It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.  What a great start to a new year, a new week, and a new book.

This morning I downloaded a copy of "The Christmas Candle" by Max Lucado. I had seen the book many times on the shelves at my neighborhood Barnes and Noble but failed to pick up a copy. I had seen the ads for the movie that I still want to see even though we have moved past the Christmas season but apparently we are not movie goers anymore.  So the whole "Christmas Candle" experience escaped me until I read a review on a blog I frequently read.

The review, which can be found at Brandon's Notepad, discusses the book and the movie.  The author of the blog entry does an in depth analysis of the religious aspects of the both the book and the movie as well as some comparison/contrast of both.

I found the review to be well thought out and compelling -- enough to make me stop reading and download the book which I began immediately.  I will refer back to the blog as I read the book to think through the points made by the blog author.

As I generally like to read "the book" before I see "the movie" I am glad I bought the book in plenty of time to get it read before the movie is released in February.  I am sure I will enjoy both and hope that "The Christmas Candle" will become one of my yearly Christmas favorites.

Even though I just started the book, it has me hook, line and sinker.  As one reviewer, John C. Maxwell, said "Fans of Charles Dickens and Jan Karon's Mitford series, you're in for a treat!Max Lucado has penned a wholly original Christmas story complete with cbblestone streets, quirky characters and a supernatural visit that you'll never forget."  Well, that cinches it for me -- I am in and I am sure I won't be able to put it down.

So, if you have read the book or seen the movie or if you like to read religious analysis, visit Brandon's Notepad.  Perhaps his blog will encourage you to read the book again or, as in my case, the first time.  I will review when I have completed the book.

One Little Word -- 2014


Faith


Enough said.

Musing Mondays

Hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading, Musing Mondays asked several questions and you are asked to answer only one.

Today I will be talking about a new reading habit of mine -- reading in bed before I go to sleep.  My husband bought me my fifth Nook for Christmas.  Excess?  Absolutely!  NOT MY FAULT!  They need to quit coming out with new models.  However, I have been passing my other models on to family members so that is good.  Anyway, my latest acquisition is the new Nook Glowlight.  It is significantly lighter in weight than my Nook Simple Touch but more importantly, it has a light which makes it easy to read in bed and not disturb the Hubs. 

So, because I have the light now, I can read a bit in bed without the light disturbing the Hubs.  I don't read long because it absolutely puts me to sleep but it is such a nice way to end the day.  I don't watch the news much because that is just disturbing before you try to get a good nights sleep but reading is  a much gentler way to nod off.  I haven't always read in bed because of the lighting issue but now I can and I am enjoying that five to ten minutes before I drift off.  Fortunately I conk out before the urge to stay up all night reading strikes.

Anyway, this is my new reading habit and it is a nice one for sure!

Downton Abbey


Hubs and I don't watch a lot of television.  It may be "on" but that doesn't mean we are watching it.  My father was a television news announcer when I was a child and the television was always on with him keeping up with the news of the day so he had some idea of what he would be reporting on at 10 p.m.  After he left news reporting he worked as a cartoonist and, because he had always worked at night, he continued to work at night so there was always noise, either the television or the radio.  So, I became very accustomed to the constant noise factor and I still find myself comforted by it. 

We do watch a few things on a regular basis, however.  We watch my soap opera "Days of Our Lives" every evening -- we DVR.  Then, we watch "Elementary", "Revenge" and "Parenthood".  A year or so ago we got rid of all our "premium" cable channels, bought a Roku and subscribed to Acorn and Hulu Plus.  A great deal of our television viewing is done via this device as we love all the British mysteries on Acorn.  We are working our way through the Hercule Poirot mysteries now, having finished the George Gently mysteries, which I absolutely loved. 

However, there is nothing like Masterpiece Theater on PBS which usually has such wonderful offerings.  We have all been looking forward to season 4 of "Downtown Abbey" which began airing last night and we weren't disappointed!  A two hour episode of this series to start us out was pure delight  I love the setting and scenery as well as the costuming.  The characters are wonderful -- glad to see O'Brien go -- she was so devious.  And what about that dreadful Nanny?  It is so much fun to see the personalities of the staff as well as the "upstairs" family and to see them interact so personally.  I remember watching "Upstairs, Downstairs" and while both sides of the house were represented in the story, I don't remember there being such interpersonal relationships between the staff and the family. 

It was a wonderful evening for television viewing and I heard recently that they have already started filming season 5!  I hope this series is around for a long time!