4 comments about Sometimes a Woman Needs a Horse.

1. I found Mrs Kellehers insights to be very heart warming. Her insights into what a wife wants and needs from her husband and friend, are an eye opener and I think any man who truly loves his wife should read her insights on how to properly share hearts in gentleness and sincere respect for each other.
   Mrs Kellehers insights into the tender ways our Lord meets our needs and leads us are insights that can only come from a heart that is open to loving and being loved.
   I found myself caring very much about Fanny's every need and the spirit of her heart.
   I am certain that this book will encourage your heart and I highly recommend it.



2. This book is one of the best books that I have ever had the privilege to be blessed by and Betsy is an absolute truthful lady that will be an inspiration to you as much as she is to me!!
   
   By the way she expresses her journey and struggles, allows it to be very easy to relate to and can give you hope on your own journey!!!
   
   I cannot wait for her next treasure!!! Bless you, Betsy!!!



3. Betsy has written a truly amazing and inspiring book for every horse lover and christian woman desiring to perfect their personal realtionship with Jesus Christ and their horse. Every sentence is uplifting in some way. Her poignant sharing of difficulties she faces in her everyday life as a woman, wife, mother, daughter, horsewoman, and christian are full of lessons for us all. I find I am renewed by her honesty and feel 'relief' to know I am not alone in my struggle to draw nearer to my God and meld as one with my horse. Betsy's book clearly demonstrates that to love a horse is a God given love; and that you can be filled with God's spirit and find His direction for your life as you bond with your horse.



4. This book is is for those people who love horses. However, it much deeper because the author is able to gently demonstrate how her horse led her to understand herself. The beautiful analogies she pieces together through training a problematic horse is sensitive, honest and interesting to read. I could not put this book down. She opens her personal life before the reader as she shares a journey that is her life. I found it appealing because despite many situations that confronted her, it was her horse that brought her back to solid ground. God spoke through this amazing animal as he gave them a special bond. Some of us have had a horse that challenged us and made us feel less capable of our riding and handling abilities. I have an Arabian that is very testy. I read this book seeking to find answers about how to deal with my horse. It showed me a deeper insight into horse handling, as a spiritual bond, that is based on trust. My horse has come a long way in her behavior issues and I have also gained an understanding about how a horse is a marvelous gift to enjoy as an instrument of God's divine instruction. I highly recommend this book. I enjoyed it so much!

5 comments about Faithfull: An Autobiography.

1. Faithfull's account of her life (much is devoted to her time with Mick Jagger) is written from the perspective of a 25-year-old who does not have the benefit of hindsight or maturity. Of course, she wrote it in her late 50s or early 60s! It's highly entertaining, though!



2. Recommended reading for those fascinated by the 60s. Although some of Ms. Faithful's history is bizarre (to put it mildly) it is fascinating. Couldn't put it down in fact. In Exile on Main Street the author suggests that anyone really trying to have insight into the Stones in the 60s should read Ms. Faithful's book. I concur.



3. What a waste of time to read this junk...She glorifies being a druggie, groupie and sleeping with every guy who came around. Did she ever get STDS or AIDS? I sure cant figure why not and what about her son? Sounds like she just gave him up to her mom.. What a cold hearted person she must be. If I were her I would be embarrased to admit some of the stuff. As for making Mick a lover, I was most interested to hear that Keith is actually a caring person unlike the persona he gives off.. (if you can believe any of Mariannes stories here)... She is really a messed up lady trying to make $ off this book. Hope she has the decency to give some to her "son"?



4. Bought as a companion to Patti Boyd's autobiography to get the girlfriend/wife's side of the 60/70s pop music era, Marianne's book is quite depressing. After her childhood she leads the charmed life of an early singer touring and bedding many famous stars such as Bob Dylan and then is thrown together with the Rolling Stones. Most view her as Mick Jagger's girlfriend, and she was, but she also was intimately involved with Keith Richards and Brian Jones. Most readers will want to know how Mick and Keith come across and I must say, they both are treated kindly by Marianne as great people. Mick actually comes across as quite normal, not as in to drugs and drink and Marianne, Keith or Brian.
   
   After the early history and historic drug bust of the Stones including the "girl in the fur rug", this book moves back to Marianne as she breaks up with Mick and descends into a drug hell with suicide attempts and eventually living on the street. Unfortunately, Marianne, when you are out of the public eye, your life will not be as interesting to most people and it plays out here quite depressing including her loss of parental rights to her son.
   
   This is an excellent book to read if you have an interest in the 60s and pop music. Otherwise, I'd take a pass as it is the story of a semi-famous person who threw away much of her life. For me it was interesting as I have interests in these issues. But overall, an average book.



5. Without a doubt one of the top twenty rock and roll recovery tomes, great depths of despair, huge contrast, much insight and of course dry wit. Never apologetic but very honest :this was a page turner

5 comments about Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home.

1. OK, here's the deal. I get the quarterlife existential crisis, I do. But when you're suffering said crisis in Provence at your sugar daddy's villa, and you have no job, no responsibilities and no sense of humor--and then you write a mopey 350-page book about it--that crisis becomes unrelatable and obnoxious.
   
   While she's sunning naked on Corsica, she feels isolated and unloved. OK, that's legit, but her vague misery, as conveyed through Sunee's admittedly excellent writing, means that I don't even get to enjoy Corsica by extension!
   
   The sights and smells and tastes of Provence sound wonderful, but the extended descriptions of cunnilingus by her old, rich French boyfriendm and her interpersonal relationships in general are just tiresome, exhausting and as unfulfilling for the reader as they are for Sunee. As a rule, none of the humans in this memoir are drawn half as well as the dishes. You don't get a real sense of what the people look like, where they came from or what contributes to their various flavors.
   
   I found myself sympathizing with the mother she finds so critical and cold. The mother obviously is trying but failing to convey the absence of substance and maturity in her daughter's life, but Sunee is so angry (she claims her sister is the angry one, but it's obviously her), that she ignores the warning entirely.
   
   For that matter, I couldn't figure out for the life of me what she saw in any of her boyfriends other than privilege and heavy-handed, controlling gift-giving and empty promises of salvation. She was young. I get that, too. Almost all young women have made the same mistaken emotional investments, but she doesn't seem to learn anything, she doesn't have any wisdom to convey after having survived the suffocation of the bell jar, she isn't more interesting or wiser after it all, she just speaks French fluently and is passably continental.
   
   Basically, this book is too long, the author is too self-serious, and the life lived is too self-indulgent and spoiled to be genuinely interesting to anyone but the writer and her immediate family.
   
   I was expecting M.F.K. Fisher, Betty McDonald or Mildred Armstrong Kalish, but this woman, articulate though she may be, doesn't come close to achieving their level of perception, wisdom or general literary appeal. I don't recommend this one. Sorry.



2. What a fascinating book. Vibrant characters, vivid descriptive passages, a passionate love story, and genuine French recipes. I couldn't put it down. It left me wishing I knew what happened after the last page....we need more Kim Sunee!



3. Totally loved this book - Kim is a beautiful writer and brought me
   right into her world. She recaptured moments so fully that I
   experienced the momentous highs and gloomy lows right alongside her.
   Many times Kim opened up so vulnerably and honestly, it felt as if I
   was reading her intimate diary entries - a brave decision on her
   part, but very rewarding for the reader. Food is tied to all moments in her
   life, and the way she artfully involves the smells and tastes into her
   writing made me savor the book ever the more. I think Trail of Crumbs
   might be better received by the female audience, but it is a fantastic
   read and an engaging look into the world that is Kim Sunee.



4. Kim Sunee can write well enough, and the premise of this book is intriguing. But over the course of the pages, I grew to find her less appealing, and found the book increasingly less engaging as the story seems to become repetitive and lose focus.
   
   I think that primary allure of this book for the publisher was that the main character has a relationship with the Olivier Baussan, the founder of L'Occitaine. (If he'd been just a regular French businessman, I doubt this book would have received write ups in the New York Times.) He meets Kim, falls in love and brings her to Provence. There, she lives an enviable life that is the stuff of Peter Mayle books. They purchase an apartment in Paris and they take trips all over the world. For Kim, the sensitive poet, he even opens up a bookstore dedicated to poetry for her on the Ille St. Louis. But it isn't enough for Kim. In her 20s, she feels smothered by the domestic nature of her life and relationship with her older lover, who is portrayed as a controlling, if well meaning, mentor. Fair enough. I could sympathize that her life may have taken on the frame of a gilded cage.
   
   Where this story becomes troubled is about one third of the way through, when the author moves away from Olivier to live in Paris on her own. For one, she's been a stepmother to his young daughter and she just walks out on her. From the book, it appears she never even sees the little girl again. I found this a surprisingly callous move from someone whose own issues come from being abandoned by her mother in Korea at age three. Olivier calls pleading for her return. Clearly, they continue to have a connection and Kim seems to enjoy his calls, but instead she dates a series of men. But then, she is enraged when she finds he takes on a lover. So she's agnostic about her relationship with Olivier until she can't have him -- then feels rejected when he's already moved on.
   
   But even so, around this point, she lost me. To be fair, the above is an old story of flawed human emotion that some of us have experienced, and more likely when we're immature and in our 20s. But it doesn't make good or compelling reading in this case. In this long section of the book, I felt like I was reading a cleaned up version of her diary or journal, and kept wondering why her editor didn't pare parts of this down.
   
   I expected this story to end with some kind of resolution, but there really isn't any. After some 300 pages, I was left with the feeling that there was no discovery of what home truly meant, nor any breakthrough in self awareness on the author's part. As a result, there was no such conclusion for me as a reader.
   
   I left the book feeling that Kim is probably a nice person, even though this book makes her sound a bit self absorbed and even a touch shallow. Perhaps she needed more time away from this period in her life to have a more insightful take on it, and to offer more reflective takeaways from other adoptees who also have issues with the concept of "home."



5. I recommend That's How the Light Gets In: Memoir of a Psychiatrist by Susan Rako, M.D. The title comes from a song by Leonard Cohen: "There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." Rako's book is fascinating, inspiring, and wonderfully well-written. The writing just flows.

5 comments about I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies): True Tales of a Loudmouth Girl.

1. I laughed till I cried. I have shared this book with my daughter and several friends. I like the fact that the chapters are short. I'm reading everything by Laurie Notaro I can get my hands on.



2. Laurie Notaro's books are a must-read for the smart-alecks in the crowd. Smart, witty, clever...she fits the bill. Make a note of it...anything by Laurie Notaro is worth reading.



3. I haven't laugh this hard in a long time.... I was having so much fun that I gave one to my daughter and she would called me late at night, just laughing and telling me which page to go to and it was a great bonding experience........It is awesome! thank you Laurie!



4. Although I feel compelled to note, right up front, that humor is tricky and what one person finds funny may not appeal to another, I still think this book is one that MOST readers will find laugh out loud funny. I love every book Notaro has written and they've found a permanent place on my bookshelf because they're guaranteed to lift my spirits on even the worst days.
   
   Hers is the kind of humor that I'm tempted to call a combination of humor and self-help because I ALWAYS feel better about my life after reading about her misfortunes (but not guilty, because she is able to laugh at herself and, besides, her books sell well, so I figure any temporary humiliation is offset somewhat by that).
   
   Notaro has a knack for being totally shameless about exposing life's various insults foisted upon her - and making normally dull subjects seem funny (everything from having kidney stones to finding herself traumatized and in a state of near nakedness, quite by accident, at Disneyland (yes, DISNEYLAND).
   
   She is quick to point out her character flaws as well. She can be impatient, clumsy, drawn to the wrong type of boyfriends (until she found her husband) and prone to the most embarrassing experiences. Somehow this makes for a great read. I relate to her and I think a lot of others will.
   
   I should note that this may fall into the type of book known as a "woman's book" and I'm not sure how many men will relate to this one. I hope I'm wrong about that.



5. Laurie Notaro is my hero. She has a great writing style. Her stories are hilarious. I suggest every woman who has ever struggled to fit in and do the right thing to read her books.

5 comments about The Incredible Shrinking Critic: 75 Pounds and Counting: My Excellent Adventure in Weight Loss.

1. I had trouble finishing the book. I did not find the inspiration I was hoping for as I have with other books. Writing down one's journey through weight loss is a daring move yet not all are worthwhile for everyone to read. I am in my late twenties and feel maybe this book is better for someone in their 30s or so given the age of the writer.



2. I have suffered through one thing or another connected to my body "issues" and losing weight since forever. This is the first book that really inspired me. If you are looking for a boring how to book--this is not for you--buy an atkins diet book or some other "amazing weight loss book that will ensure you lose weight this time around" book (translation ANOTHER waste of MONEY & TIME). This book deals with the fundamental issues involved with why you gained so much weight and how to get it off with a little honesty, humor and plain old fashioned hard work.



3. The thing about this book is that Jami, who lost 75 pounds, lets you see inside her head while she was taking the weight off. Let's face it, those of us who've tried to take this weight off before know all we need to know about weight loss: eat less, move more, stay focused. But Jami lets you inside her head, she shares the frustrations, the joys, the buried issues, the past hurts, the broken relationships, and the need to truly look at one's self to take this weight off. She lets you know that if you don't/won't dig deep into who you are and who you want to become then your shot at losing this weight is pretty small. I needed to hear this story. She's humorous and witty and real. Her writing is engaging and she's a great story teller. Don't miss out!



4. I loved this book, it's just as good as the other personal weight-loss story I read called "Secrets of a Former Fat Girl". I love Jami Bernard's style of writing and her sense of humor. She told her story and made it interesting, while giving tips of useful advice throughout the book. She lost 75 pounds in over 2 years, so her weight loss was slow but she wanted it that way, so that she could get used to the changes she made and make it part of her lifestyle. It's true that slow weight loss is the way to go if you want to be able to maintain a healthy lifestyle and maintain your weight in the end. Jami goes into details about just how she went about losing weight and what she did to make changes in her life little by little (For example, when she was 230lbs, she would eat large amounts of full-fat ice cream. She then changed to frozen yogurt, saving hundreds of calories a day, and then finally after some months, switched to 50-calorie jello and didn't end up missing her full-fat ice cream) She talks about her past and how she was offered free pizza for life at the age of twelve if she would "spend just one night" with the man who owned the place. (She was thin until her 30's) She talks about incidents that happened when she was fat that might hit close to home for some people! Overall her story is really motivational, interesting, helpful, and just fun to read.



5. Its smart, funny, and full of great and helpful information. I love this author's style of storytelling. When I was done reading I felt like Jami and I were good pals. So I read it again and loved it just as much. I hope to see more from this author.

5 comments about Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire (Modern Library Paperbacks).

1. I was never a biography fan until this book. Foreman does a dazzling job of bringing Georgiana to life. I could read this book over and over again!



2. if some one told me what really happen 18th century upper crust i would not believe them.money,sex,adultery,hidden preganacy,lesbianism,royality,gambling and drug addiction.fashion theather social scandals,politics,betrayal, blackmail and war.it's a soap opera that really happen.even a evil bestfriend who bears two childern by georgina husband is through in.this book is addictive.i didn't put it down till last page.



3. I was wanting more of a historical novel but this book reads more like a text book. Almost every page has notes at the bottom of the page, this makes for very "choppy" reading. Interesting subject but not a cozy read. I had to make myself finish the book.



4. I am currently obsessed with Jane Austen, came across a glowing review of "Georgiana: Duchess..." in the New Yorker, and couldn't resist reading this story of Regency England. Unlike Austen's heroines, the Duchess has a very dark side - she's a gambler, adulteress, liar, drug addict...I found myself wanting her to be happy (and to win against the evil Bess) in spite of (or because of?) these qualities. In the end, her charisma, beauty, fashion, gentleness, vulnerability, wit, privilege, and political engagement endear her.
   
   I loved the book, the story, the characters, the history, and the politics. Unlike some other reviewers, I found Foreman's writing incredibly engaging and easy to read.



5. Foreman writes a good biography firmly grounded in academic research but lucid and readable for the nonacademic reader. She suffers slightly from a bias towards her subject - which she admits herself in her introduction - but overall a solid work. I'll look forward to more by this author.

1 comments about Governess: The Lives and Times of the Real Jane Eyres.

1. The appeal of fiction's most famous governess - Jane Eyre - is the romance, of course. Take away the happy ending and what have you got?
   
   Well, you've got the penury and abuse which made up the lives of most actual governesses in 19th century Britain. Luckily for historian Brandon, the fascination of history does not depend on happy endings, although there is enough melodrama and injustice to fill a Thomas Hardy novel or two. Or six.
   
   Brandon centers on six women (and those around them), famous and obscure, who earned their living as governesses. None chose this powerless profession for the love of it. It was the only avenue for money making for a woman too genteel to become a servant. The only requirement was respectability. Her actual situation in the family was dependent, isolated and precarious.
   
   A governess was not expected to know any science or arithmetic. Her function was to turn out marriageable girls, and everyone was agreed that over-educated girls were unappealing to men.
   
   Brandon's choices of subjects necessarily depended on how much documentation survived of their lives. These lonely women wrote a lot - letters, journals - but little of it survived. Fame - as in the case of Mary Wollstonecraft and her less fortunate stepdaughter, Claire Clairmont - helped.
   
   Some of Brandon's choices were published writers. Anna Leonowen's 1870s memoirs became the basis for "The King and I," and Anna Jameson wrote on literature, art and, later, the rights of women.
   
   Agnes Porter, Brandon's first subject and the ideal of the governess, wrote lots of letters. She was one of the lucky ones, a natural teacher who remained two generations with one family and received a pension. She was also one of the last of an earlier generation, when governesses were employed by wealthy aristocrats who felt an obligation toward loyal servants.
   
   Not that the governess was a servant, exactly. She existed in a limbo between the kitchen and the drawing room and was often rejected by both.
   
   Even Miss Porter, beloved of the family, was ultimately powerless. A jealous second wife denied her a parlor of her own with the result that her social life was curtailed and a matrimonial hope extinguished.
   
   As the 19th century advanced, the middle class grew and required a more genteel education for their daughters. Middle-class women without an income or a husband could be companions or governesses.
   
   Though Mary Wollstonecraft died young, just before the dawn of the 19th century (after the birth of her even more famous daughter Mary Shelley, author of "Frankenstein") her strong views reverberated throughout society, making her, for the most part, an anathema.
   
   Mary "fought her way out of governessing to become a radical journalist," making a name for herself with "A Vindication of the Rights of Women," a manifesto shaped by her efforts to earn a living. Brandon brings her to life as a forceful, charismatic woman who captivated her charges while despising her servitude. Her brief life was full of drama and fury and action and a dutiful responsibility toward her younger sisters whose long lives were spent in bitter governessing.
   
   Men have much to answer for in Brandon's account. Societally, of course, they had all the power and preferred to keep it that way. But they wielded their power in more personal ways too.
   
   Lord Byron clapped his illegitimate daughter in a convent, forbidding her mother, (Claire Clairmont, Mary Shelley's step-sister) access simply to punish her for annoying him.
   
   Nelly Weeton's brother Tom, for whose education she sacrificed her own legacy, cheats her, and later colludes with her brutal husband to rob her of the last of her property.
   
   Brandon shows why women such as Nelly - who had accumulated property of her own - marry and give up their financial independence (married women forfeited all property to their husbands) calculating that even a bad marriage is better than a spinster's isolation.
   
   While writer Anna Jameson made an unsatisfactory marriage work to her advantage - living independently while supported by her unhappy husband - most of these women lived firmly under the thumbs of the men in their lives and the male-centered laws of the land.
   
   Brandon's pages are full of women cheated and abused by male relatives, their children taken from them, their reputations besmirched, their property stolen. She sets the women's lives in the context of their times, quoting liberally from letters, literature, essays and other writings which reflect the views of their contemporaries. Women as well as men fought to keep the status quo - to limit the education and rights of women in order not to disrupt the fabric of society.
   
   Many - mostly men - believed that given education and independence women would choose not to marry!
   
   Engaging, informative, and well-organized, Brandon's dramatic and thoroughly researched account provides a fascinating view on the workings of Victorian society through the difficult lives of individual women.

5 comments about Lakota Woman.

1. I learnt so much from this book, and felt myself getting angry because of her experiences. good on her for telling her story. L'Ohanna



2. An autobiographical account of Mary Crow Dog's life, this includes experiencing the events that happened at Wounded Knee, and her relationship with her husband, as well as the politics and experiences associated with the AIM political movement.
   
   A look at the disturbing state and problems these people were facing at the time, very interesting.



3. An interesting look at the American Indian's struggles in the latter half of the 20th century. The perspective of Mary Crow Dog is helpful for those who have no similar life experiences to compare to it. Very good insight.



4. The book came in perfect time and is in excellent condition. I have added it to my collection of Native American History



5. This is a very powerful book about Mary Crow Dog's experiences growing up as a Lakota (Sioux) woman on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. It should be required reading for anyone who feigns ignorance of the ways that Native Americans continue to be treated in the US today. Local whites, the state of South Dakota, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the rest of the power establishment have their inhumanity exposed.
   
   Crow Dog writes in a very sparse style, and writes of brutal incidents in a matter-of-fact way. While this style makes the book compelling, it is also responsible for a major weakness of the book. Throughout the book, Crow Dog is never introspective. Things happen (she uses drugs, starts shoplifting, chooses men poorly) or happen to her (she is raped, among other things), but she doesn't think about why these things happen. She conveys neither a sense of her own agency in these events, or a sense of her own lack of agency.
   
   Oddly for an autobiography, Mary Crow Dog is the object, not the subject, of this story. Even at Wounded Knee, she doesn't really understand why she is there, other than the fact that she has followed the male authority figures of the movement into the siege. She made her choice and put her body on the line but can't really explain why. How life on the reservation produces people like this is certainly worth reflection.
   
   This siege at Wounded Knee provides the centerpiece of the book, and its natural climax. Crow Dog has a very different view of these events than the accounts provided by the leadership, who knew their history and knew what they were trying to do. Crow Dog also talks about the aftermath of the siege, and the period when her husband was in jail. At this time, she also followed him into the practice of Native American religion, and - - more implicitly than explicitly - - explains why this religion is attractive to many.
   
   Finally, this book also provides a valuable insiders' perspective of the dysfunctional communities on Pine Ridge. It's interesting that the politically correct crowd condemns Ian Frazier's "On the Rez" while praising "Lakota Woman"- - both paint similar pictures of the same reservation. It's true than a Lakota insider brings perspectives not available to outsiders, but a white outsider also bring perspectives not available to insiders. Read them both and make up your own mind.

5 comments about Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses.

1. John Updike once said that there are three great mysteries in life: sex, art, and religion. Isabel Allende has added food to that mysterious mix in a delightful way --- food is sexy and erotic and enticing in her book and is explored in a way that reminds one of lacy lingerie, seductive but mysterious at the same time. Allende, over fifty and still recovering from the painful loss of her daughter, writes boldly and bravely of how loss and all its pain is still concurrent with life's joys.
   
   As a writer myself who has written both a cookbook and about the erotic lives of people over fifty, I found Allende's honesty, sensuality, and joy utterly luscious and also comforting in that even as we grow older we have our senses and can celebrate them as long as we allow ourselves to. This is a beautiful book with wonderful illustrations including the sexiest peaches you will ever see. The recipes are intriguing. But more than anything it is an affirmation that our senses have the power to heal us and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.



2. This collection of stories reads like an erotic cookbook of sorts. There's even a recipe section!



3. This book weaves a beautiful tapestry of life, love and food. The information on the aphrodisiac ingredients is not very in depth but always accurate. And the prose reads as though it is tumbling straight from Allende's mouth. Although I have not cooked from the book, I love that she added a section of recipes.



4. I have read "Paula" and there is no doubt that Isabel Allende is a talented writer. Her passionate tone seems to just find a way to your heart.
   
   Aphrodite is acookbook erotic-style... truly inspires fun ideas for both food and foreplay. Great historic facts on spices, a collection of rather comical stories and the recipes are to die for.
   
   If you are a hedonist. Get this!



5. I have read this book in installments. Why? Because I knew my mother would have a fit if she knew I had read it. Lusty, juicy, it's wonderful education for a curious virgin like me.
   (I swear on the Bible I'm a virgin.)

5 comments about Everyday Sacred: A Woman's Journey Home.

1. I read this book years ago and forgot about it. At a recent book club meeting, I noticed a similar picture on the book of a friend. I went in search to find it. It's second only to her first book, Plain & Simple, which I've enjoyed immensely and purchased several copies as books. A good book for our times.



2. I was given a copy of this book many years ago..it sat on a shelf for a number of years before one day I picked it up and started to read it. It is one book both men and women should read. I have given it as gifts at least 60 times and just recently purchased 3 more for gifts. It truly hits the soul...if you want to do something for "yourself"...read it!! You won't be sorry.



3. "Everyday Sacred; A Woman's Journey Home" by Sue Bender is a book about the author's spiritual journey while living amidst the Amish. Bender highlights that each day, and the 'everyday' within each day is sacred. There are many opportunities to experience sacred encounters in one's life, by focusing on appreciation of simplicity and the little things in life such as enjoying a warm cup of tea or noticing the beauty of flowers in your garden. All in all 'Everyday Sacred' offers clarity, optimism and hope amidst our modern world that is all too often hectic and stressful. What I enjoyed most about 'Everyday Sacred' is that reading the book really did take me on an experiental journey into the sacred; most remarkable! Congratulations Sue Bender on writing such an inspiring and successful book.
   
   If you like 'Everyday Sacred' then you'll love NEXUS by Deborah Morrison and Arvind Singh, a successful, new age debut novel, an absorbing guide to the dazzling universe of spirituality in terms of life's joys and sorrows. NEXUS enriches our understanding of heart-centered, soulful living, enlightenment and compassion. All over the planet people of all faiths and backgrounds are suddenly experiencing an intense attraction for the wisdom and knowledge of NEXUS, a book that has already achieved top 100 status on several bestsellers lists! Nexus: A Neo Novel



4. After witnessing the recent horror (school massacre) inflicted upon the Amish community, "Everyday Sacred" is a timely reminder that they and the human spirit will endure.
   
   It reminds us to ask not what we lack, but to appreciate, daily, what we already have. My favorite quote from the book is: "Don't try for perfection. Trying to be good enough will be plenty."
   
   I am giving it my highest recommendation because it is more than good enough - it is a spell-binding read!
   
   Reginald V. Johnson, Author, "How To Be Happy, Successful And Rich"



5. It's a great description of the Spritual Cure.... but we never analyze what was wrong in the first place... it's a type of Narcissism which in her case comes into conflict with her religious values and forced her to develop her spritual walk as a cure.
   
   And it's a good cure, often overlooked because we neglect to name the Beast thats at the core.So the spiritual cure goes untried.