No comments about What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

5 comments about My Friend Leonard.

1. This might just be the best book I have ever read. It's a great story, a great 'sequel' to "A Million Little Pieces". I definitely recommend this book to anyone!



2. Utterly outrageous. A treacly, horrible work containing no more literary substance than a pork rind does nutritional value.



3. I read this on the heels of A Million Little Pieces, which I loved. If you read it without reading a Million Little Pieces I think it falls flat. It's an okay book, but not one that I find even slightly credible. Even if everything Leonard said and did is for real, or if everything is fiction, it's still not much of a story and not terribly interesting.



4. AWESOME BOOK! It's entertaining, touching and a beautiful sequel to one of my all time favorite books. I don't care what Oprah says, this author is amazing. His style is relatable, and the content makes every book a page turner. If you're looking for a raw, gripping novel, I highly suggest picking up a copy.



5. I loved this book! It was just as good as James first book. The story is very compelling and I read it in a weekend, could barely put it down.

5 comments about The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World.

1. This book is a great read; interesting, funny, and not mentally taxing. I had to read it with 'google' close at hand- he mentions so many interesting facts that I constantly was looking them up to read more. If I had one complaint it would be that I get a little tired of Jacob's complaints on the difficult/ time consuming/ stressful aspects of reading the encyclopedia. Other than that it is great- Jacobs seems just like the kind of guy you'd enjoy having a beer with.



2. Once I started to read this, I couldn't put it down! It was a great read and provides a lot of interesting info about the Bible.



3. Essentially, Jacobs uses the Encyclopedia Britannica as a tool to describe a year of his life. Although nothing unusually interesting happens in his life during that time (albeit his wife becomes pregnant and he does appear on Who Wants to be a Millionaire), the book works because he seamlessly weaves his humor, philosophical musings, and encyclopedia entries with the mundane everyday happenings in his life. I also enjoyed the book because the idea of reading the encyclopedia from A-Z is something ridiculous that I would do (I once tried to watch all the foreign films at the local video store from A to Z in order - of course Jacobs does much better because I only made it midway through the As). Finally, I liked Jacobs' humor because it is similar to Augusten Burroughs. I'm looking forward to reading The Year of Living Biblically.



4. I purchased the audio version of this book as a gift for my 66year old father to listen while commuting to and from work. He said he thought the book was "Entertaining" and almost as good as Jacobs other book "The Year of Living Biblically".
   What more could you want from an audiobook? Really??



5. I finished his Bible project book several weeks ago and needed to read something else of his. He's witty, humble, entertaining, and his self-deprecating humor is an attractive quality. I was disappointed to finish it, because I wanted it to continue, which is odd because there isn't a plot line. He gives interesting comments on new knowledge he's gained. It might seem a dull idea for a book, but his commentary is insightful, smart, sometimes silly, and laugh-out-loud funny. He provides a picture of his life and family making the book even more interesting. Recommended, but some obscenties.

5 comments about It's All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life.

1. I cannot recommend this book enough for every woman. It truely changed my life. I read it in half a day, and think about it weekly. It truely taught me forgiveness and for those struggling with hurt and betrayal, who need a way to faithfully overcome the hurt and to forgive, this is an excellent book!



2. I bought this book for my mom last Christmas. She read it in two days. She loved it and it made her respect Alan Jackson all the more.



3. I picked up this book and could not put it down. I got it from the library but had to go buy my own copy. Denise is so open and honest and I learned so much from her story. Thanks so much for opening up yourself and sharing your joys and heartaches. I cried and laughed. I wasn't really an Alan Jackson fan but I am now! Great story!
   Shannon



4. I was shocked when I got this product, as I thoutht I was getting a used copy and it was brand new and had never been opened. I received it in a very short amount of time. I would purchase from them again.



5. Denise Jackson's journey through love, heartache, despair, and ultimately happiness and spiritual awakening is truly a remarkable book. Through lean times she relied on love, through rough times she relied on Him. Now in happier times, she realizes that it always has been all about Him. She places all her trust in God and credits Him for never leaving her "I will never leave you or forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5), and making all things possible. "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13). A poignant, heartfelt read about love and faith.

5 comments about Forward From Here: Leaving Middle Age--and Other Unexpected Adventures.

1. FORWARD FROM HERE will delight you if:
   
   --you remember with great fondness the writings of Reeve's mother, Anne Morrow. Making allowances for the generational differences, their styles and subjects are similar: family, nature, the written word per se, etc.
   
   --you have read and enjoyed Reeve's other books. I found her UNDER A WING more tightly focused and thus, to me, more engaging; and NO MORE WORDS more frank and moving. But FORWARD FROM HERE has much of the charm of a lovely, simple dessert,what Anne Morrow Lindbergh called "something sweet at the end of the day." I was happy to have this book waiting at my bedside table for several nights, and only wished it a little longer.
   
   --you are actively engaged in "moving forward" from 60-plus. The book deals honestly but cheerfully with a generous handful of the standard challenges of ageing. We are also offered time-tested insights on matters such as parenting, reading, writing, and modern drugs(pro and con).
   
   --you want to know a bit about Reeve's reactions to her father Charles Lindbergh's three secret simultaneous mistresses and families. (The "Lone Eagle" indeed!) Of course this long-hidden aspect of Charles Lingbergh's otherwise much-celebrated life might well be the subject of a complete and probing book of its own, written not out of prurience but with the intent to better understand the puzzling psychological and emotional temperament involved. But Reeve Lindbergh will not, I think, be the one to write such a book.



2. What a pleasure to read! I am not quite finished with this Kindle book and the more I read it, the more I'm enjoying it. Lindbergh is a sensitive, thoughtful, writer and I can relate to her experiences on so many levels. I, too, am a woman of a certain age, a mother, grandmother, potential (me, not her) writer. Her perspective on life, the natural world, her family just drew me in and I found myself wishing she were my friend.
   
   Thank you, Reeve, for a lovely reading experience. I'm recommending this for all my friends and if they don't buy it, they're getting a copy for their birthdays or Christmas/Chanukah.



3. Forward from Here is Reeve Lindbergh's best book yet. Funny, tender, compassionate, profound, Lindbergh reveals herself to be an accomplished and graceful writer--something you might already suspect if you have read her earlier books, Under a Wing (about growing up Lindbergh, with two extraordinary parents, Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh) and No More Words (about her mother's decline and death). In this book, Lindbergh (an author of books for children) explores the happiness and hazards she encounters as she journeys from middle age into her sixties--the "youth of old age." "I might as well enjoy the view as I travel along from my birth to death, inhabiting this being I call myself," she writes. "I may be a passenger on the journey, or I may be the vehicle itself, but I'm definitely not the driver. I'm here, but I'm not in charge."
   
   Maybe, but she's not just along for the ride. In this collection of nineteen personal essays, she laughs at the pleasures of her rural Vermont life--the joys of reading, writing, raising lambs and boys and encountering turtles--and takes a sober look at the challenges of living in an aging body. The vanities of youth are gone (she quotes her beloved sister Anne, now dead of cancer: "After a certain age, there's only so good you can look.") and she is making "friends with reality." Not sure that she wants to wear purple, with a red hat that doesn't go, she looks back on a time when she wore lavender eyeshadow and white lipstick (do you remember doing that? I do) and laughs at herself. In fact, she knows that's the best thing to do: "laugh at myself when laughter is called for, weep when I need to, and feel all of it, every bit of it, as much as I can for as long as I can."
   
   As far as feeling all of it goes, the most remarkable essay is the "Brain Tumor Diary," an account of the months (July 2006 through May 2007) when Lindbergh was dealing with a brain tumor--benign, thankfully, but large, intrusive, undeniably there, and needing to come out. It was a difficult time for her and her family. The saving graces were her writing and her focus on daily life: "Dailiness outlasts despair," she says. "For a while the rhythms of daily life may seem to be submerged, even drowned in disaster, but that is never true." The "Brain Tumor Diary" is a report from the front lines of daily life, lived in the face of possible disaster.
   
   The Lindberghs are no strangers to life on the front lines and in the public eye. Reeve and her siblings have had to deal with as many as fifty men who have claimed to be the Lindbergh child kidnapped in 1932. But there is more, and in her final essay, she writes movingly about the way she felt when she learned that her father, the picture of rectitude, a "stern arbiter of moral and ethical conduct," had three secret European families and seven children. Indignation, anger, rage at her father's deception and hypocrisy, shame--it's all there. But in the end, there is compassion, and even humor:
   
   I certainly could have done with his [my father's] endless lectures on the Population Explosion...A man who fathered thirteen--I think, I still have to stop and count us!--children, haranguing one of his daughters about world population figures? Give me a break!
   
   And in the end, knowing her father to be at once "deeply intelligent and incredibly energetic," and "angry, restless, opinionated...obsessed with his own ideas and concerns," she has to admit that the multiple families made a certain kind of sense: "No one woman could possibly have lived with him all the time."
   
   "I'm hoping that as I get older I'll get braver," Lindbergh writes at the close of this splendid and moving book. I'm hoping that Lindbergh will take us with her as she bravely explores her future, forward from here, and that soon we'll be able to read the next chapter of her journey.
   
   by Susan Wittig Albert
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



4. Reeve Lindberg is a sensitive, wonderful writer. The subject she chose for these essays are pertinent to us over 60 and beyond. I'm recommending this book to all my lady friends.



5. I always feel a book is worthwhile reading if you take something away from it that strikes a chord within you. Two things resonated with me. On page 26 she speaks of loss: "...I carry my lost loved ones with me...I have learned over the years that I can do this, that love continues beyond loss." Further on she says: "My experience has also made me understand that loss is inevitable, and that loss too, continues forever, right along with love." So beautifully stated and so true. The other bit of philosophy we could all profit from is: "I don't believe in 'rehearsing trouble,' advice given to me years ago ('Don't rehearse trouble, Reeve!') by Helen Wallace..." Everyone reads from their own perspective. Certainly Reeve Lingbergh has experienced life differently from me, but so have many of my friends. I cannot identify with everything in her book, but I think she is a person that would be nice to know.

5 comments about The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World.

1. This is one of the best books I have ever read! There are too few stories about Sephardic Jews from the Middle East. I had no idea about Cairo being so cosmopolitan in the 1920s to 1940s. As an Ashkenazi Jew the Jewish stories I'm familiar with are mostly of Jews from Europe and Russia. This is extremely well-written and compelling. The characters are intimately portrayed, and the story moves along quickly. I couldn't put it down. This is a book that I'm recommending to all my friends and family.



2. This is a wonderful and tragic story of a Jewish family who lived in Egypt until the early 1960's when conditions made it very difficult for them to stay. The author tells the story of her grandparents and her parents in wonderful detail, and takes the reader with her on their exodus from Egypt to become refugees in France and then new immigrants to the United States. This book is a must for anyone who wants to learn about the story of Jewish life in Egypt in the 20th century, which came to a sad end as a result of the hostility of Egyptian government towards Israel. The author focuses on the personal story and avoids politics, and shows a graceful attitude without any bitterness towards the country which made her family leave.



3. I'd been meaning to read Lucette Lagnado's family memoir for awhile. Learning that the book had won the 2008 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature motivated me to actually pick it up. This past weekend, I finished reading the book. And it's an excellent read.
   
   Given what often seems an unending stream of memoir-related scandals, not to mention the primacy of what I'll charitably call the dysfunction narrative (and of course the interrelationship between the two), reading THE MAN IN THE WHITE SHARKSKIN SUIT is a gift. Not only does the author focus on a story that's truly fresh (in this case, the story of a Jewish family's history in Syria and Egypt and the massive dislocation it experienced in 1962 when emigrating from Egypt, first to France and then to the United States). Not only does she include authentic "evidence," including photographs, documents, and file citations from the social service agencies that worked with her immigrant family in Paris and New York. But she also presents rounded portraits of multiple "characters," especially her parents (her father, Leon, is the eponymous man in the white sharkskin suit) and grandparents (especially her two grandmothers). An exercise in navel-gazing, this is surely not. It's not until late in the book that the author's own life-threatening medical problems--which another writer, especially in this Age of the Misery Memoir, might have chosen to make the subject of an entire book, and which are artfully presaged in earlier chapters--take center stage. Even then, it's the effect of her illness on those around her rather than her own suffering that seems to matter more.
   
   What will you get from reading this book? You'll get a sense of the culture of a Levantine Jewish community, one that I, for one, previously knew only superficially (mostly through stories about the in-laws of one of my mother's close friends). You'll get some history, of World War II and the Suez crisis. You'll get stories of Jewish immigrants in France and Israel and the United States. You'll get the texture of Brooklyn in the 1960s and 1970s. You'll get the almost unimaginably shocking story of what happened to one of Lagnado's maternal uncles at the hands of Lagnado's own grandfather. You'll get the triumphs and the tragedies of her family, and you'll get, in particular, a sense of the deep bond between Lagnado and that extraordinary man in the white sharkskin suit. Don't miss it.



4. 
   Lucette Lagnado's moving memoir is subtitled My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World. It is a story of a remarkable father and his family movingly told with the feel of a novel as you share the experiences of this family who traveled half way around the world to settle in America. Lucette Lagnado, who is a senior special writer and investigative reporter for The Wall Street Journal, demonstrates both her skill as a writer and an investigator.
   
   The story begins with the marriage of her parents, Leon and Edith, in wartime Cairo. As the family establishes itself after the war, the position of the Jewish community gradually deteriorates until, in the early sixties they flee to Paris en route to their eventual destination. The strength of both parents and the details of the family's difficult journey is a story that this reader found intensely moving. The thought of being "stateless", as they were once they left Egypt, is hard to imagine. That they overcame this and survived is a tribute to their courage. This is a memoir that I will not soon forget.



5. A very interesting book about a middle class family of six in Egypt who is forced to leave Egypt because they are Jewish and find a new home in a foreign country with $212 allotted to all six of them. It shows the stark contrast between Egypt pre-Nasser and post and the contrast between Egypt and the United States. It also shows the pschological impact of a change in cultures for one of the members at an advanced age with significant health problems.

5 comments about Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project.

1. This was a great purchase. I haven't finished it, but wish I would of known about this sooner.



2. I had never heard of the StoryCorps Project until recently. Since I am facilitating a memoir writing group, I ordered Listening Is an Act of Love.
   I loved it! Every page was a gentle focus on real people's lives. I highly recommend this book. Don't miss it!



3. StoryCorps is America's largest oral history project and was begun in 2003 by Dave Isay.
   
   I became aware of this book while listening to the StoryCorps excerpts that air on NPR Friday mornings. One morning in particular I heard the story of the unofficial spokes people for StoryCorps, Annie and Danny.
   
   Their love affair is told in the final pages of the book, the chapter entitled "The Story of StoryCorps." When my daughter and I heard their segment on NPR that morning on our way to the coffee shop, we were held mesmerized until it came to an end. It was one of those "transfixed in the parking lot" moments. We sat there, tears streaming down our faces until the end. We didn't go inside for our time of coffee and conversation until we could compose ourselves. That was the day I heard about and decided I had to have this book.
   
   There are two versions, one which comes with a CD and one without. I made the mistake of saving a buck and going without. I recommend getting the CD. I suspect it makes the experience all the more enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, the book is fabulous and full of stories that fill your heart with light and love.
   
   Every section of the book has heart-wrenching pieces. Stories that will define the American experience. The section entitled Fire and Water is particularly emotional as it deals with stories from the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001 and Hurricane Katrina.
   
   I will recommend this book, and give it as gifts to my parents and others.



4. These are great stories from everyday people. If our legacy is the stories of our lives that we share with others, then this CD is what we should all be recording for our family and friends. I only wish there were more than the 20 included.



5. wonderful! can't wait for another to read! opens your eyes to the great people in the U.S.-their challenges, hopes, and happy times

5 comments about Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia (P.S.).

1. This was exceptionally written. Marya is a girl who suffers from severe anorexia and bulimia and lived to tell about it. When she begins her story and talks about when she first started her bulimia, her observations of things at this young age seemed far beyond her years. Her feelings and thoughts are described in the most intricate detail and intelligence. It isn't a surprise that Marya won awards for her writing.
   I grew up during the 70's and 80's but I can't really relate to the obsession with body, weight and food. Society may play a part in her eating disorder but I think her family, their lifestyle, her relationship with her parents and their eating habits all contributed to Marya's eating disorder.
   I am amazed at how well Marya was able to put her experience, thoughts, feelings and diagnosis into words. Her ability to go back and interpret her disease and why she did the things she did is truly amazing.
   I think all girls, teenagers and adult woman should read this book. Not only for the perspective of the eating disorder but to get a true picture of how everywhere you go women are talking about their weight and the parts of their bodies they hate.



2. Marya Hornbacher is witty, honest, and surprisingly insightful. Marya does not hold back. I can not imagine what it is like to have the truth (pretty much, the bad, the ugly, and the uglier) out on paper, much less published and widely circulated. It certainly takes courage. There is always a little part of the human psyche that does not want to "look in the mirror" to face the self-created and self-destroyed reality. I was equally impressed to find out that Marya was 23 years old when she wrote this memoir, the maturity of her voice, philosophical discussions, and the depth of her experiences do not betray this fact. This is definitely a must read for anybody looking to find out more about life (and death) with EDs.



3. Marya Hornbacher is the mediator between the everyday human being and the world's most widely misunderstood creatures of society: the eating-disordered. In "Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia", she explains to readers that eating disorders are not just "phases" that teenage "girls" go through, but rather an intense, passionate desire for power that "strips you of all power" instead.
   Hornbacher, a freelance journalist who is also the author of "The Center of Winter" and "Madness: A Bipolar Life", developed bulimia at age nine, developed alcohol and drug issues at the age of thirteen, and became anorexic at the age of fifteen. After her release from a residential treatment hospital, she attended the University of Minnesota and wrote for the local paper, accepting her scholarship to American University later in 1992. She later developed other physical problems following her continued eating disorders.
   Although a rather sullen story of the highs and lows of her struggle with weight, Hornbacher addresses the point that eating disorders, cultural obsession with weight and body, food, and control have a lot in common. In one section of the book, she writes that an eating disorder is



4. Marya wasn't always the way she is today. She used to be the all American girl eating PB and J's while she watched her cartoons, but when Marya was eight years old something in her brain changed and since then she has never been the same.
   Author Marya Hornbacher beautifully illustrates her struggles with bulimia and anorexia in her autobiography Wasted. She shows a world that people hardly get to see and explains the life and ways of bulimics and anorectics that is both compelling and inspiring.
   Wasted takes you through 10 years of Marya's life as she slowly jumps back and forth between anorexia and bulimia. It depicts the everyday struggles of the disease; how the body slowly stops to care about what is occurring, the constant worries about food, and the fear that someone might find out and God forbid, possibly try to help you! It goes in depth about the psychological factors of the disease and explains it all in a way that is understandable and relevant. This book will both shock and sicken you as you discover what goes behind closed doors of these two heartless diseases.
   My praise is endless for this novel and I thank it for opening my eyes to the mysterious world that is impossible to fully understand unless you've experienced the ordeal first hand. Many people could benefit from taking the time to read Wasted, which will help to clue people in and provide a better understanding to the problems in our society and what goes on to the people who are enduring these struggles daily. However this book is not a constant thriller and amongst the eye opening and realization moments there will be a few parts that are tedious and almost seem to drag on. In spite of the occasional drowsy sections this book offers an incredible insight inside the secret lives of bulimics and anorectics and I would confidently recommend it to anyone who wants a brilliant and inspiring read.



5. The author dives deep into her life and the choices she made. She doesn't hold back. Up front and personal.

5 comments about The Reagan Diaries.

1. What a fantastic book; written by President Reagan at the time history was being made. They say hindsight is 20 20 but it's astonishing how spot on he was with his comments, made without the benefit of looking back.
   It's very enlightening to see what his thoughts were as history was being made and even the mundane or trivial things take on greater meaning when judged by the context of the present day.
   Reagan kept pretty good notes and they're all here. In addition, there are quite a few color photos to put faces to the various people he talks about.
   If you are interested in presidential history and in his motives i highly recommend this book!



2. I gave this book to my aunt who is 89 years young. She reports back to me that she loved it. She read it in 3 days.



3. This book gives you insight into the thoughts of a great American during a period of recent history that was so vital to our nation and the world.



4. I'm not quite sure what to say about this book. I got the abridged version, which was quite brief, and I think it was a little too scarce. That being said, it did give me a relatively decent insight into what the man was like. Being that I was still in diapers when Reagan took office, I have no personal memories of him and this is really my first introduction to him other than what I have heard in the news or through word of mouth.
   
   It seems to me that the man was not unintelligent, yet there was a certain simplicity to his thinking which is exactly what endeared him to many, yet frustrated others. There were a few examples of this that were actually laugh out loud funny. When writing about the assassination attempt, he earnestly says, "getting shot hurts." Or when describing a certain economic report, he exclaims "just got the latest assessment of the economy, it's bad!" He comes across as a fundamentally decent man, though one with little tolerance for opposing viewpoints. We also learn exactly what he thought about issues like the Iran-Contra scandal, the air traffic controllers strikes, relations with Russia, Israel, etc. We also learn how important his faith, and his wife Nancy were to him. All in all, this is a decent book, but if you really want more substance you should probably go with the unabridged version.



5. This book is a great read, cover to cover. It was really neat to see President Reagens' perspective of things. How he looked at the media and different events. My respect for him as a President and person continued to grow as I listened to this book.

5 comments about Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith.

1. This gracefully written narrative tells the story of Taylor's journey toward ordained ministry, her years as an Episcopal priest, and her departure from that life into a new vocation as a college professor. She decides that the most important calling is not to be ordained or to be religious, but to be fully human and to live a life of love. This is a touching autobiography, an eloquent memoir of faith.



2. I read a lot of memoirs these days. In fact they are probably my favorite literary genre. Maybe I should have been warned by Taylor's subtitle - not simply "a memoir," but "a memoir of faith." Because this is not a memoir in the usual sense. There is precious little of Taylor's childhood, youth or young adulthood - no real concrete stories and examples from her life. Too much of this book remains caught in the abstraction of ideas and beliefs, with not nearly enough examples. The people who show up in the book remain undeveloped vague outlines. And I have a hard time identifying with Brown's spiritual "quest," if that is what it is. I don't think it's because she's a woman either. What few facts that do emerge about her life outside this "quest" do not really serve to make her a sympathetic character. Daughter of a psychotherapist, sister of a lawyer, wife of an engineer - all these tidbits add up to what appears to have been a life of privilege and ease, and continued to be even after her ordination, as she speaks of her Saab and Audi and how they didn't fit into her rural community, and goes on at some length about everything she "wanted" in her custom-built home outside of town (in lieu of a parsonage near her church). What comes through in Barbara Brown Taylor's book is a story of a driven overachiever, who in fact drives herself into a near nervous breakdown, which finally causes her to leave her church and the active priesthood. While I do not doubt the sincerity of her quest for her true vocation and place in God's world, I do wonder about her motives. She became more likeable - more human - in the final section of the book, after she had left the priesthood, when she talks about her crisis of faith and things like her fears of inadequacy and the death of her father. Having said all of this, I still have to say that I'm glad I read the book, which has left me with much to think about in regard to my own role in the Church (Catholic in my case)and my relationship with God and my place in His world. I also think that Taylor is a person I'd like to know, but these 200-plus pages have not given me that opportunity. A memoir of faith? Perhaps. A "memoir"? No. - Tim Bazzett, author of Reed City Boy



3. This book would have been more accurately described in the subtitle as a "Memoir of Personal Experience".
   
   She dismisses orthodox Christian Theology and doctrine as something that the Apostles and Early Church had to "come up with" to explain this or that.
   
   Ultimately it is a story of how the narrow Christian path and Church "didn't work" for her, and many of her thoughts and experiences confirm the fact that women were never meant to be "priests" in the first place (though this fact enrages those who hold to the political language of "equal rights" versus sound apostolic theology).
   
   I found the book pleasant and very readable, but at the same time it was a sad story of how Christ just "wasn't enough". While most in our culture will find it "affirming" or down right "spiritual", it is a disappointment for the orthodox Christian who may wish to read a story about how Christ and the scriptures contain "all things necessary for salvation".
   
   Barbara's approach in later life is gnostic and universalist. In the words of her Presiding Bishopess, "saying Christ is the only way is to put God in too small of a box". Emotions, feelings, and cravings rule the day in the final analysis of her relationship to Christ, and it seems that "leaving" orthodoxy is freeing to her, though I question she was ever there in the first place. Ultimately, God is the final judge of what she has done and what she now teaches.
   
   Her elevation of Native American theology and her fondness of "other paths" leads the committed Christian looking elsewhere for a story of knowing Christ and Him crucified, and following Him in a culture that values personal choice and heterodoxy over all other things.
   
   In the end it is a volume that will find great company with the writings of Spong, Borg, Ehrman, and others who deny the reality of John 14:6 and the authority of Holy Sripture in the name of being on "an authentic journey".
   
   If I have to "put my eggs in one basket" I am going to have to stick with the Apostles and the Church Fathers and leave "other ways" up to Barbara, fine preacher though she is.



4. Over the course of my life I have learned certain things about salad; it has good, nourishing things in it, like spinach, almonds, feta cheese, and olive oil. Sometimes you can add strawberries. With a splash of balsamic vinegar, it sings. Other times it is dressed with slightly less healthy things like mayonnaise or sour cream, but generally its ingredients have a clear line of succession back to something alive; apples, raisins, eggs, potatoes.
   
   Then I moved to South Dakota, where I was introduced to "salad". Unlike what I have just described, this concoction is made of things like Cool Whip and crushed up Oreos. It tastes good in the moment, but by the end of it I am always left slightly nauseous and wondering where it came from.
   
   There's a lot of spiritual "salad" out there. Thankfully, this offering is not in that group. From the moment you crack open the cover, it sings. Her story of earthy, fragrant devotion to God is refreshing and very alive. It breathes the living life of Christ and speaks from the still beating but wounded heart of the church. Thankfully, Taylor veers only briefly into the sordid realm of political hot button issues, and for good reason.
   
   With fifteen years in the pastoral crucible under her belt, and an evident love for all of us, Taylor comes across as someone you can trust. Her words in this precious memoir are nourishing, full of flavor and, like the vegetables in her Georgia garden, entirely organic.



5. This book just "popped" up as an advertised suggestion for me, and after looking at the details on Amazon, I decided to order it. I am doing a lot of soul searching about my own faith journey, and am having a struggle with the Institutional Church not truly following the teachings of Jesus, having gotten enmired in politics and building empire. I felt this book was speaking to me, and is one I could hardly put down. It is well written, and certainly one I would, and have recommended to others.