We were excited to welcome author Christine Cohen to the podcast. We discussed topics related to her books The Winter King and Sinking City . We asked her what she looks for in a good heroine, why it’s ok for her characters to suffer hardship in a story, and talked about her own omnivorous tastes in reading. Thank you for joining us Christine!

Links: 

• The Winter King, by Christine Cohen
• The Sinking City, by Christine Cohen
• Christine Cohen’s Author Page on Facebook

In this episode, Lydia Foucachon is joined by Christiana Hale, author of Deeper Heaven: A Reader’s Guide to C.S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy. Listen in as they discuss common preconceived notions about the Ransom Trilogy and how to approach it for the first time, Lewis’s primary purpose in writing the trilogy, as well as his approach to the medieval cosmology. 

Links: 

• Deeper Heaven: A Reader’s Guide to C.S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy – Roman Roads Press book link. 
• Deeper Heaven: A Reader’s Guide to C.S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy – Amazon: Audiobook, Kindle, and Book.
• The Ransom Trilogy (or The Space Trilogy) by C. S. Lewis
• Planet Narnia by Dr. Michael Ward
• Discarded Image by C. S. Lewis 

Welcome to Season 2! Lydia and Valerie took a few weeks off to let Valerie settle in with her newest little one, and are excited for a new round of conversations about cultivating our minds and homes. We’re wrapping up our series on the theology of hospitality and beginning a new series on one of the more practical aspects of hospitality, as well as of daily life: food and drink. Today’s episode is all about cookbooks! A brief history of cookbooks, the changing uses of cookbooks in a digital age, and the cookbooks that helped us learn to cook.

Cookbooks discussed on the show:

• The Joy of Cooking
• Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook 
• Everyday Food: Great Food Fast
• Fat Salt Acid Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking
• Smitten Kitchen Everyday: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites
• Mastering the Art of French Cooking
• On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
• Jerusalem: A Cookbook
• Simple: A Cookbook
• The Flavor Bible
  

In time for Advent and Christmastide gift giving, we took a brief hiatus from our hospitality topic to talk about children’s books! We got so excited to share about our favorite titles and authors that we ran out of time! We’re planning a part two at some point, but this will be enough to hopefully add a title or two to your lists, and we’d LOVE to hear from you what titles we should add to OUR lists!

Book Links:  

• The Little House, Virginia Lee Burton
• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Virginia Lee Burton
• One Morning in Maine, Robert McCloskey
• The Mitten, Jan Brett
• Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Every Day of the Year, edited by Fiona Waters
• Saint George and the Dragon, Margaret Hodges
• The Church History ABCs: Augustine and 25 other Heroes of the Faith, Stephen J Nichols and Ned Bustard
• I Believe: The Nicene Creed, illustrated by Pauline Baynes
• Favorite Parables from the Bible: Stories Jesus Told, Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen
• Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale, Martin Waddell and Jason Cockcroft
• The Twelve Days of Christmas, Laurel Long

Persuasion is not the most popular of Austen’s works, but we think it’s a hidden gem. Can a passive heroine be an agent of change? Is there a hint of Dante’s Beatrice in Anne Elliot? And is Persuasion a “follow your heart” story? 

Links and Books:

• Persuasion, by Jane Austen
• Persuasion, (movie, 2000)