30 Days of Writing: A book you love

Holly: It took me a long time to come up with this one because, like Kelly, there are so many books I love.  Originally I was going to talk about "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", but a friend who we are inspired by chose that...didn't want to steal her thunder.  You should read that, though.  I mulled over a few more (eventually deciding to scrap "The Hobbit" too) until I decided on this:

It tells the story of a young student (the author) who is called to the bedside of a former mentor and professor of his, Morrie, who is suffering from the debilitating end stages of ALS.  They had not seen each other since the student, now an accomplished newspaper columnist, had taken classes from him almost 20 years back.

It's a very short read (about 100 pages...I can read it in a day), but full of insight, wisdom, poignant and touching moments.  Have a box of tissues handy.  For me, it made me think of the professors and mentors that have influenced me and my life.  I haven't read it in a while but I will again.  A must-read for everyone! 

Kelly: Well, this one is tricky. I mean, there are a lot of books I love. I could talk about The Bible, which would be an obvious choice, I suppose. It is a good book if you haven't had the chance to read it yet. I was going to talk about The Hobbit, but we all know I could give my LOTR/Hobbit likeness a break. So I figured I'd talk about the best of both worlds:

Walking with Bilbo; A devotional guide through The Hobbit 

Holly and I found this book through our recommendations on Amazon. Having not heard of it, we decided to give it a try. We read and discussed two chapters/week, which took us about 3 months to get through the entire book. Even though it was about The Hobbit, I really enjoyed it because it helped us see so many of the Christian themes that are associated with Tolkien's writings and it connected them with Scripture. If you are a Tolkien fan, then this devotional I would definitely recommend!