- Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg. I remember picking this book off the shelf at the bookstore. I was bored and working the cash register. This book opened life up to me in a new way and made me crave wholeness. I knew I would never be a great mediator or even another N.G. but I knew that it mattered what I did and that I put effort towards my dreams.
- The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron. This book has become such a tool. Periods of life when I am sluggish, I return to it. The essays are inspirational and kind. The task require us to make an effort towards good.
- The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day. I wanted to read this book forever and when I did it sat inside me and ripped my heart open. Day is one of my heroes. Her passion for Christ is so extended belong church , race or class. It marked her life is such a profound way.
- The Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton. Merton is a great thinker and I stayed away from this book for a while. However, when I read it. I was ready for it. The craving for Christ, the failures and the passion towards humanity is something I cherish in Merton's writing.
- The Life You Save May be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage by Paul Elie. This book features the life, literary work and passion of four great American Catholic thinkers. Dorothy Day, Walker Percy, Flannery O'Connor and Thomas Merton. I had read a little of each of these writers before I read the book but this books gave such a wonderful insight into religious call, devotion and life as pilgrim.Plus, it shows how these four thinkers life intersected. Beautiful.
- The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne. This book is hard to read because it hits you at the gut. I love it for the challenge to complacent and greedy religion. Instead, Claiborne challenge us to think about life and the call of service to the "least among us".
- Blue like Jazz:Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality. Donald Miller is one of my favorite modern writers. He is funny and honest. He gets to the "heart of the matter" and I love his writing because of that.
- Sex God: Exploring the Connections between Sexuality and Spirituality. A beautiful book about sex and religion. I enjoyed it because of its candid look at the relationship between the topics. A very inspiring read.
- Astrid and Veronica by Linda Olsoon. I read this one winter. I think I unconsciously compare every modern fiction book to it. It is luscious and beautiful.The story is simple: the friendship between two women but the writing is like a good bath.
- Illuminata: A Return to Prayer by Marianne Williamson. This was a book that really helped me through hard time. I like the prayers but it also encouraged me to say my own prayers. The prayers are beautiful.
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Austen is one of my favorite writers. I suppose I just adore Elizabeth Bennett because I see some of her in me. The prose is elegant and the story manages to keep me engrossed time and again.
feb 16 2010 ∞
feb 16 2010 +
