Social Distancing - "Entertainment"

Hey everyone! The Best Book Club Ever podcast is sounding a little different these days. For one, the four of us (Katie, Mandy, Sarah and Holly) are not together while we are recording. We are instead recording our own separate audio files while on a Zoom call with each other and Holly is working her magic on it all in post-production. THANK YOU, HOLLY! WE LOVE YOU, HOLLY! YOU'RE AMAZING, HOLLY! Also, we are not discussing books during this special series we are calling :: "Ways to Stay Well While Social Distancing," or "What in the World is Actually Happening Right Now and What in the Am I Supposed to Do?" Okay, we have no idea what we are calling it. And we actually do discuss books some in this episode. We hope you enjoy our recommendations for ways to stay entertained during this unprecedented time. And please let us know what you're doing as it relates to entertainment!

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Books we are loving

* Most of the book links take you to the Amazon listing; however, the BBCE highly recommends listening to the audiobook. Most of these are available on either Scribd (free 30-day trial mentioned below) or on Audible (also free for 30 days).

Holly - The Choice

Sarah - Beholding and Becoming, You Are The Girl For The Job, Becoming Us, The Dearly Beloved

Mandy - The Choice, Talking to Strangers

Katie - The Secret Life of Bees, Winter Garden

Podcasts we are listening to

Sarah - That Sounds Fun, The Popcast, Bible Binge, Java w/ Juli, Fight Hustle End Hurry, The Happy Hour

Holly - Crime Junkie, Unlocking Us, NPR Politics Today, This Imagined Life, Nothing Much Happens, Sword and Scale

Mandy - Today In True Crime, The Counselor’s Toolbox

Katie - Dolly Parton’s America, Your Best Beautiful Life, Typology, Raising Boys and Girls, Presidential & Constitutional

T.V. shows we are watching

Holly - Survivor, For Life, A Million Little Things, The Office, This Is Us, Modern Family, Interrogation

Sarah - Hometown, Grace & Frankie, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Katie - Parks & Recreation, Cheer, The West Wing, Madame Secretary

Mandy - Why Women Kill

Other mentions

Where the Crawdads Sing, Finding new recipes for the InstantPot (a few we love: The Best InstantPot Broccoli & Cheese Soup, Watching Instagram stories particularly @jaminato, playing board games, card games, Quiplash, Scribd free 30 day trial

For children : Vooks, The Gospel Coalition Upbeat Songs for Quarantined Kids, stories.audible.com

Well, that is all for now folks. We do hope you are staying safe and healthy!

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Don't forget to be the BEST YOU that you can be, because there is only one of YOU...

and you're amazing. :-)

The BEST 10th Episode Ever : "The Dearly Beloved" by Cara Wall

Hey BBCE friends!!

This is our second week discussing the book "The Dearly Beloved" by Cara Wall. Last week felt super serious, right? So this week we lightened the mood a little and each told some stories about funny things that happened to us relating to our childhoods and church. Well...some of us had stories from adulthood, too. ;-) I also loved how, for some of our group, our discussion of the book effectuated a greater appreciation for it. Wow! Isn't that what a book club should be all about?!

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This book got FOUR THUMBS UP!!

*Grading Scale

A - All Good

B - Better than most

C - Could have been better

D - Disappointing

F - Failure on all levels

Ratings for this book

Sarah - A

Holly - C+ (although that is technically not allowed...Holly just does what she wants)

Mandy - Originally C but changed to B

Katie - A

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Ideas for hosting a book club for The Dearly Beloved

Location - A church! Or a community center. Or someone’s house — you could call it the manse ;)

Activity - Organize a fundraiser for autism or attend an event for autism, research/support autism awareness

Décor - flowers, candles, stained glass

Attire - 1960s style of dress

Favor - share a favorite prayer or verse or hymn or poem … anything about what you believe … typed or hand-lettered on beautiful paper and framed

Food - An old fashioned church potluck

Music - Music from the 1960s or since Lily was a trained musician and helped with the children’s choir you could listen to a famous choir like the Vienna Boys Choir or the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

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Favorite quotes from the book

“A dangerous weakness, this desire for Lily to find happiness in the way he found happiness. If he did not want to lose her, he’d have to learn to let her be.” Charles

“Something a minister should never do to his congregation : make them feel ashamed” Nan

"God existed. God was real. He could not explain this new conclusion, except to say when he put it away, it was agony, and when he brought it out, it was the deepest, most beautiful relief he had ever known." Charles

“I believe in the urge to be good, to stay good, to do good in the world. But I don’t think God exists in the way people would like to believe; I don’t think God saves the day. I think it’s up to us. We know the rules, and we’re the ones who have to play the game.” James

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Show Notes

The Enneagram

Friends : Season 4, Episode 1

Friends : Season 6, Episode 9

The BEST 9th Episode Ever : "The Dearly Beloved" by Cara Wall

Hey y'all. This is Katie, and I'd like to welcome you back to book club! We have come full circle, back around to me being your book club hostess for the next two weeks! If you remember, in our first two episodes, we discussed The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells. The book we are discussing now is The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall. This book does have some similar themes to the Ya-Yas -- faith, family, marriage, parenthood, pain and disappointment -- but where Ya-Ya blazes and tickles like the heat of the Louisiana bayou, The Dearly Beloved has a more reverent tone, like the steady, deep reverberations of a church bell.

Despite this book being about two ministers and their wives, I believe anyone could relate to its poignant portrayal of the human experience. In our discussion, we also share openly and honestly about how faith, friendship, love and loss have made us the people we are today.

We hope you will join our discussion. Make us do a happy dance and leave a comment below! There are also plenty of opportunities for you to share with us on social media. You can find us on Instagram at @thebbce and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thebbce.

For now, remember to be the best YOU that YOU can be, because there is only one of YOU! :-)

Katie

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Show Notes

The Enneagram