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Everything to Binge This Summer
107 Plays1 month ago
Think of Everything to Binge This Summer as your unhinged WhatsApp group chat with your friends and all their best recommendations: books, TV, and podcast episodes. We’re here to save you from the endless scroll cycle where you can’t think of a single thing you would like to watch, or indeed anything you have ever watched. Or the aimless stroll around the library questioning if you are indeed a person who reads? We’re preparing you for reading poolside, living your best beach life, and binge-watching TV with your favourite cousin. We got you!
Of course, if we were actually chatting in person, there might be things that we wouldn’t recommend, but you know, given it’s a podcast we can’t tailor recs for everyone. So please use discernment and debrief with a friend if something we recommended is not good for you. Remember this chat? I mean, even in today’s episode we recommend stuff that the other podcast co-hosts would never read (see: 80s style vampire slayer horror novels).
Check out the show notes for everything mentioned in the show.
This is our last episode of 2025. Season 2 kicks off in March 2026. Please help us serve you better in 2026. Give us feedback either in our super short survey and let us know what you want us to chat about in 2026 or flick me an email at rebecca@storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au
If you enjoyed this episode, sign up for free encouragement in your inbox on Wednesdays from local Christian women. One week you get essays and poetry, the next week you get a podcast episode.
Music: Come Back by Ketsa. Licensed under a Creative Commons License Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives 4.0 International License.
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Transcript
Introduction and Personal Reflections
00:00:00
Speaker
You know, it's one of those presents you bring out and you're remember how I got you this? You're so thoughtful of me. The person's like. I know. yeah. Oh, where did you go? Yeah.
00:00:12
Speaker
Yeah, I am. Yeah, it's in a really special place. I don't remember where. It's in my heart. It visited. It went to the farm.
00:00:26
Speaker
This is the After Dinner Mint, a podcast of stories I tell you at dinner. Think of the mint as the stories you tell after you've been kicked out of the restaurant, holding your mint, standing in the street, telling more honest stories with your friends than you did at the table.
00:00:41
Speaker
It's not a sermon. It's not advice. It's not tough help. We're processing what we're learning about faith and life, honestly, in community, to encourage you to do that with your God and your community.
Meet the Hosts and Guests
00:00:58
Speaker
Welcome the Afternoon in Mint, and I'm your host, Bec, and I'm... I'm here with Britt and Maddie. If you guys could introduce yourselves. Hi, I'm Britt. I am an accredited mental health social worker working in private practice and one of the co-people on this podcast on Every So Often.
00:01:21
Speaker
Thanks, Britt. I'm Maddie. I am studying theology at the moment and staying home with my two little ones and hanging out with my husband. Excellent. Hi, I'm Bec. I am the founder of Stories I Tell You at Dinner. I'm trained as a clinical psych, but currently working in the home with my three boys and it's just luck it it's a delight.
00:01:42
Speaker
I say words super great.
Summer Preparation: Media Recommendations
00:01:44
Speaker
Now, this is our last episode for the season and we thought it would be so nice to prepare ourselves for summer to help you guys prepare for summer.
00:01:53
Speaker
you know, for all of like the books and the podcast episodes and the bad TV that you're going to binge over the summer and after Christmas and the hazy time between Christmas and New Year's. so we thought we kind of get you, I don't know, maybe like your library list ready. Anyway, that's me.
00:02:13
Speaker
That's how I spend my summer holidays with a library card. I'm sure you guys have better plans. Brit, do you... Just so many credits on Audible. seven credits on auto There we go.
00:02:25
Speaker
I want to be an audiobook person. I do them very slowly. All right. Maddie, can you tell us what are some books that you have read recently and that you solidly love?
00:02:40
Speaker
I have multiple genres here. Like I've even got like a cooking recommendation book. I thought that I was going to extreme that I had fiction and nonfiction, so I love that you have genres. Excellent.
00:02:50
Speaker
Yes. All right. Great. Start us off with one. Okay. Well, I really like some historical fiction. And recently I read, well, I audio booked Kate Quinn's The Briar Club, which I found really interesting. It's like post-war, like 60s in, i think, Washington, D.C.
00:03:06
Speaker
and it was just reflecting on a bit of the cultural climate, but also fiction and really interesting stories and stuff ah based on a true character. But of course, it's still fiction. I really enjoyed that.
00:03:19
Speaker
I don't know if you've ever heard of that lady. I have never heard of her, but I'm interested. I've written it down. Yeah, she does a lot of historical fiction and it's mostly like a based around strong women around like World War I and World War II and she writes their stories, but she'll base it on say like this is based on um the history of women in Russia in the Air Force because they were like an Air Force. Oh, I don't know. You don't call it a platoon. Someone's going to, I don't know. And an Air Force like team who were all women in the Russian army. And so it followed like the story of one of them. So she bases it on things that actually happened.
00:04:00
Speaker
But then she creates a story, a fictional character around it. Oh, interesting. They're really interesting. Yeah, that is cool but I've really liked listening to those. She's got a few books. One's in Russia, one like Someone's a Spy in Germany, a Female Spy in Germany, Someone Else's Cracking Code in England. There's a few of those. I've actually really enjoyed that genre.
00:04:23
Speaker
Who's the author? Kate Quinn. Kate Quinn, okay. and And at the very end, she'll explain the actual, like, facts that, like, inspired the story.
00:04:35
Speaker
which I enjoy. I feel like historical fiction for me is hit and miss. Like I really, really liked Daisy Jones and the Six, but yeah I feel like it's the story for me. I'm like, some if it's not a good story, I'm just like, nah. Well, it still has to be a good story.
00:04:53
Speaker
Just interesting when it aligns with real people. what Yeah. People have interesting stories. Anyway. What were your other ones? Well, you guys had a glass. How many have you got? How many is on your list, Maddie?
00:05:08
Speaker
I think I was saying earlier that I didn't think I'd read very much this year and then I remembered that I was breastfeeding for a significant portion of it and I was reading a lot but they were like bunch of fantasy novels because I was too tired to deal with anything that was real life.
00:05:24
Speaker
don't know what I came here for. Like, yeah, well...
Revisiting Harry Potter
00:05:27
Speaker
See, I think there was a comment about rereading Harry Potter series. And yeah, absolutely. That's happened. bit of audiobooks there.
00:05:35
Speaker
Brings me back. and But note there's one called... ah Really, like, a new author I found recently is James Islington. And he's like a fantasy author and makes this... He's got a couple that are too complex for me to try and explain. But if anyone likes fantasy and likes like Brandon Sanderson and that kind of genre and style, James Islington, an Australian guy who's made some really interesting fantasy books.
00:05:59
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. But are there dragons? He hasn't made that many, so it's a small. Oh, it's not like dragons, but i want to say magic because that sounds weird, but maybe it is magic.
00:06:11
Speaker
Yeah. Anyway. I can't say I've gotten into fantasy. No? i Tell us about yours. Except that, well, okay, so this year I reread the entire Harry Potter series.
00:06:24
Speaker
Oh, so good. So it's not fantasy, but we just missed our missed our letters to Hogwarts. Yeah, is that fair? still What's the genre? It kind of is, isn't it? think like ah firstly, I think they're really well-written books. Like the world she creates is brilliant. I feel like I'm not converting anyone on this because clearly like the last however many years that they've been around, it's big. I'm like, have you guys heard of Hogwarts? Yeah.
00:06:58
Speaker
But I think particularly I read those books in high school and I do think there's something really nostalgic about revisiting a story that you read at a different point in your life and picking up pieces of it as an adult that I couldn't as a child.
00:07:19
Speaker
So, like, there's real depth to, like, like yeah you know, harry Harry's grief at times. i was really struck by how she writes that in a way that, like, as a 17 or 15-year-old, however old I was, i just would have, like, glanced over.
00:07:34
Speaker
So, i don't know. There's richness, I think, in, like, reading books at different stages of life. Have you ever seen this car yeah but not listened to it as an audiobook with Stephen Fry?
00:07:46
Speaker
Never. Any good? I love Stephen Fry. so He does a great job, actually. So anyone who likes audio books and wants to re-listen, the only thing is that do not like the voice he does for Tonks, but we can still get past that. that It's just like it's got this accent. It's like nasally and then gives like someone else a lisp.
00:08:07
Speaker
But actually every single other character. Awesome. It was just. i i anyway I don't favour audiobooks because I feel like haven't taken the information as well. I can't. I really struggle with audiobooks. Like I just can't maintain attention.
00:08:22
Speaker
Yes, I think that's what it is. I've just lost it and it's taking too long. I'm like I can't deal with it. Have either of you read? So it's under the pen name Robert Galbraith, but it's J.K. Rowling, and she's written like these series of detective fiction novels.
00:08:39
Speaker
And, oh my goodness, they're so good. And then they have this will-they-won't-they love relationship between the two detectives, and it goes over a series of books. And so they're called Cormoran Strikers, the detective. And oh,
00:08:54
Speaker
goodness, he's this private detective. in that He was like in the army like what is it a special investigative bureau and then he's got this lady like robin who is originally like married to someone else and it's so fascinating over all these books like because they really have this real respect for each other and they grow as like detectives and they solve all these like grizzly crimes but i love them they're like doorstops but because it's jk rowling just everything is excellent you could read them okay and I love that. One came out this year. It's the eighth novel and it's called The Hallmarked Man and it was just so good. It was so good.
00:09:33
Speaker
And then they turned into a Savvy Day series. um So it's called the Homer and Strike novels. Then the BBC turned them all into like miniseries. And if you love Jack A. Rowling. did like.
00:09:46
Speaker
I don't know like go if she did some other writing. So it's by she's usually sold her first book under a pen name by a guy called Robert Galbraith, but then they found out that it was her. But I just love that she was like, i want to see if I can still sell books like that aren't under my name.
00:10:04
Speaker
Yeah. Well, also she's been heavily cancelled. Like people hate J.K. Rowling. Because of her commentary on stuff and like whatever people think about it because I'm always a bit confused like by the level of vitriol people have towards her and then I've like read her stuff and I'm like, I don't know that she's, is this, why people really hate her so I'm not surprised she has to pen that because I don't think she, well, I suppose it's Leah's such a set people that hate her enough.
00:10:37
Speaker
What's that? ah But I think she started those novels perhaps before she got cancelled as well. Oh, yeah, true. Yeah, but people, I love her.
00:10:49
Speaker
Well, she's a brilliant writer. Yeah. Just as an aside of whatever people think about any of her stuff, it's like she's actually very good at what she does. I appreciated with the Harry Potter series that it like got more, the books and the writing seemed to get a little bit more mature as he matured, like as the character matured. It just, like the themes got more mature.
00:11:12
Speaker
And you're like, oh. And i love the themes of like sacrifice and friendship and like good triumphing over evil. I read them from when I was a kid and I just like, I had to wait for the books to come out and I just.
00:11:23
Speaker
Sam. Have such, such fond. Yeah. Which, do you know there's a TV series coming? Yes. No. Oh, wait, no, maybe Rach mentioned and maybe you mentioned.
00:11:37
Speaker
There's an HBO series coming. So I just think it's a good time to dive into the books again because then you'll actually know the storyline enough for a TV series because the movies, in my opinion, were a real letdown.
00:11:52
Speaker
I didn't like them. I was just like, sh no, I didn't like them. I like don't like to watch them. No, I didn't. i Yeah. I loved watching them, but I also love the books more and can't wait to see them do the books and the complexities of various things a little bit yeah and more than else. Yeah, I agree. I'd say I'm a lover of both, but maybe we should move on from Harry Potter and Wreck-Em-Bat.
00:12:18
Speaker
The other? so like like Guys, have you read Harry Potter? Have you heard about it? like I apologise if any of our listeners are offended by Harry Potter. Yeah, that's lot true.
00:12:29
Speaker
Yeah, and also if you grew up in the time where parents wouldn't let you read it, what a time to be alive. I high school. I'm like, wow. Yeah, it's so fascinating to me. I'm like, but but he's like juicers figure. But I understand that like, you know, some people and, you know, which I understand. i mean Spells. The themes, the themes. I know. I love the themes.
00:12:53
Speaker
um I have two other recommendations. for One, I
Book Recommendations and Literary Discussions
00:12:57
Speaker
really enjoyed Emily Henry's new book, Great Big Beautiful Life. But I was like, I just love Emily Henry. I i love her. I love her characters. They're just so well-rounded and they're funny and they're banjury like Nora Ephron. I was like, it's like a Nora Ephron movie and I'm just so here for it.
00:13:13
Speaker
And one of her movies is being made into people you meet on vacation comes out in January on Netflix. I'm quite excited about that. That was the least, I want to say it was not my favourite. I read it and I reread it, but it's not my favourite of his.
00:13:29
Speaker
No, but they've made one. Who cares? They'll make the rest if it's successful. Do it. Beatree, book lovers. But I liked Great Big Beautiful Life because it was a slight departure from her usual storyline and it switched back in time and had kind of almost several sets of protagonists, which I liked as a concept. And the other one I really loved was Living Life Backwards, which is a Christian book on the book of Ecclesiastes.
00:14:01
Speaker
Oh, yeah, remember you telling me. Fantastic. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it because it's part of his thesis. Firstly, the i did audiobook this one and the guy voices really good.
00:14:18
Speaker
And you can audiobook it for free on Hoopla if you have ah like a library membership so you don't have to pay for it. Although, you know, good to support these writers. But it talks a lot about living life in light of our mortality and like the concept of a bucket list being like a good thing to think about what you're going to impart and what you're going to leave.
00:14:41
Speaker
I found it really helpful in terms of thinking about dealing with some decisions I needed to make. It had i just had really wise advice on living in harmony with other people and managing situations that might become conflict conflictual. So I found it particularly helpful.
00:15:01
Speaker
no Nice. But, yeah, I would highly, highly recommend it. And then the other one I'm reading but haven't finished, which I just think is a really interesting idea, is The Worst Thing I've Ever Done by Claire Stevens.
00:15:13
Speaker
I've never heard of that book. So Claire and Jessie Stevens are these twins. They're a Mamma Mia. Yeah. Well, actually, Claire's not anymore, but they're like kind of media figures and they're just really interesting, clever girls.
00:15:27
Speaker
And Claire's book is about this concept of someone going viral for all the wrong reasons and like everybody hating on them and how you actually deal with that.
00:15:39
Speaker
And she started a companion podcast where she interviews people who've basically been cancelled. You would love Binge. I would. It's like my worst nightmare. I'm like, oh, no.
00:15:52
Speaker
if I got cancelled on the internet? Yeah, so she kind of looks at the psychology of what is happening for the person. So the protagonist is being cancelled. But I haven't finished the book, but it is flicking back in time between like during the event, before the event, and after the event. so you're trying to get a sense of what this person's actually done that's so bad that everyone's cancelling them.
00:16:15
Speaker
Wow. Yeah, i have to tell you about a book that I read recently, Brit, and I have been meaning to tell you about it, but was like, help me. The podcast is a perfect time.
00:16:27
Speaker
It is a book called I Am Lucy Barton by a lady called Elizabeth Strout. And I had heard of Elizabeth Strout because Amy recommended a book to me, Amy Stoker, but it was a different one.
00:16:41
Speaker
And I picked it up while I was away at the farm. So it was only, i'm I'm gesturing, but it's tiny, right? Like it was a really short book and I had saw that she'd won the Pulitzer Prize for something else. i was like, okay.
00:16:52
Speaker
But within like the first, reckon, two pages, it had me completely hooked. It's like this woman, she has kids, she has a husband, she's in hospital for the a long time, like a couple of months, and her mum, her estranged mum comes to visit her and they spend a couple of days together in this hospital. And you think, on the face of it, how is there even a book?
00:17:15
Speaker
How is this even a point? But the way this woman writes, like your heart is just in your chest. you And like this woman, Lucy Barton, who's in the hospital, she is thinking like her mum coming back has brought all this stuff about like her childhood and it's almost so painful that they can't talk about it so they're there and they're kind of talking about it but you're like oh is she gonna say the thing she's not gonna say it like it's so heartbreaking and you get this it's almost like that emotional deprivation schema like she's this woman goes through the world and she is so lonely and like you finish the book and
00:17:52
Speaker
And you're like, this was so brilliant. It did so much with so little. And yet, like, I just went around the next couple of days and I was just sad. I was like, oh oh like she just kind of like really quietly breaks your heart.
00:18:07
Speaker
Oh, I don't know. Why do you want to make me feel sad, Bec? ah I don't know. I don't know. And I was like, but it's such a brilliant thing.
00:18:18
Speaker
I could read another one of her books i definite if I have it in me but I also was like think I have that in me that sounds awful she's just very lonely
00:18:32
Speaker
i mean don't get me wrong I don't understand if someone sits in yeah like someone sitting in front of me is different to like because also like I get really immersed in fiction when I read it So I have to be careful that I don't like, you know, what was that one a few years ago with the woman who like you read half the book and it seems like she's got autism and then you read half the book and it seems like she's just experienced this significant trauma.
00:19:02
Speaker
Oh, it Eleanor Olivehouse was slightly fine. Oh, yeah, that was excellent. That was amazing. Another recommendation. Very, yeah, great book. Also, Reese Witherspoon's bought the rights to make it a movie. Oh, my goodness.
00:19:17
Speaker
Maddie, what are your other books? Tell us your other books. have other books too, but Maddie, please tell us. Take us off this loop. Oh, look. I've been deep in studying for an Isaiah unit and doing an assignment for that. So I've actually got they wrote got a commentary on that that's actually really accessible if you're just someone who's leading a Bible study or just like it's super accessible. Anyway, it's by a guy called Kirk Patston and he's over in Sydney.
00:19:46
Speaker
And he, um you know, I wanted to high five him because he previously worked as a speech pathologist like myself. So i was like, oh. Great guy. Anyway. He wrote this Great life choice. On Isaiah.
00:19:57
Speaker
And it's really like easy to access, easy to understand. It's not, it's got complex language, but also have loved like reflecting on the fact that the book of Isaiah, he describes it as like,
00:20:09
Speaker
It's the Bible, but in miniature. That's what the message is communicating. It's even got starts at the beginning of creation, talks about how creation is going to be made new. It talks about how God will redeem his people for himself through an atoning sacrifice and establish a new kingdom on the other side. And so I really loved the way that He's described the way like Isaiah in that way and helped kind of unpack it. So if anyone's looking for a good resource, if you're getting into it in Bible study, that's a good one, Isaiah by Kirk pat Patston.
00:20:42
Speaker
Okay. and So, yep. And then then my other one was just a completely different genre, is that cookbook, Salt, Fat, Acid Heat by Samin Nosra. I love that. Fantastic. That's great. Yeah, it's good.
00:20:55
Speaker
It's fantastic because it like gets into the science behind cooking. I love science. Like, you know, it breaks down why when you add this thing in, it changes texture it changes the balance or whatever it is. Anyway, I love that kind of stuff. So I've like the nerdy science stuff.
00:21:12
Speaker
The truth they made about that with her. Yeah. I really liked it It was good. Hey. It was so good. It got me thinking about it. That's what made me want to read the book. And the book has little illustrations and stuff. And anyway, love it.
00:21:25
Speaker
I'm like, how are you? For pictures. So good. you could buy You can buy her prints. and I want that actually what I want. was great.
00:21:35
Speaker
Well, they meant to buy me the book and then they realised they accidentally bought me the prints. And so I rotate the prints in my kitchen because they're actually really cool, you know. Yeah, I bought the prints from my husband for Christmas or something.
00:21:51
Speaker
Anyway, they're sitting in the packet. They've never come out. It's one of those beautiful prints. Oh, this is such a good present. And then it's just like never quite made it anywhere.
00:22:03
Speaker
like, you know, it's one those presents you bring out and you're remember how I got you this? You're so thoughtful of me. The person's like. Oh, yeah.
00:22:16
Speaker
Yeah, I am. Yeah, it's in a really special place. I don't remember where. It's in my heart. is It visited. It went to the farm. yeah Totally. It's got a new family now.
00:22:31
Speaker
oh yes Like my dog that my, you know, my parents are like, chased little children down the street. They're like, Sam's gone to a new home now. You're like, did school die? Like you've gone to a farm.
00:22:42
Speaker
A farm. oh and like not Look, Britt, as long as it's not like, babe, you know, you've gone to a re-gifting
Thoughtful Gifting and Light-Hearted Reads
00:22:50
Speaker
party. Have you ever been to one of those where you're supposed to re-gift a secret Santa?
00:22:55
Speaker
ah She's got your gift. And she's kind like, that sorry. The thing is I would actually be okay because at least someone would use it. Like I feel like it's such a waste. It's sitting in our house.
00:23:09
Speaker
Dude, give it to me. I'll use it. and I'll love it. Well, maybe I'll suggest it to you. Merry Christmas. Give it a wail.
00:23:17
Speaker
No, I'm super aggressive. Oh, my gosh. That is true. Yeah. right ah Tell us about your books. I know. I'm like, I feel like everything else I don't have that much to contribute, but I do have some fiction recommendations.
00:23:31
Speaker
Love it. Yes. Okay. Do it. Tell us. My fiction recommendations that are not depressing. One is Kaya, one of our writers, her Blackwood series, like Welcome to Blackwood.
00:23:42
Speaker
And then the last one came out this year and they were so fun. Like, so the first one is called Welcome to Blackwood. The second one is Leaving Blackwood. And the third that came out this year was Redeeming Blackwood. And they were just fun.
00:23:54
Speaker
They're set in like a town in Western Australia. They're like... romance there's like bad guys there's lots of sarcasm it's just they're really fun I really really cannot recommend them enough like they're just like comfort fun reads I'm like what else do I have that's more depressing i read I read The Princess Bride that was also just like lots of fun I read Breakfast at Tiffany's which is completely different to what I thought it would be but like just awesome like it was just yeah and then I read another one called the southern book club guide to vampires lane that was like collided the 80s with like wow to vampire all right vampire I know and it was just wow I need someone else to read it was like legitimately terrifying and then this woman like no one believes her for so long her and her friends about that this man in their town is a vampire and it's
00:24:54
Speaker
like actually, it's there's the horror of that and then there's the horror of like there's actually a vampire that they have just like and it's just, yeah. <unk> I'm torn between curiosity, amusement and like complete bewilderment.
00:25:09
Speaker
Yes. Don't wait at it nighttime. Actually, no, i yeah, I couldn't read it because it would scare me. i get scared really easily. Yeah.
00:25:20
Speaker
Robbie Ryan, he keeps the light on. He keeps the light I'm scared to keep a light on. No, I'm kidding. I don't actually need a light on. I'm quite happy to at the time. But vampires.
00:25:32
Speaker
I'll keep away from those. Yeah, like just sparkly ones. They're fine. The driving bulbos. Okay,
00:25:43
Speaker
odd okay anyway, those are my fiction. Oh, sorry. Keep going. all right but like that well i' immediately begin oh sorry tell it keep going No, sorry I don't. I can't.
00:25:57
Speaker
No, I feel like the other ones I've mainly already told you guys about. But the one, actual, I did read a book while I was prepping the talk that was, what's her name? Meredith Aguero lent to me that was called God's Good Design, What the Bible Really Says About Men and Women by Claire Smith.
00:26:13
Speaker
Oh, a woman who, she was trained at more theological college. And what I liked, I just have not come across a book like it. And she just really goes through all the tricky passages about women and what women should do in church and just pulls them apart. And she was like, does it say this? Does it say that? Like she struggled with all of them as an adult and I think she became a Christian as an adult.
00:26:40
Speaker
And it just gave me so much good stuff to think about. And I wouldn't have found this book had I not have done a talk, but it Yeah, I solidly recommend it It's a really good book. And it's not hard it's not a hard book to read. like It came out of a set of talks that she had done at women's conferences over years. So you can tell that it's she's spoken to a lot of people about it. like She's done that content a lot. So she raises all the objections that come with it.
00:27:08
Speaker
So it's, yeah, like it, it's quite thoughtful and it's one that people with, you know, it's, it's very respectful to people with opposing viewpoints, but she's like, this is why we think this and this is why. Yeah.
00:27:21
Speaker
Yeah. I've read those. It was really, really good, really accessible and, and yeah, really like thought provoking as well. And I think she just handled the passages really well and faithfully and explained them well.
00:27:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It was good. Well, anyway. On the theme of Christian ones as well,
Books on Anxiety and Personal Experiences
00:27:41
Speaker
two like a year ago I read When the Noise Won't Stop by Paul Krush.
00:27:47
Speaker
No, okay. I'm going to butcher that lot that name. But it's When the Noise Won't Stop and it was a Christian guide to dealing with anxiety. Oh, okay. Like unpacks, it unpacks how Christians, or like what the Bible says about anxiety, what is anxiety.
00:28:03
Speaker
kind of a how we manage anxiety and kind of a stigmas around it as well where people can sometimes either be like worried that if they're anxious about something that they're sinning or like you know disobeying God by not trusting but actually there is anxiety in the Bible and how do we actually deal with these verses.
00:28:26
Speaker
It was actually really interesting thinking about it and also think that he just did great job dealing with it from biblical point of view, but also from a very pastoral point of view as someone who's kind of dealt with his own anxieties and also been a pastor to people with anxiety.
00:28:42
Speaker
So yeah, I thought that was a really good recommendation. If any of our listeners kind of know anyone or themselves have experienced it, I know a few people who enjoyed it. Yeah, cool. I'll definitely look into that.
00:28:54
Speaker
Yeah, nice. Yeah, Britt, you have any more books or are booked up? Sophie Kinsella wrote a novella that I read this year that I just picked up at the library.
00:29:08
Speaker
on She has got some sort of disease. That's not helpful. she's It's like degenerative in nature that like came on really suddenly for her and she wrote a character experiencing the same thing and what it's like for her. and she's still living with it. Like it's something where you live for, don't know, two years or 18 months or something.
00:29:36
Speaker
Oh, wow. I wonder what it is. I'm going to look it up. as live Is it like that locked-in syndrome or something? Like – Have you ever read The Diving Bell and the Butterfly?
00:29:49
Speaker
no Oh, I think that one sounds too sad for me. She's got brain cancer. ah Oh. Oh. Yeah. My heart.
00:30:00
Speaker
Yeah, and the book is called What Does It Feel Like?
00:30:05
Speaker
Oh. realise this is not bad for everyone. I probably and a bit of a sicko. one of them home child is yeah One of the things I liked about it is cause i think When my mum was unwell and she died of cancer, there were a lot of things I didn't ask about her experience of having cancer.
00:30:28
Speaker
One, because she was unwell and two, because like I just didn't think of certain things. And so I liked reading it because I was like, oh, this it's just it's obviously like her experience is not going to be everyone's experience, but it's interesting to read from the perspective of someone that's unwell, like what that experience is like.
00:30:48
Speaker
And just because she's a writer, she can articulate really well. And how she feels about her children and her husband and the symptoms that show up for her, which in her case were about, I think she like just was forgetting things and stuff.
00:31:07
Speaker
I mean, brain cancer is pretty awful. Weirdly enough, I actually think you would like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. it was written by a French guy who had, look, he had this horrible disease where he effectively was like locked in his body and I think he dictated this book by blinking.
00:31:23
Speaker
So someone is actually putting down all the letters and because he had been like a journalist and a writer for all of his life and he communicates like how grateful he is for the smallest things like that make up his day. Right. And it's like this tiny book and it's beautiful and then I think he died not long after he've finished it.
00:31:40
Speaker
Wow. Yes, it's like this little memoir. Right. It does really communicate like similarly to what you're saying with the brain cancer. I mean, Sophie Kinsella, it's just kind of similar.
00:31:52
Speaker
o And i I quite enjoy Sophie's other books. o They're light kind of romantic. I'm really nice. Yes, I loved Confessions of Stopaholic series and I've just randomly picked books of hers off the shelf at the library and read them. And, like, they're easy, like, nice reads.
00:32:15
Speaker
I haven't read any of hers. And they're not, like, crazy racy, which sometimes I just find a bit annoying. I'm like, I don't want to read another sex scene. Like, come on. Yeah, you're like. This is not the one that you would like, the J.K. Rowling ones.
00:32:31
Speaker
The romance in there is just lovely. and It's not racy. Yeah. Yeah, I'm all about idealistic romance, you know. it's a fast hard find it hard recommending stuff these days because it's also like, oh, yeah, they've got little bit of swearing in it. Oh, no, it's got like a little bit of like a couple of scenes that you might want to skip over. Like, you know, wearing you're like, yeah. And it's so individual posture. People feel okay about it.
00:32:57
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. i also what that is just want to shout out the Book of James. Really enjoyed that recently. It's got some good stuff to say about the world and how to live in it.
00:33:12
Speaker
So we did it a couple of years ago and I just listened to it repetitively, I think, because I was on prac and I was like, I can't take in anything new. Yeah. But I would just listen to it while i was driving to and from work. So i was like, I find prepared when I go to like,
00:33:25
Speaker
my small group. It was just a small group of women, but actually because of that, parts of it have just stuck in my head. Yeah. Amazing. That's the closest I've got to memorizing, but it's a great book.
00:33:36
Speaker
o Yeah. Yeah. Lots of wisdom. What are the next, what's our next ones, next categories? The next category is,
TV Show Recommendations
00:33:47
Speaker
okay.
00:33:47
Speaker
TV shows. I'm going to start ni because I only have one recommendation because I had a baby in the last year. so I'm like, I'm completely out. I'm here for recommendations. i was like, I'm like someone who's sick late day. All I have is books.
00:34:01
Speaker
So I watched New Girl. because Zach won't watch it with me. and i And I had a baby and I was like, I'm just going to watch TV. And it was awesome. I loved it. i was like, you're just, the banter is great. I love jazz. It's, I love Schmidt. I love it. I love it. I just had a great time. I watched two seasons on my own. was like, this is, it's up there with like community and 30 rock for me. I'm like, this is just lovely.
00:34:28
Speaker
And that's it. That's my whole recommendation. Love it. ah bri Hit me with the TV. Tell me what's good. Okay. sorry Don't hit me with the TV, but, you know. Tell you what I lied, yeah. Okay, Dave and i this year watched Band of Brothers, which is actually really old.
00:34:47
Speaker
I've never seen it, but I have hate of it. Not the same either. Set in the war, it's a platoon of men moving through and then at the end, and like at the start of each episode you see these old men like reflecting back and they are the real people that the story is kind of based on. Oh, wow.
00:35:04
Speaker
And at the end you find out who's who. So you don't know when you're watching it who is who. It is very moving and just an interesting story. I think it,
00:35:16
Speaker
gives you a good sense of like just the collective trauma that the war was for everyone and the fact that everyone just pretended, not pretended it didn't happen, but it was so normal to them that they didn't think it was particularly difficult.
00:35:33
Speaker
And there's, you know, like even there's a scene in it where someone has shell shock and they're like, oh, he's just got shell shock. Like this guy's a real trauma response, guys. There's real things we could do to help here.
00:35:46
Speaker
m So, yeah, I really enjoyed that. And also Severance Season 2. Severance. I haven't even seen Severance Season 1, but I did watch the trailer because you were like, you have to watch this. And then I, ah I don't know, i just never did.
00:35:59
Speaker
I don't think Season 2 was as strong as Season 1. But. Season one finished and I could not stop thinking about it, like trying to work out in my head what was going to happen next.
00:36:10
Speaker
I loved it. So much so that I have a friend that I've recommended it to so many times and forget that she has tried and did not like it, that her and her husband were like, do not mention this show to us. We've done it. Like stop talking about it because I was a bit evangelistic about it. But, yeah, I enjoyed season two.
00:36:30
Speaker
I will keep watching. um Australian Story this year has been really good, if you ever watch Australian Story. There's two particular episodes.
00:36:40
Speaker
It's on ABC, free to air. So there was one on the artist Alex Lloyd, if you remember the song Amazing from like 15 years ago. You are amazing.
00:36:53
Speaker
That's right. Why do you have for someone to sing it? So it was yeah the simple biology all about kind of like – It was like what had happened to him and he has a fascinating life story. And then there was another one on basically this like co-op thing where they gave women who were vulnerable like a certain amount of money to build a like tiny
Social Projects and Community Involvement
00:37:19
Speaker
home. So they had to put in a certain amount of money and then the company matched a certain amount and then it follows the stories of these women trying to like basically get a house because –
00:37:28
Speaker
The biggest growing sector of homelessness is women in their 50s and 60s basically because yes that is they don't have super and often they've been in like DV situations or they haven't worked full time because they've had kids and stuff and then they find themselves really vulnerable all of a sudden with literally nothing. So it was just like really warming actually to see this like kind of social project.
00:37:54
Speaker
And then I really binged the summer I turned pretty.
00:38:00
Speaker
I want to watch that. and have Maybe this is my summer for it. It's not for everyone. i not only watched. So season three, it became like a weekly thing with some friends of mine.
00:38:13
Speaker
They would come to my house every Wednesday night and we would watch it together. That's which I just recommend having if you've got any friend, watch with them because then it becomes about like actually hanging out together and you know, obviously handy that they were willing to come to my house because I couldn't leave but they could come to me and we would have dinner together and we would watch the episode every Wednesday and chat about it and I got obsessed, like watched the show, read the Reddit forums, reread the book.
00:38:47
Speaker
You watched that? Oh, no. That's what you need. I want something where can like, I want to deep dive this. I just, yeah. it the only I've, like, deleted social media this week, which is just, like, a reoccurring thing in my life. But literally all my For You page on Instagram was just mini clips of the show because I would stop and watch them all the time on social media. This is so.
00:39:14
Speaker
It's tragic. the The internet knew that I was Googling it all the time. But, yeah, I got obsessed. I got really obsessed. And, you know, a movie's coming out in a few years and I'm probably going to get obsessed when that happens too. And then you don't have to reread and rewatch everything again. It's great. yeah Anyway, maybe don't watch it, but I liked it. It was fun.
00:39:37
Speaker
Also a great soundtrack, such a great soundtrack. Yeah, good. Oh, something with a good soundtrack does come. Actually, oh that's what you hear me
Nostalgia in TV and Film
00:39:45
Speaker
think about. we were talking about the OC off air. I'm like, maybe I actually should re-watch the OC, but I'm scared that it hasn't aged well.
00:39:51
Speaker
But I'm kind of there for. In what way do you think it hasn't aged well? and I don't haven't seen it since I was a teenager. Well, I have actually. Watch it now and I can't remember anything.
00:40:04
Speaker
I don't know. what What if I watch it now and it's bad and then I'm like, aw. I mean, it was bad when I watched it, but I loved it.
00:40:12
Speaker
It's nostalgia. Yeah, I reckon it would be okay. I also think probably the fashion has come back around enough that you'll be like, this is so funny. People are now wearing this again.
00:40:26
Speaker
know. Oh, how's it? Interesting. watched it in the news and all the girls are wearing the clumpy high heels and I'm like, they haven't come back. And I'm like, you look cool. But now I'm also like, but now I'm not so cool.
00:40:39
Speaker
or like Those big clump, no, those big clumpity right heels, you know, like those big. Yeah. Those massive heels. Yeah. For me. Thank you. I'm like, I'm just gesturing. I don't, words.
00:40:50
Speaker
They're gone. You want them to come back? No. But I'll hear them. I'm like. They were not comfy. No, they were terrible. And the bandage dresses, but they're all there. And you're like, wow, I used to wear that. I forgot about those.
00:41:05
Speaker
Bandage dresses are coming. Oh, dear. They're terrible. They are so bad. I'm not doing it again. not it again. Also, like, where are you going to wear it? To the park?
00:41:16
Speaker
I'm just going to wear it to church, you know, and just let's set a platform here.
00:41:25
Speaker
Just walked out of the, like, No. You can't sit down. You're just down at the church, but you feel like slide because you can't sit in a bandage. Just slip off the seat.
00:41:37
Speaker
Just roll. ah Oh, my gosh. I know. I just see the outfits and I'm like, oh, wow. Yep. Anyway. Well, what's cool have taken us?
00:41:49
Speaker
i where I'm like, yeah, it was cool. Yeah. But I can't go back to like low rise jeans and I can't go back to banded dresses. And also like the singlet. Okay. okay Completely. This is not where we're supposed to be going.
00:42:03
Speaker
TV. Maddie. Maddie, talk to us about the TV. I am so on to this. I am great at coordinating discussion. I'm super talented. Look, I thought really hard about that the TV show one and I was like, watching Bluey count?
00:42:18
Speaker
Yeah. Like seven minutes episodes and they're so wholesome. Oh, they're great. They're actually funny. funny. I love that there's like adult humor in there and then there's like kids, kids humor. Before I had kids, I watched episodes of Bluey.
00:42:32
Speaker
Like they were just, it was a fun little like clip. Also, my friend's kids were watching them. So I was like, I really need to figure out what this thing is. but But they recommended an episode called Magic Asparagus and it made me laugh so hard.
00:42:46
Speaker
Anyway. I know it. And ah no, I've actually, I'm really into Australian drama. And recently on Netflix, I watched Survivors, which is like set in Tasmania.
00:42:58
Speaker
And it's, it's a, you know, Jane Harper wrote The Dry, which Eric Bernal was in. And, and also Chaucer Notchard for bathroom. Yeah. Yeah, look, I enjoyed those.
00:43:10
Speaker
I do like those those books and I read The Survivors as well. And so this TV series is based on her book, The Survivors. She's got a new book coming out soon. So anyway, I read that. I watched that recently.
00:43:23
Speaker
and Yeah, i enjoyed that. It's like an acquired taste, really. Like, Robbie didn't like watching it at all. And of course, it's kind of, it's a mystery in some ways, it's like the worst of Australian ah stereotype as well. So, i don't know, kind of watch it withz with a bit of like, you know, grain salt.
00:43:41
Speaker
But otherwise, I do really like to just like veg out in another, some other fantasy series. Like, I've watched The Rings of Power. and, you know, those the Lord of the Rings prequel and stuff. My husband, he loves the Lord of the Rings. He listens to a podcast that has taken, I think it might take seven years to get through the entire books. He loves them. like And we tried, love we yeah, I think we watched the first season of it. we did No, we watched the first season of it.
00:44:05
Speaker
And then the second i was like, I need to give up. I can't. I can't keep going. I'm losing the world. I can't do that. Lord of the Rings. I saw one of them in the cinema on a boxing, when it came out on Boxing Day, like probably five years ago. Oh, the movies are good. I like It's probably longer.
00:44:22
Speaker
I fell asleep. I was like, what is this? I apologize because I've i read them. I'm like, and I read them and I've watched them. audio booked the books.
00:44:33
Speaker
I audio booked the books. They were good. I did fall asleep in the first movies when they first came out, but I have since watched them as well and enjoyed them. But, yeah, um just I just do like a bit of fantasy.
00:44:45
Speaker
enjoyed, like, I enjoyed, like, The Mandalorian. That was actually quite entertaining. Again, i to me, it's like an entertaining thing. Yeah, and, like, there's ah a couple of other spinners. Andor, that's the other one. Andor, that was great.
00:44:58
Speaker
That was a great one. I didn't see It's like the spy, like, kind of ah the beginning of the rebellion. And so, like, the early early rebels kind of coming together.
00:45:10
Speaker
So that's really interesting, like kind of in our fantasy land. So I've got a few genres. It's good. Depends where my mental state is. Usually I go to for fantasy if I just can't be bothered with real life.
00:45:23
Speaker
Yeah, fair. Yeah, I kind of bounce around. I'm like, I like fantasy and crime and mystery. don't know. I read but a bit of everything. But anyway. And when in doubt, seven minutes of bluey.
00:45:36
Speaker
Oh, that's sweet. Do you ever watch reality TV, you guys? No, I can't do it. Okay, I... Not reality. The only one I love is Survivor.
00:45:50
Speaker
i just... I've never watched reality TV. For a long time. I can't... There's nothing else I'm interested in, like reality TV-wise. Like, I don't really watch The Block or MasterChef or...
00:46:04
Speaker
I do love the like i curated kind of thing. it It comes across really false to me. um Yeah. that You know, you know that behind camera, you're like, oh, if you do it like this, the audience will love like, anyway.
00:46:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Not big fan. But you can love it. Yeah. Thank you. i do.
00:46:31
Speaker
Maddie says you're okay. Okay.
00:46:35
Speaker
I'm just like, look, what I have to say, see the TV behind me. Okay? My child threw a spear at my TV. See, I'm like, I don't even watch TV anymore because the child threw a spear at the TV and i'm doing that consequences.
00:46:48
Speaker
Can't have a TV now. That's been fun. Love it. The majority of our watching recently has been Formula One. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's reality. Robbie and I are into the Formula One. Yeah, that's reality show, know.
00:47:05
Speaker
Oscar Piastri. Yeah. Great. Aren't you? You're just like smiling. You do you. Yeah.
00:47:17
Speaker
Hey, I feel affirmed. Maddie, just leave your truth, okay? Yeah, I will. but but
00:47:27
Speaker
i like That's good for you. Okay, let's just.
Podcast Recommendations
00:47:30
Speaker
Quick fire round. Each recommend a podcast or two and Yeah. And then... Right. I got one.
00:47:39
Speaker
Go. Okay. Sherlock and co.
00:47:44
Speaker
It's ah just like modern day Sherlock Holmes, but he podcasts instead of like writes it. Hilarious. I tried to listen to it and then I realised that he sounded like Benedict Cumberbatch. So then I just went and watched some of the... I watched like the first season of Sherlock. Of Sherlock?
00:48:00
Speaker
But yeah, with... I love that it comes back, actually. Him and... And Martin Freeman. And it was great. Martin Freeman, yeah. was great.
00:48:12
Speaker
He was good. Couldn't listen to it. That's my one. Tell us what you love. Mushroom Case Daily. Again, there's a theme because I got obsessed.
00:48:23
Speaker
I read the memes. I listened the story. I read a lot of articles. There was, my Instagram was, feed was full.
00:48:35
Speaker
but Yeah, it really was. but mean, the context is though that like there's a mum school, my kid goes to, who's equally got obsessed. And so we would just message each other for like, did you see this update?
00:48:46
Speaker
Did you see this? I'm like that's – if you'd read our messages, like they're so boring but it's just us talking about the Mushroom Case Daily. Mushroom. So I did get into that and obviously that was a fascinating case, especially once she was convicted because a lot more information came out.
00:49:03
Speaker
And then i I do listen to the Shameless podcast and like some weeks I'm like great and some weeks I'm not as interested. But there was an episode last week where they talked about – trigger warnings and like what the research actually says about whether they're even effective.
00:49:26
Speaker
And they talked about kind of this victim mentality that can occur where like someone will be, say someone's posting about like um a video of making mushroom soup and then one of the comments will be like, but I'm allergic to mushrooms.
00:49:43
Speaker
It's like this kind of like, it yeah the whole idea was like we've individualized ourselves so much that we're almost like offended if someone does something that we can't then do. rather than like can you literally seeing these comments come up yeah yeah it's quite common so yeah it's it was just a really interesting look at that idea and it's a secular podcast but yeah I thought it was really interesting how they had come to some of the conclusions they'd come to and also they talked a lot about kind of
00:50:17
Speaker
wanting to ground themselves outside of like being on their phone or how that helps you think about other people and think outside of yourself and beck and i were talking about this is kind of like a reflection of common grace to even yearn for that as a human being and so i just really liked that episode like so i would recommend that one know here i was like you text it to me and then i was like texting you updates as i'm listening to it I was like, oh, I love that room.
00:50:45
Speaker
Oh, yes. Yes. I was like, I love the I honestly look back at my podcast listening history and you know you're I don't even think I have anything really fun, that fun to recommend. The only thing that I really can recommend, but I haven't even listened to probably like this year, but I really enjoyed it and I kind of binged it for, reckon solidly, was kind of know Brian needs a friend.
00:51:12
Speaker
And... O'Brien needs a friend. Conan O'Brien needs a friend. So he basically, he like stopped running his TV show and then he's got like three people on with him. And one of them's like his his assistant who they have this long running joke is like the worst assistant ever.
00:51:28
Speaker
And, you know, they get different people on and like interview them. But then they just talk to people like random listers, like in different, kind of la ola from all over the place. And he interviews them and he's just...
00:51:40
Speaker
genuinely funny like he's totally there just to make a joke about himself like the whole thing is completely ridiculous all of the time but you can just tell you're like hes he's made heaps of money he's not there to like really promote anything he's just actually there to crack jokes and that's probably my best recommendation Yeah.
00:52:03
Speaker
Yeah. i am I think I'm going to watch the summer of 10 pretty. I feel like that's probably going to have to be. going get into that over the summer. Awesome. Okay. Well, i think to sum up, we all have fairly we have fairly different types of things that we love.
00:52:22
Speaker
arm formulaul Yeah. But a good recommendation can make for a very good summer. So i think overall what we really want to say is thank you so much for listening to our podcast, for listening to us as we kind of work out how to podcast.
Listener Engagement and Newsletter Promotion
00:52:39
Speaker
I have been so grateful for all of the people who have just like randomly text in one of us to give us like really useful feedback. Like maybe you guys, I don't know who you are, maybe you guys should introduce yourselves or like maybe you guys should sum up or...
00:52:54
Speaker
Yeah, just actually being like, there are other people listening to this apart from, you know, my mum. That's been really sweet. And something that we would really appreciate if you want to write in over the break. So we have a break from December, January and February.
00:53:14
Speaker
like So our season runs from March through to November. if there's something that you guys want us to cover, if there's a topic that you would like us to cover or you're interested in, please email us. So i my email address is, you know, in the show notes, but it's Rebecca at stories. I'll tell you at dinner.com.au. You can send an email through there and let us know. We'd love to hear from you guys.
00:53:39
Speaker
That's it from us, friends. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. And if you did, you can sign up to our free weekly newsletter called Stories I'd Tell You at Dinner. So you get essays, poetry, podcast episodes, everything, photo essays straight to your inbox on Wednesdays from March to November from Christian women in Western Australia.
00:54:01
Speaker
If you'd like that, the link is in the show notes. Thanks for listening, guys. Music.