A Life at Work: The Joy of Discovering What You Were Born to Do by Thomas Moore

Eh. You can skip this one. Do/read something else to figure out what you were born to do.

Home Tonight by Henri Nouwen

The subtitle is: "Further Reflections on The Parable of the Prodigal Son - A Guide to Finding Your Spiritual Home."

So if you haven't read Nouwen's Return of the Prodigal Son, read that book first. That book is one that I will always keep in my library. I even loan it out hesistantly because it is that precious (and it's expensive). I let my mom borrow it and she still has it after a year or so. Not because she hasn't read it or has forgotten about it, but because she is continually reading it.

This book is about finding our true home in God. This is a book that I will add to my own library and I've already given it as a gift.

Some quotes:

"We are not what we do. We are not what we have. We are not what others think of us. Coming home is claiming the truth. I am the beloved child of a loving creator. We no longer have to beg permission from the world to exist." --Henri Nouwen

"There's nothing as painful as being rejected, but if it is lived against the background of the first love, it becomes possible to survive." --Henri Nouwen

Bleachers by John Grisham

I just went to a Friends of the Library book sale, the bag sale part where you buy a brown bag for $4 and fill it with as many books as you want. Boomer and I bought two bags and got about 40 books, including one HUGE dictionary that is now sitting on my dictionary stand. It looks so official.

This is another book that made it into one of the brown bags. A fast, feel-good read by John Grisham about former high school football players gathering to pay their last respects to a beloved/hated coach. Nothing too fancy or super great. It's more like a short story.

I think I enjoyed it because I've been watching Season One of Friday Night Lights (also recommended!), so I have high school football on the brain.

The Empress of One by Faith Sullivan

In my recent review of The Cape Ann, I wrote that "this is my most favorite book so far in 2009." Which is why I was so excited to get my hands on this book which is the sequel.

What a disappointment. The story and characters were both flat. This book did not live up to the first at all. I actually wish that I hadn't read it and could keep the story in my head as it ended in the first book.

An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor

During my last library visit, I felt so lucky. Or blessed. I found a handful of new books by my favorite writers. As I've sat on my bed reading during the last week, I've been surrounded by these great books. It is a really happy feeling for me.

This was one of those books. It's about how we find the sacred in the ordinary things of life. I savored each chapter of this book and only let myself read one chapter a day.

What Taylor says about the Sabbath:

"Test the premise that you are worth more than what you can produce - that even if you spent one whole day being good for nothing you would still be precious in God's sight...Your worth has already been established, even when you are not working. The purpose of the commandment is to woo you to the same truth."