Letters from the Holy Ground: Seeing God Where You Are by Loretta Ross

This author/spiritual director/pastor was the speaker at our women's retreat this past winter. She was pretty cool. This is her book. I've used it for the last several months, reading one chapter each day in addition to my daily Bible readings. She writes about finding God, spirituality, and holiness in our everyday lives.

"All of God's creatures are on the lookout for a little shelter, a place out of the rain and cold. To be filled with all the fullness of God instead of being full of the world's clutter and pain, we have to create and maintain space...When it comes to holy ground and the recollection that is part of creating it, the rule seems to be squatter's rights. Whoever gets there first, lays claim, and stays the longest, gets the space."

--Loretta Ross

Put your feelings into words.

Plain and Simple by Sue Bender

This book was recommended to me by my friend, Sandra (thanks, Sandra!), and I found it at the Sunnyvale book sale several weeks ago.

Initially intrigued by the design of Amish quilts, Sue Bender spends weeks living with Amish families in Iowa and Ohio. Something about the quilts and something about the everyday lives of the Amish people speak to her and touch her very deeply. This book recounts her spiritual journey of finding out what was being touched in her. She discovers that it is important to continually ask the question of What really matters? Our answers to this question will determine how we arrange our time, what we value, and what we discard.

Sometimes I read a book that speaks to me exactly where I am, and this one did just that. I savored this book and found it to be very encouraging, refreshing, and inspiring.

Some quotes that I liked:

"Listening to your heart is not simple. Finding out who you are is not simple. It takes a lot of hard work and courage to get to know who you are and what you want."

"...there is a big difference between having choices and making a choice. Making a choice - declaring what is essential - creates a framework for a life that eliminates many choices but gives meaning to the things that remain."

Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo

This is the story of three families, the Lynches, Bergs, and Marconis, and how their lives intersect. It's a sprawling story, spanning fifty years and two continents, but most of the story takes place in small-town Thomaston, New York.

The story is told through three characters: Lou C. Lynch (his unfortunate childhood nickname of Lucy sticks with him throughout his life) whose parents own a small, struggling grocery store. Bobby Marconi becomes a celebrated painter, but lives with his anger towards an abusive father. Lastly, there is Sarah Berg who alternates between living with her father who is an eccentric English Honors teacher/aspiring writer and her mother who makes her living by not-so-moral means. Sarah marries Lou, but loves Bobby as well.

Little clues are dropped about how the characters' lives are all intertwined. Some are very surprising and the whole story eventually falls together. This book also shows how incidents in childhood can haunt us throughout our lives and come to shape who we are, for better or for worse.

A very satisfying read. Rich, deep, lush with details. So far one of the best reading experiences I've had this year.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

The author takes one year off after a messy divorce and spends four months each in three countries: Italy, India, and Indonesia. In Italy, she focuses on pleasure (learning Italian and eating lots of yummy Italian food). In India, she devotes herself to the spiritual (spending time at an ashram and meditating). Lastly, she stays in Indonesia with the goal of finding balance between pleasure and the spiritual.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed the Italy section. Gilbert is a good writer and quite funny too. The India part was kinda weird...I've had some experience with meditation, silent retreats, and meditation, but there was some stuff in this section that was a little too off-the-wall for me and I skimmed portions of it. The Indonesia section recounts details of a love affair that well, I just didn't really need to know about. Overall, I appreciate Gilbert's writing and I enjoyed reading this book for the most part. I guess the thing that I'm still up in the air about is whether I like her as a person.

Another quote sent in by my sister, Virgina Woolf.

"I have sometimes dreamt, at least, that when the Day of Judgment dawns and the great conquerors and lawyers and statesmen come to receive their rewards — their crowns, their laurels, their names carved indelibly upon imperishable marble — the Almighty will turn to Peter and will say, not without a certain envy, when He sees us coming with our books under our arms, 'Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them here. They have loved reading.'"
--Virgina Woolf

Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days by Judith Viorst

A short little book about the three months that Viorst's son and family came to live with her and her husband. (She's the author of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.) Mildly funny and amusing with thoughts and observations on parenting and grandparenting and learning to be flexible. But, it also made me think that if the worst problem in the world is that your grandchildren make a mess of the house, then life might be pretty good. Some people would love to have that be their only worry and concern.