Isn’t it Lovely to Be a Bibliophile? Special Guests: Ashley Holen, Danielle Shields, and Alli Veldhouse

“I think that’s what books can do: everyone’s got a story to tell…to be able to understand so intimately what it’s like to walk in the shoes of another person and another culture and what those experiences are like.”

Calling all bookworms: the Isn’t it Lovely? Book Club is BACK and better than ever as fan faves Alli Veldhouse and Ashley Holen bring along literary soulmate Danielle Shields to join Rachel and Tracy for a second installment of BOOK TALK! Appropriately recorded in a local Sioux Falls library, this episode spotlights Danielle’s story of why reading is so important to her (along with a gentle dispelling of the notion that all books must be read to completion), as the rest of group listens with rapt attention to her pearls of wisdom. Spanning everything from worldview-changing reads to guilty pleasures, the conversation also includes Ashley’s nomination as “most likely to be Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games”, Alli’s determination that Elin Hilderbrand's books deserve perhaps a PG-13 rating, the overall pros and cons of marking up books, and Rachel and Tracy’s shared mic transforming into the sixth entity in the room.

Episode Mentions:

• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

• Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero

• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

• Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

• Neither Wolf Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder by Kent Nerburn

• The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins

• The Winter Series, The Blue Bistro, The Paradise Series, and The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

• Sweet Valley High Series by Francine Pascal

• The Bible

• Share Your Stuff. I’ll Go First. by Laura Tremaine

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

• The Attributes of God by A.W. Tozer

• The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery by David Brenner

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

• Find Your People by Jennie Allen

• Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

• Letters to My Son by Kent Nerburn

• Jim Kwik: Brain Coach

• Libby: The Library Reading App

• Isn’t it Lovely? Podcast Season 3 Episode 6: “Isn’t it Lovely to Fall in Love with Reading?”

What Are You Loving:

• Alli: Olga Alteration and Tailoring and Goof Off

• Danielle: Classical Stuff You Should Know Podcast Episode 169: “Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling”

• Ashley: Flourish Wellness and Birth Co.

• Rachel: Flourish Wellness and Birth Co. and Culture Con 2022

• Tracy: Science Nutrition, TB16 Thermal Burn, and HydroIV

Ashley Holen loves her job as a full-time nurse practitioner at Flourish Wellness and Birth Co., but her proudest accomplishment is raising four boys. She loves to be around people, but also savors quiet moments alone to read, exercise, and look through recipes. She is the most alive when she’s gotten six to seven hours of sleep and spent any amount of time outside. Each day Ashley is learning to understand that the only way not to be crushed by what happens on the outside is to have the greater force of Jesus living on the inside.

Danielle Shields is joyfully married to Joshua and together they are enjoying the adventure of raising their three sweet gentlemen and one little lady. Danielle has found reading to be an escape and delight since her early days tucking into Beverly Cleary treasures or Nancy Drew mysteries.

Alli Veldhouse is a wife of 12 years to the wonderful Caleb and mom to three energetic boys: Pierce, Judd and Teddy. She loves all things design, travel, and reading, of course. She bounces between being a social butterfly and being a home body.