Happy First Day of Autumn! Fall brings lots of wonderful stuff with it: leaves changing colors, thunderstorms, Halloween and Thanksgiving, ghost stories, pumpkins and cider and harvest. As a new season begins, here are a few great stories to hunker down with and share with others!
Books:
Peace like a River by Leif Enger – After committing a terrible crime and then escaping jail, 16-year-old Davy Land has become an outlaw hunted by the police. Refusing to abandon their older brother to arrest and imprisonment, siblings Reuben and Swede leave their small midwestern town and set off on a cross-country expedition to find Davy and bring him home. While locating their fugitive brother seems like an impossible task, the siblings have one extraordinary asset: their widower father, Jeremiah, who believes wholeheartedly in miracles and seems to conjure them wherever he goes.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Shaffer and Annie Barrows – Autumn is a great time for mysteries and love stories, and this book is a fantastic blend of both. After receiving a letter from a stranger, author Juliet Ashton finds herself swept up in a strange, fascinating tale revolving around the British island of Guernsey, which was occupied by the Nazis during WWII. Along the way, she meets a motley crew of war survivors whose lives were intertwined by stories, and finds her own story changing in ways she never expected.
Music:
Light for the Lost Boy by Andrew Peterson – Andrew Peterson is one of the most gifted storytellers that I know, and this album is his best work. While each song is a beautiful work of art, the album’s strength is in the cohesive story that it tells about the loss of innocence, the passing of time, and the yearning for redemption.
The Cymbal Crashing Clouds by Ben Shive – This album’s Beach Boys-inspired tunes and poetic lyrics find beauty in the mundane, challenging us to take a closer look at the world around us and to see the mysterious hand of the Creator at work in it. Check out these lyrics from the opening track, “Listen!”:
Shrouded in steam and smoke
On a dark cloud he approaches
And the tails of his coal-black coat
Are a train of lumbering coaches
He passes unseen like a ghost
But he thunders like a herd of horses
And he calls to the heavenly host
To join with their airy voices
Listen!
TV:
Over the Garden Wall – One of my roommates shared this Cartoon Network mini-series with me (looking at you, Dylan), and I shared it with my family, and now it’s one of our favorite stories to share with others. It tells the story of two brothers, Wyrt and Greg, who find themselves lost in the Unknown, a strange land where few things are as they seem. It’s a spooky, hilarious, and ultimately moving tale.
Sherlock – If mysteries and ghost stories are your cup of tea, and for some inexplicable reason you haven’t seen this show yet, get thee to Netflix and check it out! This show manages to be modern and surprising while also remaining faithful to the spirit of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective stories, which is an impressive feat. Brilliant filming, scriptwriting, and acting from start to finish.
Words for Wayfarers 