Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the Show That Kicked Its Way into Our Hearts

By: Jeremy Egner

Scott County Library hardcover 316 pages plus acknowledgements, source notes, and index

Published: 2024

Genre: Non-fiction

 

I really like the TV show and was curious to know more. This was an interesting read.

 

Page 82: While writing the first season, the writers had mined their experiences and anxieties to craft ten episodes that, if they were successful and luck enough to get a chance to make more, would serve as the first of a three-season arc Sudeikis had had in mind, in rough form at least, basically from the beginning.

 

I love that Jason Sudeikis and his friends had talked about this and planned it out but had no idea how it would pan out. I love that it was such an incredible hit. It's especially remarkable that season one was filmed pre-Covid and people "needed" it so much during lockdown.

 

Page 94: In inviting us to indulge our assumptions about such characters, the show sets us up to be surprised and moved by their complexities and eventual evolutions. Just like you might be with the people you encounter in your actual life, if you set your judgments aside and let yourself be open to the possibility.

 

Yes, stereotypes and preconceived notions about people can be so limiting! Yet most of us still do that . . . I love how Ted Lasso was a positive, open human with a warmth and unself-consciousness about him.

 

Page  99: But what Ted Lasso is really about, more than anything else, is personal transformation - or more precisely, the potential we all have, through our choices and actions, to become more humane versions of ourselves at any point in our lives, generally with the help of others. The show wasn't about kindness and decency as much as it was a case for how those qualities can unlock human potential, and in turn proliferate by helping people become more supportive, empathetic, and self-actualized.

 

 For me, that is a great summation of the show's "point." I just know that I really enjoyed watching it (though it has a LOT of F-bombs). This philosophy is not Christian in nature, but it is more positive than a lot of the darkness in the world right now.

 

Page  115: The bond they form out of that understanding is profound, demonstrating that while it may be true that hurt people hurt people, healing ones can help others heal, too.

 

I'm glad that the relationship between Ted and Rebecca didn't turn into a romantic one! I went from really disliking her character to understanding her, to seeing her change because of Ted. Their friendship seemed very realistic. And I like the idea of someone who's gone through a difficult time in life helping someone else through a similar struggle.

 

Page  151: He also shocked and thrilled Ted Lasso fans - and colleagues - when he showed up as Hercules in a post-credits scene in the 2022 Marvel hit Thor: Love and Thunder.

 

This is referring to Brett Goldstein, who started out as a writer on the show and ended up as character Roy Kent! He was brilliant in that role! When I saw this sentence, I had to find the clip. We've not yet watched Thor: Love and Thunder. Here's more info.

 

Page 168-9: The truth is, Joe, Brendan, and Jason were all talking about this stuff long before this. This is the response to the toxic and cynical culture out there, especially if you look at social media and what young people have to deal with right now - just political discourse and how they watch people speak to each other.

Brett Goldstein: . . . So it came in a time where it felt revolutionary to see someone being nice. And it shouldn't have. It says more about the world than it says about our show that it felt so, "Wow, look at this person being decent." 

 

Bill Lawrence was one of the co-creators of the show. Brett Goldstein wrote and played Roy Kent. They are completely correct about how awful civil discourse has become . . . . And how bad things were even BEFORE the pandemic started.

 

Page  178: "We somehow became a hit. You know, it's truly shocking to me, because it's built around two things Americans hate: soccer and kindness."

 

This is a quote from Jason Sudeikis at an awards show. Reading this book, I was introduced to the fact that he had done two commercials for NBC when they picked up National League soccer and were trying to promote it. I hunted down and watched the commercials, which were the spark for the show, but I don't like them nearly as much as the actual TV show. First. Second.

 

Page 186: Humans are made to be connected. There's power in human beings being in the same room.

 

Sudeikis is talking about the challenges of writing season two over Zoom versus in person. What an amazing group of humans worked together on this show! I completely agree that people were created to be in communion with one another!

 

Page  200: The show's inclusion of pricey legends like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Beyoncé, Queen, Bob Marley, David Bowie, Édith Piaf, Leonard Cohen, A Tribe Called Quest, and Radiohead - as well as the Walt Disney and classic Broadway songbooks - is also a periodic reminder that it is produced by the wealthiest company in the history of humankind. 

 

Apple is indeed a wealthy company. The music is phenomenal and I love how the songs were chosen to assist in the storytelling. 

 

Page 219: When Beard impersonates the Irish former Oxford prof, he introduces himself as Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus. That's the given name of Elvis Costello.

 

This was in the "Random Stats" at the end of the chapter on "Beard After Hours." The book was arranged like a soccer game: Warm-ups (introduction and first two chapters), First Half (chapters 3-7 and a few "Key Episodes" and a "Key Influences" thrown in), Second Half (chapters 8-11 and more "Keys"), and Stoppage Time (chapter 12). It's quite clever and enjoyable. I loved reading these "factoids."

 

Page 257: Assholes don't know they're assholes. They think they're the star of their own movie; they think they're doing the right thing. When you have that opportunity to empathize with someone that has a disgusting view of the human experience, you play it with reckless abandon, like Phil did.

 

Phil is the guy who played Jamie Tartt. He had an amazing character arc! And he played the part very well.

 

Page  267: Ted Lasso is so widely remembered as the show we needed during the hellscape that was 2020, it's easy to forget that the basic concept was hashed out years before the coronavirus pandemic. Not just the original ad but the broad contours of the series itself, conceived as a corrective to the increasingly sour state of human interaction as embodied by social media platforms like Twitter (and, around the time Jason Sudeikis and Bill Lawrence were pitching it around Hollywood, by a national tone shaped by then President Trump's bellicose rhetoric). The creators were interested in how the mercurial ego drip of social media and, more broadly, the unforgiving light of public attention shape the way we see the world and ourselves in a time when most of us, via the phones in our pockets and all around us every day, are living increasingly public lives whether we like it or not.

 

I love that they are saying this. I'm still amazed by friends who are Trump supporters. I think he's horrible.

 

Page  319 (acknowledgements): One of the key tenets of Ted Lasso is that people need people, that it is our relationships that carry us forward to where we're supposed to be. In this regard, I have been truly blessed, with many great friends and colleagues who enrich my life, and family who have given it meaning since before I can remember.

 

 Like the author, I am very thankful to have amazing people in my life. I enjoyed this book!

 

The Running Dream

By: Wendelin Van Draanen

Libby audiobook 7 hours

Read by:  Laura Flanagan

Published: 2011

Genre: YA realistic fiction

 

Louie and I recently watched Flipped up at the lake. I remembered how much I loved that story and decided to "read" other books by this author. 

 

Initially, I found the protagonist Jessica to be a bit of a pill. But then I thought, if I were passionate about running and my foot was crushed in an accident and had to be amputated at age 16, wouldn't I have been a bit of a pill? Yes. The story was written realistically and as a story of transformation. As Jessica starts to move forward with her life, she begins to hope that she might be able to run again.

 

One thing that jumped out at me was that Jessica was inspired by Oscar Pistorius, who ran on "blades." This book was published in 2011. He was an amazing athlete, but murdered his girlfriend in 2013. There's no way the author could have foreseen what a villain he would become and his role in this story is simply inspirational for a young woman who needs to learn how to walk again after being a very fast runner.

 

Somewhere in my mess of papers, I have notes about this book. Once I find it, I'll go back and add to this. I loved Rosa, a girl two years younger than Jessica who has cerebral palsy but is also a math genius. 

 

 

 

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

By: Ann Voskamp

Hennepin County Library hardcover 227 plus acknowledgements, Bible translations, and notes

Published: 2010

Genre: non-fiction, Christian life

 

Although a friend recommended this and I mostly really enjoyed it, there were times it seemed too esoteric and poetic. I guess I'm a bit more pragmatic and story-driven than I thought! Overall, it's an amazing book and one worth owning (to spend time with some of the poetic passages and marinate in their meaning).

 

Page 10: But of those years, I have no memories. They say memory jolts awake with trauma's electricity. That would be the year I turned four. The year when blood pooled and my sister died and I, all of us, snapped shut to grace.

 

Wow. This caught my attention and raised lots of questions. I liked the ways that Voskamp shared her back story. Her faith journey is deeply intertwined with what she experienced in childhood and adulthood. The thought of being "snapped shut" to grace breaks my heart.

 

Page 13: "No, I guess not anymore. When Aimee died, I was done with all of that."

 

This is her dad's response to Ann asking about going to church. Oh, this broke my heart. He also said, "If there really is anybody up there, they sure were asleep at the wheel that day." I can't imagine the trauma of losing a child to a horrible, senseless accident (the little girl was run over by a delivery driver). 

 

Page 15:  Ultimately, in his essence, Satan is an ingrate. And he sinks his venom into the heart of Eden. Satan's sin becomes the first sin of all humanity: the sin of ingratitude. Adam and Eve are, simply, painfully, ungrateful for what God gave.

 

The essence of Voskamp's book is the importance of giving thanks to God. She talks extensively of eucharisteo and how both grace and joy are tied up with communion with the Lord.  

 

Page 16: We look and swell with the ache of a broken, battered planet, what we ascribe as the negligent work of an indifferent Creator (if we even think there is one). Do we ever think of this busted-up place as the result of us ingrates, unsatisfied, we who punctured it all with a bite? The fruit's poison has infected the whole of humanity. Me. I say no to what He's given. I thirst for some roborant, some elixir, to relieve the anguish of what I've believed: God isn't good. God doesn't love me.

If I'm ruthlessly honest, I may have said yes to God, yes to Christianity, but really, I have lived the no. I have. Infected by that Eden mouthful, the retina of my soul develops macular holes of blackness. From my own beginning, my sister's death tears a hole in the canvas of the world.

Losses do that. One life-loss can infect the whole of a life. Like a rash that wears through our days, our sight becomes peppered with black voids. Now everywhere we look, we only see all that isn't: holes, lack, deficiency.

 

I don't know if this is the best example of how her prose can seem more like poetry . . . but I marked it. (I also had to look up "roborant" and found that it's basically a synonym for elixir.) She is unquestionably a talented writer, but I still struggled at times to follow her train of thought.

 

Page 17: I hunger for filling in a world that is starved.

 

I think that God places a hunger for Him inside us, to draw us near to Him. This is something that does make sense to me.

Page  21: There's a reason I am not writing the story and God is. He knows how it all works out, where it all leads, what it all means.

I don't.

 

The conversation that Ann has with her brother-in-law John . . . wow. We often try so hard to be in control. But God is the one in charge, not us. He knows what's best; not us.

 

Page  25: That haunting "C" word, the one with gluttonous belly and serrated teeth and the voracious appetite to divide and dominate. Cancer.

 

She woke from a nightmare, but the passage that really jumped out to me (in the pics below from pages 26-27) after this was "I want to live. Fully live." I have so many friends who have battled cancer. Her nightmare seemed very believable. 

 

 

She is so incredibly real and vulnerable here. Although a dream (nightmare), the fear and the experiences of day to day life are relatable. I appreciate her expressive use of language.

 

Page 29: Obviously, I have no words, no answers. I am groping for my own way. Desperately feeling along today for a way to live through this fleeting blink of a life.

How do we live fully so we are fully ready to die?

 

Wow. That's a loaded question. She raises a lot of questions with no easy answers. In a way, this would be an amazing book club book except that we would never finish talking about it! Voskamp is trying to find a way to respond to a mother whose 17 year old has been diagnosed with cancer. The idea of living "fully," is interesting to ponder.

 

Page  47: Gratitude in the midst of death and divorce and debt - that's the language I've got to learn to speak - because that's the kind of life I'm living, the kind I have to solve. If living eucharisteo is the key to unlocking the mystery of life, this I want. 

 

She also quotes Philippians 4:11-12 about being content with whatever one has.  

 

Page 62: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." - J.R.R. Tolkien

 

For some reason, it really tickled me that she used this quotation from Tolkien. This chapter was on the sanctuary of time. She was washing dishes and saw beauty in the bubbles. "Science may explain mechanics, but how do the eyes of the soul see?" Honestly, from here on out, I just typed in the passages still marked with post-its so I could return the book. Here I am a few days later, adding my commentary.

 

Page 64: Oh yes, I know you, the busyness of your life leaving little room for the source of your life. . . .God gives us time. And who has time for God? 

Which makes no sense.

In Christ, don't we have everlasting existence? Don't Christians have all the time in eternity, life everlasting?

 

Ooh! I don't struggle with busyness the way I used to . . . but I'm still pretty good at cramming my days full of stuff. And I have definitely lived a life of busyness for most of my adulthood. But how can I have time to play Wordle and other games every day but be too busy for God's Word? 

 

Page 84: Joy is always worth the wait, and fully living worth the believing.

 

I love living a life of joy! I love the song "The joy of the Lord is my strength." Although I don't always feel joyful, the more I keep my eyes on Jesus and fill my mouth with praises, the more I do experience it. 

 

Page 91: Without God's Word as a lens, the world warps.

 

As someone who spends too much time on my news feed, this one grabs my attention. I need to be in God's Word and have Scripture printed on my heart and mind. 

 

Page 110: I have to seek God beauty. Because isn't my internal circuitry wired to seek out something worthy of worship? Every moment I live, I live bowed to something. And if I don't see God, I'll bow down before something else.

 

The "false idols" aren't always what we think they are. This is a good reminder - who is my master? If it's not the Lord, then it's something or someone of this sinful world.

 

Page  136: "Son? You can't positive-think your way out of negative feelings. About your brother, about me, about people. Feelings work faster than thoughts; blood runs faster than synapses."

 

Her frustration with her sons' arguing was another "real" moment. I love that she shares the realities of parenting. If this were a "holier than thou" book, I don't think it could resonate. But Voskamp is very genuine in sharing her own weaknesses and frustrations as well as the power of gratitude to God. 

 

Page 139: But the secret to joy is to keep seeking God where we doubt He is.

 

 I honestly don't know why I included this . . . except that sometimes we don't feel joyful, but seeking God is key.

 

Page 143:Just trust? When the farm economy is imploding and all around us farming families are losing their land or being buried in loans and debts, us all just hanging on by the skin of the teeth?

 

Farmers have to deal with so many more pressures than the rest of us. And they provide our food! 

 

Page 143: Always control - pseudopower from the pit. How I refuse to relinquish worry, babe a mother won't forsake, an identity.

 

Ooh . . . she's awfully hard on herself, but yes, some of us take on worry for things over which we have no control! I've definitely been there.

 

Page  144 - her childhood (pic of page) I like her autobiographical portions of the book . . . 

 

 

 

This is raw and painful. It is something I have not personally experienced, but know others who have struggled with cutting, anxiety, depression . . . 

 

Page 146: If I believe, then I must let go and trust. Why do I stress? Belief in God has to be more than mental assent, more than a cliched exercise in cognition. Even the demons believe (James 2:19). What is saving belief if it isn't the radical dare to wholly trust?

 

 She is both practical and philosophical in this book. She raises excellent questions and wrestles mightily with Truth.

 

Page  151: This living a lifestyle of intentional gratitude became an unintentional test in the trustworthiness of God - and in counting blessings I stumbled upon the way out of fear.

 

This is what I love about this book. I briefly thought about doing my own 1,000 things list, but I'm a bit too compulsive and practicing gratitude is an easy exercise for me. It's already become a habit - Praise God! - but I love how her practice transformed her. Later she quotes "Perfect love casts out all fear." (1 John 4:18)

  

Page 171: To receive God's gifts, to live exalted and joy filled, isn't a function of straining higher, harder, doing more, carrying long the burdens of the super-Pharisees or ultra-saints. Receiving God's gifts is a gentle, simple movement of stooping lower.

 

She references Jesus washing the disciples' feet. Serving others, stooping lower, is the way to the joy of the Lord. Some of us need to stop striving so much and adopt Jesus' posture!

 

Page 176: I know it well after a day smattered with rowdiness and worn a bit ragged with bickering, that I may feel disappointment and the despair may flood high, but to give thanks is an action and rejoice is a verb and these are not mere pulsing emotions. While I may not always feel joy, God asks me to give thanks in all things, because He knows that the feeling of joy begins in the action of thanksgiving. 

 

 Love this! Good summation of the whole book.

 

Page 192: At the last, this is what will determine a fulfilling, meaningful life, a life that, behind all the facades, every one of us longs to live: gratitude for the blessings that expresses itself by becoming the blessing.

 

This is a goal - becoming the blessing. Sometimes, though, we need to be cognizant of finding rest and refreshment for our own souls.

 

Page  197: While the Deceiver jockeys to dupe us into thinking otherwise, we who are made in the image of God, being formed into Christ's likeness, our happiness comes, too, not in the having but in the handing over. 

 

God is so good! I love the idea of "handing over" versus "having" for one's self.

 

Page 202 - panic attacks / flying to Paris alone / musician playing Psalms / 

 

I really did enjoy this book. And I did place a LOT of post-it notes in it. I'm not sure what I wanted to write about this section. Some of her anxiety reminded me of someone else I care about who struggles with anxiety. 

 

Page 223 (afterword): Every breath's a battle between grudgery and gratitude and we must keep thanks on the lips so we can sip from the holy grail of joy. 

 

The battle between "grudgery" and gratitude - made me smile. Sometimes as a SAHM (Stay At Home Mom), it's easy to feel as though your life is made up of food preparation, cleaning, laundry, etc. Chores and more chores. Her coining of the word "grudgery" I believe is a mix of "grudge" and "drudgery." 

 

I thought Voskamp wrote The Best Yes, but that was Lysa TerKeurst. Although friends raved about that book, it simply didn't speak to me. This one, however, bears a re-read and time to ponder. 

How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse

 

By: Cressida Cowell

(How to Train Your Dragon book 4) 

Libby audiobook 3 hours

Read by: David Tennant

Published: 2006 (This version 2013)

Genre: Children's fantasy

 

I'm really enjoying this series! In this story, Hiccup is worried about Fishlegs and wants to find the cure for a bite from a Venomous Vorpent. He goes to Hysteria to find the Vegetable-That-No-One-Dares-Name (a potato) against his father's demand that he not go across the ice to the land of the Hysterics.

 

Since Fishlegs is sick and cannot go with, Camicazi offers to go on quest with him. They make a huge impression with Norbert the Nutjob, Chief of the Hysterics. Hilarity and danger ensue. I loved Hiccup's maternal grandfather, Old Wrinkly, with his sooth saying and general observations about life.

 

I have too many books right now, so I'll hold off on requesting book #5 for a bit. 

Mr. Dickens and His Carol

By: Samantha Silva

Libby audiobook 8 hours

Read by: Euan Morton

Published: 2017

Genre: historical fiction

This is a very well-written book but I struggled to fully enjoy it for two reasons.

One, because it is fiction yet based closely on Dickens' actual life, I almost wished I'd just gotten a biography instead. I enjoy Dickens' writing and know a little about him as a person, but found myself wondering about the truth of his life and marriage.

Two, the idea of someone coming out of poverty (which I know about Dickens' childhood), allowing extravagant spending by his wife and hangers-on . . . was distressing. The author makes it seem as though Charles Dickens underwent a transformation just like his character Ebeneezer Scrooge, but profligate spending just isn't smart. Being parsimonious isn't desirable either, but that aspect of the story just really bugged me.

Oh! There was another irritant for me. Was Dickens faithful to his wife or did he have a wandering eye? Again, this goes back to separating the fact from the fiction. 

I'm pretty sure this book is the basis for the Dickens movie we watched a few years ago. (Nope. I had to look it up. The Man Who Invented Christmas was based on someone else's book in a similar vein.)

Now on to what I loved about it!

The way the author weaves in details about ghosts, names of characters, the theatre, book stores, plagiarism, etc. was masterful. This is a very well-crafted story and Morton's vocal work was excellent. I really did enjoy listening to the book, but I think I need to read a biography now . . .

The Bitter End Birding Society

By: Amanda Cox

Dakota County paperback 311 pages

Published: 2025

Genre: Christian historical fiction

I loved this book! I can't believe how young the author looks. This is the third title of hers I've read and I think she's just getting better and better. I want to read her other books now.

 

The setting alternates between the 1950s with sisters Viola and Cora and modern day with Ana. The connections between these women are unfolded a little at a time. This story is beautifully written.

I'm going to try to just hit some high points in this blog because here's what the book looks like:

There were parts in this book that made me laugh out loud. The author is so clever at weaving together details and themes . . . oh my. But this is just too, too much to blog about (or I'm just getting lazy).

We had a lovely book club discussion last night. As I'm starting to go through the book to remove my post-its, I'm having some "aha" moments (the author laid clues for later), laughing again (Lexi and Ana with Lexi's dates' nicknames, Cora's "unwelcome basket"), teacher moments, the dire Marilyn warnings, fantastic writing and imagery ("She exited the house, the wings that had felt so ready to lift off and soar now tucked tight against her." Viola being reprimanded page 77), the "Wally World" reference that made me think of my sister Louise, the bluebirds and hopefulness, . . . this is just a wonderfully written book!

Page 35: Huh. She'd always thought of God being way up in the sky looking down on His creation, watching them make a right mess of things. But directing people? How did a body know if it was the Lord leading or their own inclination?

Viola's questioning in response to young Trilby's plan to follow the Lord's leading is what I think a lot of us experience. It can be hard to know when it's your own idea / plan and when you are truly hearing from the Lord about decisions.

Page 44: He adjusted the brim of his hat and looked ahead as his truck idled along. "Fine is the biggest lie people tell. You ask someone how they are, and the answer is always fine, but it's rarely the truth."

Yes! I agree with Sam. A more honest answer is, "I'll be okay, but I don't want to talk about it."

 

Oh! The different stories about how Bitter End got its name! These were so interesting. We hear the first one from Frankie (coffee shop) on page 63. She tells Ana about the outlaws on the run being down to the bitter end of their coffee. Then Beatrice (thrift store) tells Ana about the bickering husband and wife hanging over the edge of a ravine, promising to love one another all the way to the bitter end. Cora said it was about moonshiners claiming the mountain's water was bitter to scare others away (page 307). And then Ana's own story (epilogue) to share with her students about a group of people who were in a bad spot and discovered that "hope and beauty were there somewhere, someway. But only if they slowed down and had the patience to watch for it."

There was also the theme of winding down one's life and dealing with stuff.

Page 68: How in the world could seventy-some years of living in one house be narrowed down to a few boxes? How did she decide what to leave behind and what to keep?

 

Page 197: It was a mystery how some trinkets and knickknacks were alive with meaning and memory while others were soulless souvenirs.

Ana is dealing with Cora's possessions and donating the excess. I can relate. Stuff is just stuff. The second is from Marilyn considering her and Cora's friendship and tokens of that time in their lives (corn husk doll and soapstone carving). Again, there are things that I love even though they aren't "valuable." they are just meaningful for me.

Page 127: Viola recognized the emotion. It was one she'd felt many times when someone with more experience stepped into a situation she felt ill-equipped to handle. 

Viola sees the relief on Cora's face when Viola shows up to help with their mother's miscarriage aftermath. That sense of relief when you're feeling overwhelmed and someone else steps up . . . priceless.

Page 134: Frequently getting lost in thought was a trauma response, according to the crisis therapist she saw for a few months after the incident.

This makes sense, but I didn't realize it. Sam was trying to get Ana's attention on a bird watching walk.

 

Page 149: "When your father stands before God someday, will God see the man who sang His praise and helped his neighbor, or the moonshiner who made his living in an illegal trade? Will God know me, who spoke beautiful words about His holiness with no one to hear because I thought I needed to convert people to my way of thinking before they could approach the throne of God?"

Trilby is having an important crisis of faith in his life. I love how the author portrayed faith from different perspectives. God is glorified in this book.

Page 215: "Name five things you can see. Four things you can hear. Three things you can smell. Two things you can touch. One thing you can taste."

Ana is trying to practice what her therapist taught her. I like this and think it's fun to try! Mindfulness is not something I'm adept at! (I actually made a notecard to try this.)

 

Page 231: Why did he constantly find himself in the role of confidant and comforter? It was as though his previous occupation clung to him like woodsmoke in clothes after sitting next to a bonfire.

 

Poor Sam! He's a pastor even though he doesn't feel able to fulfill that role any more. But I love Cox's imagery here! I can smell that smoke on clothes smell . . . 

 

Page 237: And in that moment Ana understood why she'd known better than to finish that statement. Because when a wound remained unhealed and untended, it had a way of warping time, keeping painful memories close to the surface.

 

It's easy for readers to say that Cora should have just gotten over what happened in her childhood, but this section really shows that some people still need healing for things that happened far in their past.

 

Page 248 - another place that made me laugh out loud. Oh, how I enjoyed this book. (I cried, too.) 

 

Pages 256-57 - Some of the back story about what really happened between Wild Wayne and Reverend Chambers. There is just so much to this story! Grace, redemption, friendship, forgiveness, 

 

Page 278: Having the capacity to forgive himself was as likely as sighting a blue-winged teal within the next few weeks. He hadn't missed Marilyn's pointed glare after he'd chosen a bird that was not exactly impossible to find but improbable this time of year. 

Oh, I love how this played out. Well done, Ms. Cox. I loved this book!

Enjoying God: Experiencing Intimacy with the Heavenly Father

By: S.J. Hill with Margaret Feinberg

personal copy paperback 147 pages

Published: 2008

Genre: non-fiction, Christian faith

I've been reading this as a sort of daily devotional. I have really enjoyed it and have underlined lots and lots of parts! I'm going to write a note in the cover and give it to someone else to read. (Whoever had it before me - Mark Lewis? - did a lot of their own underlining.)

I did make note of two other titles the author mentioned. Born After Midnight by A.W. Tozer and Personal Revival by Hill are books that I may want to get and read. But right now, I'm trying to get through some of what I already have on hand!

The other thing I wanted to blog about happened last week. I substitute taught T-F for my friend who has first hour prep. The office didn't need me to fill in another classroom, so I was craving that quiet morning time after homeroom to do my devotions and journal. A student wanted to visit with me and I basically brushed her off and sent her back to her Special Ed room. . . Then I read this sentence:

Sometimes all people need is a listening ear and a compassionate response.

Oh my. After I wrapped up my "morning time," I went and got the student to work on a project with her. God has a way of getting my attention and I definitely want to listen and obey!

 

I grabbed a different book off my shelf to start this morning and it just didn't grab me. So now I have a Ravi Zacharias book to use as a morning reading. 

Because of Winn-Dixie (reading log)

By: Kate DiCamillo

From my reading log (4 May 2007):

203 pages (I had copies in my school library.)

CDs Carver County Library 2:28

Read by: Cherry Jones

Indiana Opal brings home a scruffy dog from the Winn-Dixie store and convinces her father, the Preacher, that the dog is a "less fortunate" in need of her care. She and Winn-Dixie befriend many people in town on their way to letting go of the pain of her mother's leaving.

 

Sweet, sad, joyful story. I love this book! Too bad the protagonist is ten years old - that puts off many middle school readers.

Jones, Cherry - wonderful Southern drawl. Brings the different characters to life.

 

<Above from 2007. Below added February 2026.>

I knew I loved this book and so chose to listen to it again on Libby. I think I need to own a print copy!

 

As Opal visits the elderly librarian, the odd man who works at the pet store and plays guitar, and the "witch" going blind, she and Winn-Dixie are learning about community and caring for others. I just absolutely love this book. It's interesting that the loss of her mother (who left because of alcoholism and the pressure of being a preacher's wife) is not really resolved. DiCamillo is a brilliant storyteller.

India Opal

her dad, "The Preacher"

Miss Franny Block (the librarian)

Littmus Block (Franny's great-grandpa who invented the Littmus Lozenge after the Civil War)

Otis (pet store guitar player)

Gloria Dump, whose Sorrow Tree (or whatever she called it) is testament to her own battles with alcohol

Amanda Wilkinson (little brother Carson)

Dunlap and Stevie Dewberry

Sweetie Pie Thomas

Gertrude (the parrot who sits on Winn-Dixie's head and is very verbal)

 

I just love this book.

 

You Deserve to Know

By: Aggie Blum Thompson

Libby audiobook 10 hours

Read by: Alex Picard

Published: 2025

Genre: suspense

I've listened to just over three hours of this book and have decided to allow myself to NOT find out what Anton thought Amy "deserved to know" or who killed Anton or why.

I did not like these characters. Any of them.

Anton and Gwen with their awful marriage, his infidelities and lies about his writing, Gwen being the "interloper" in Lisa's and Amy's friendship . . . just so much yuk.

Marcus and Lisa weren't much better. She lied and made excuses (fake ankle injury because she didn't like skiing, stealing Gwen's Xanax just to mess with her . . . ) and then admitted to keying an ex-boyfriend's new GF's car and only regretting it because she was caught on camera! What an awful human being!

Scott and Amy were interesting but also petty and fake. Scott's evasiveness and excuses, Amy's unwillingness to have boundaries for "the boys," . . . ugh. I just didn't like these people very much.

So despite my curiosity about the mystery elements of this story, I'm returning it unfinished. It's a gift I'm giving myself. Lots of other books await my attention!