What I’m Reading, Watching, & Listening To {April 2018}

What I’m Reading, Watching, & Listening To {April 2018}

Happy Friday, friends! So it’s about time for another “What I’m Reading” post, but I thought I’d start doing things a little differently this month. The other day, Helene of Helene in Between wrote a post about all the things she’s been reading, watching, and listening to lately and I thought that was a great idea!

As I’m sure you know, I love reviewing books on my blog. In fact, I’ve been posting monthly book reviews for a while now. You may not know that I’ve reviewed movies and TV shows in the past as well. When I saw Helene’s post, I thought why don’t I write about everything I watch and listen to as well as what I read? And I love the idea of putting it all in one post. That way, if you readers are only interested in the books, just read that part. Or if you want to know what I’ve been watching or listening to lately, just read that part! Genius, right?

Oh and here are some posts I’ve written in the past about TV and Movies if you’re interested:

So lets get to what I’ve been reading, watching, and listening to lately, shall we?

Books:

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

If you read my March “What I’m Reading” post, you know I didn’t like the second Cormoran Strike book very much. And to be honest, I didn’t like the first that much either. This last one of the serious was okay. To be honest, they were all pretty good just for the fact that they are murder mysteries. And I like how they are all different.

Every third chapter or so in Career of Evil is written anonymously from the perspective of the murderer. That’s an interesting touch that’s different from the other two and added a new, intriguing element for sure.

Also, the twist at the end was quite different than any murder mystery book I’ve read. It’s not just that the identity of the murder was a surprise. There is more to it.

On thing I really didn’t like was that the two main characters of this whole series sort of pine for each other the whole time. It sort of got annoying because it seemed like it was never going anywhere. I’m not going to tell you if it does go somewhere or not, but I just wasn’t happy with the ongoing of it throughout the series. It was distracting from the mysteries and added more content to get through.

I would not recommend this book or any of the three in the series. Sorry, JKR. I love the Harry Potter series, but Cormoran Strike, not so much.

Staying Stylish by Candace Cameron Bure

Maybe I’m a little biased because I absolutely love Candace, but this book did not disappoint. It’s not just about style and fashion. Granted, the whole first section (which is more than half of the book) is about Candace’s style and fashion tips. But the rest is about skin care, makeup, hair, health, fitness, and self care. And part of the self care section is “nourishing your spirit” where she talks about her faith and how to take care of it.
I can totally see how some people think this book is pointless and won’t tell you anything you didn’t already know. Or some people wonder why they need a book about Candace’s style when they have their own style and don’t need or want to copy Candace’s. I get that. But I think she has a lot of great universal tips even in the fashion section. She uses her own style as an example, but she shares how she builds her wardrobe with basics and how she packs for travel and other things like that that we can all benefit from even if our personal style is completely different from hers.

Also, this book is very high quality physically. Which I love. It’s a very sturdy hard back with glossy, flat pages, high resolution photos, and a ribbon book mark. It also has an extensive index as well as a descriptive table of contents. Basically, it’s more of a coffee table book than a self help book. I plan to come back to it often when I need some motivation, inspiration, or just ideas!

Blog Posts/Articles:

TV Shows:

Breaking Bad

If you follow me on Instagram and watch my stories, it’s probably no surprise to you that Breaking Bad is on this list. Pearson and I watched the entire, 5 season, series in one week. It was certainly what they call “binge-worthy.” We couldn’t stop. I normally don’t recommend binging a show as seriously as we did this one because it effects everything. We stopped meal planning and eating healthy dinners because we didn’t want to waste that time not watching the show. We didn’t connect very well as spouses because all our free time was spent in front of the TV. And we got very little sleep because we were staying up way too late for “just one more episode…”
But I might just say all that was worth it for this show. If you haven’t watched it, you really really should. It’s all on Netflix. Of course, there is quite a bit of mature content. It’s a show about drug dealing, after all. But it’s so good. And we aren’t the only people who think that. It was nominated for 262 awards and won 110!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

I never read these books growing up but I sort of always meant to. My brother read them and loved them. Maybe I’ll go back and read them now. Anyway, when season one of the series came to Netflix last year, my friend had a watch party and it was so much fun. The series is so well done and NPH as Count Olaf certainly doesn’t disappoint! Season two came to Netflix at the end of March so Pearson and I watched through it after Breaking Bad. It did not disappoint! Except now I want to read them more than ever!

Better Call Saul

Better Call Saul is a prequel series to Breaking Bad. It’s about lawyer Saul Goodman and the story of how he went from a (somewhat) respectable lawyer to the slimy, self-interested, criminal, and unethical defense attorney we all know and love in Breaking Bad. While this series, is pretty good and keeps my attention, it’s no Breaking Bad. Pearson and I are currently in the middle of season two. Three seasons are on Netflix and season four is in the making and will most likely air on AMC this fall and come to Netflix shortly after. I do really enjoy the fact that so many characters and ideas from Breaking Bad are showing up in Better Call Saul and I hope it gets better as it goes. I definitely recommend watching Breaking Bad first.

Movies:

The Greatest Showman

Y’all. This movie is everything. You might know that I love Hugh Jackman. He’s my favorite actor of all time. Hands down. He does not disappoint in this movie. But he’s only part of the reason I love it so much. The music is to die for. The story is heart wrenching. The cinematography is phenomenal. It’s one of those that needs to be seen in the theater more than once. It’s so colorful and big and bright that you can’t just see it on the big screen once. I saw it twice. The last movie that I felt needed to be seen twice on the big screen was Beauty and the Beast. So that should tell you something. Anyway, it’s not in theaters anymore but it came out on DVD this week, which is why I’m mentioning it in this post. Watch it. Seriously!

Black Panther

I’m risking sounding like everybody else in the whole world here, but Black Panther was amazing! I mean I was expecting a lot since it was a marvel movie, had such great reviews already, and was slightly different than other MCU movies. And I was not disappointed! I especially loved the women in this movie. My favorite character was Shuri, T’Challa’s sister. She was a wicked smart scientist, a hard-core fighter and so much more! It also helped that I had just recently fallen in love with a very similar character in Black Mirror played by the same actress, Letitia Wright, right before seeing this movie. And shortly after seeing Black Panther I found out that Letitia Wright is a Christian and takes her faith very seriously (unlike most in Hollywood). It’s safe to say she’s my new favorite actress. Anyway, Black Panther is awesome. Go see it!

Annihilation

Pearson and I saw Annihilation with a coworker of his and her husband. The movie was… Interesting. It was certainly suspenseful and had a lot going for it. But then the end was just really trippy and left a lot to be desired. I wouldn’t recommend spending a lot of money to see this in the theater. But if you like suspense and SciFi, it’s worth a discount theater or waiting to rent or stream it.

Listening:

My Instrumental playlist on Google Play Music

I have a playlist of instrumental music from all my favorite movies. I keep it updated and listen to it when I need to concentrate. I made it public so you’re welcome to check it out right here.

The Greatest Showman soundtrack

When the movie first came out, I listened to the soundtrack non stop for like 2 months. In fact, it was pretty much the soundtrack to our road trip. But over the last month or so I stopped. But then when the movie came out on digital and disk recently, I started listening to it again.

Talk to me Tayla podcast

Tara and Layla are the founders of Poppy and Dot (use code “charlene10” for 10% off your order). Their business is so successful that they’ve become celebrity influencers and decided to start a podcast all about owning a business, running a household, and having it all! Even though I don’t have kids and will probably never have my own business as big as theirs, their life tips and stories are so relatable and I can never wait till the next episode comes out!

NEXT:

These are what I hope to be reading, watching, and listening to next…
  • Book: The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling
  • Movie: A Quiet Place (seeing it tonight!)
  • Movie: Avengers: Infinity War (we’re already have tickets for Thursday the 26th!)
  • TV: Anne with an E (I’m currently watching this on Netflix)
  • Podcast: Titus 2 Minute

What have you been reading, watching, and listening to lately? Have any recommendations for me? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

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I'm a millennial wife and fur-mom living in Oregon. I'm passionate about marriages and making them last. I believe it's possible to build a marriage that will endure whatever comes your way and all it takes is a little work. And trust me, your marriage is so worth that effort!

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