What I’ve Watched & Read – Fall Edition

My posts in the past that touch on what I’ve watched and read recently are pretty popular. I guess I can see why – I love getting recommendations of good books to read and documentaries to watch.

Recap of May

Recap of April

To find documentaries, I usually just call out on Twitter to find out what other people are watching. That way I don’t have to re-create the wheel.

What I’ve Read

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been super busy, but being in planes, trains, and automobiles as allowed me some down time, unplugged, to read. I’ve also always been in the habit to spend at least 15 minutes before bed with a book – no matter how late I turn in – and if I don’t do this, I don’t sleep. Despite it being a solitary habit, reading can also be expensive. Check out my post about how I read 4+ books per month for free.

Here’s what I’ve been reading:

Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood

This was such. a. good. book.

I got it for free using Swagbucks [referral code], and started reading it on my way home from my vacation. Despite being in a plane/at an airport for over 14 hours, the trip went quick (as trips do when you have a good book to read).

I love Margaret Atwood, and Alias Grace was no exception.

The Chocolate Money by Ashley Prentice Norton

I loved this novel. I find it hard to describe, but it’s essentially about a little girl (turned teenager and adult later in the book) who is growing up with a self absorbed, dysfunctional chocolate heiress as a mother.

I gobbled it up in under a week.

My mom bought this book and loaded it on her Kindle. This enabled me to read it since we share an Amazon account. Free!

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai

I’m currently reading this book. It’s really good. You can tell that it’s written by a young girl, and the writing is good but not amazing, but with a really good story, that doesn’t matter.

Malala focuses on the school that her father ran and she went to, and the horrors that her valley underwent under the Taliban. I’m only about 60% through the book but she hasn’t really focused on the shooting.

So far I’d recommend it.

What I’ve Watched

I love documentaries, and I also have a bit of a weakness for MTV reality TV. This will become apparent below..

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

I love documentaries that make me want to get off my ass and get moving. I find that they usually stoke small lifestyle changes on my part. When I watched Forks Over Knives, I cut out a lot of the dairy that I was eating prior to watching it. Even though I knew that animal products weren’t healthy, I still ate them. Seeing real life examples of the effects of these things and real statistics kicks me into gear.

This documentary had a similar effect. The documentary is about a man who was overweight, had a rare disease, and was overly stressed. He took a few months off and went on a juice diet, and was committed to living a healthier lifestyle. His juice fast lasted for several months, and the transformation was pretty amazing.

I didn’t buy into the whole juicing thing, but it does make you think about what you’re eating and whether or not you are getting the nutrients you need.

Catfish the TV Show

We caught an episode of this when we were travelling and were hooked.

There’s something so interesting about watching people fall in love online, and find out who their internet amour really is. It’s probably more interesting for me, because I met my fiance the old fashioned way – at a party (when I was 18).

Plus, Nev and Max are adorable so that’s helpful.

I watch this for free on mtv.ca.

Any suggestions on my next favourite documentary or book?