there are some places I refuse to buy from. Maybe I'll do a video on this because it has been a while since I've talked on this!

[@SkylarWhitmire]

Yes, please! I've tried to move in that direction as well.@@homewithkelli

[@GothicLenne]

If you like motherhood books, I recommend Abbie Halderstadt’s books M is for Mama and Hard is Not the Same Thing as Bad. Her first one (M is for Mama) is a call against modern mediocre motherhood, and it was such a good read. Her books are written from a Christian worldview, and I think you’d enjoy them. I am a mother of 2 (1 and 3 year olds), but I completely agree with you that I can’t stand books that complain about motherhood. Are there grueling and trying moments? Oh yes. Should we as women and mothers wallow in that? Absolutely not. I find that a book on motherhood is one that can empathize and empower, and Abbie’s books do a great job of that from a Christian perspective. I really enjoyed this video and hearing about everything you read last year. I’m currently reading through Lord of the Rings (current at the beginning of Two Towers) and it is such a goldmine of a story. My husband blasted through the series on audiobook, but I really have to take my time to digest what I’ve read in the physical copy. The movies will be worth the watch - match sure you watch the extended uncut editions!!

[@homewithkelli]

Thank you so much for the book recommendations!! And I'm so glad you enjoyed the video. And you are so right with the Lord of the rights, it is so creatively written!

[@kristinasedykh3056]

May I ask a question? I watched one of your videos and I heard you were talking about books and one of them called “Lord of the Rings” and the question is how it is ok for a Christ daughter to read this kind of book? As I know Jesus telling us not to get into magical world and in the book it’s clearly all about magic and other stuff that it’s not for Christian’s. Maybe I heard it wrong… if not then is it ok to read these kinda books? Thank you.

[@goosemama23]

The author of The Lord of The Rings is a Christian. He wrote several main characters to have christ-like qualities. If you read it with a christian perspective in mind, you can see several biblical themes. It's a great book series. ❤

[@kristinasedykh3056]

@@goosemama23 interesting….

[@GiftedCommunications01]

Sorry to bother you but I am a new Christian author and I was wondering if you or anyone in your comment section would like to check out my book.I'm financially struggling right now. And I'm not sure how else to get my book out other than to just ask.

[@Creative_Kirat]

I’m still in shock about the Mandela comment. I think it’s important to flag a comment like that with the same disclaimer you gave for the Bulala book. You too are from a family who have a particular angle on the history of South Africa. Maybe you should read “A Long Walk to Freedom”? For a more balanced perspective.