For Real
>> Monday, January 25, 2010 –
books,
things i like,
this wild adventure
Image found here.
I am slowly reading Bird By Bird.
I have loved Anne Lamott ever since I read Traveling Mercies. I find myself drawn in by her way of writing truth with grit and humor mixed together on the page. She makes me laugh at myself. And that opens me up to more of myself.
I want to live and write and love and feel and lose and gain for real. I don't want to "miss it" because I've tried to be someone I'm not. So when a book holds an honest mirror in front of my face, I'm in!
Have you read books that make you live for real? Is there a turn of phrase you've read on a page that made you catch your breath and move from one way of thinking to another?
I'm answering Goal Setting Questions from here and want to put together a list of books I'd like to read this year. Books that will help me live for real. What books would you recommend?
I love a good book they draws you in and slaps you in the face all at the same time. I'll have to get back to you on any recommendations. Have a wonderful Monday!
Hooray! Another book post!
-For Everything a Season by Philip Gulley
"The embrace that starts with the wish to protect invariably becomes a love that suffocates....It is not possible for us to give our children all the love they need. We can only give them so much, then must send them forth so that others might embrace them, too."
- The Noticer by Andy Andrews
" 'Five seagulls are sitting on a dock. One of them decides to fly away. How many seagulls are left?
'Well...four.'
'No,' Jones responded. 'There are still five. Deciding to fly away and ACTUALLY flying away are two very different things.
...there is absolutely no power in intention.'"
Anything by Gulley and Andrews is FABULOUS!!!
Last year I read The First 30 Days: Your Guide To Any Change (And Loving Your Life More) by Ariane de Bonvoisin and I loved it. As I recall each chapter ended with questions that force you to really look at yourself so you can make the changes you want and/or need. It helped me deal with my mom's death and legal problems my brother was going through. Good luck!
I've been reading Mother' Teresa's Secret Fire by Joseph Langford. It's taking me a long time to finish it--and I've read several other books while it remains unfinished. Not because it's no good but because I have to read a bit and chew on that morsel for a season. I wasn't expecting this--just wanted to learn something about her life. I'm not even sure I agree with everything. But I'm connecting in prayer in greater depth than I have for years.
I love, love, love Martha Beck's "Expecting Adam." It's a memoir...so not exactly self-help. But I learned so much in reading it.
I LOVED Bird by Bird! Has to be one of my favorite books... I finished it a few months ago, and want to read it again to see what I can learn from it all over again!
I also love Anne Lamott! I've never read Bird by Bird, but I've enjoyed Grace (Eventually) and Plan B by her. I frequently am drawn to memoirs. I've been thinking of recommending to you My First White Friend: Confessions on Race,Love, and Forgiveness by Patricia Rabon. I think you'd really enjoy it. I also have loved many books by Madelyn L'Engle. I love her novels, but even more I love her memoirs. Circle of Quiet, Walking in Water, The Irrational Season, and Two Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage.
A book that I read and learned from is "A Wise Woman Once Said..." (Answers for today from women of the Bible) by Shirley Rose. I liked it so much I bought and gave a copy to each of my daughters.
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