Books
Reflections on the role of reading in culture, faith, and family
A lesbian wedding, childhood sexual abuse, alcoholism, violence, pornography, and murder all show up within the pages of Wally Lamb's most recent novel We Are Water. So does love, loyalty, healing, beauty, and a confused evangelical Christian. In many ways, it was a hard book to read, particularly ...
I had a chance to read an advanced reader copy of Jeannie Cunnion's new book, Parenting the Wholehearted Child: Captivating Your Child's Heart with God's Extravagant Grace, and I not only learned from her story but I also immediately applied some of her advice. Every time we sit down to ...
I'm honored to have Caryn Rivadeneira here today to talk about her newly released book, Broke: What Financial Desperation Revealed About God's Abundance. I'll be hosting a giveaway of Caryn's book on my Facebook page if you'd like a chance to read it for free. By way of introduction, ...
I first happened upon Micha Boyett's blog, then called The Mama Monk, a few years ago. A young mother trying to figure out how to reimagine her life as a Christian now that she had small children and housework rather than "official ministry" to do, a young mother who could write about ...
In early 2010, Amy Julia Becker was a wife and mother of two, an MDiv student at Princeton Theological Seminary, and the author of an unpublished book about raising a child with Down syndrome. The book had been rejected by 48 publishers. "I put the project away, focused on finishing my last ...
I'm not sure if it's really the best ever, but I am LOVING Ann Patchett's This is the Story of a Happy Marriage. The title is deceptive, as at least so far I've just heard (I'm listening on audiobook) Patchett's series of essays about the craft and experience of writing both ...
Some book and article notes in a sec, but first: What's your favorite spiritual memoir? I'm looking for a good one. I've enjoyed Mary Karr, Anne Lamott, Martha Beck, and Kate Braestrup, to give you a sense of what I like. Any other favorites out there?
On the bedside table: I abandoned The Sun Also Rises ...
I am reading a wonderful manuscript of a book that I hope will find a publisher one day. It's a memoir that includes a child with a disability and a spiritual journey and many hopes and fears and dreams and some very lovely writing. Despite its many strengths, it may well be years before it finds a ...
A few nights back, we thought all the kids were asleep, only to discover Penny under our covers, reading Love and Salt: A Spiritual Friendship through Letters, written back and forth over the years by Amy Andrews and Jessica Griffith. "This is a cool book," she told me. And although I'm certain the ...
First of all, could someone please remind me that I should never try to submit a manuscript for a new book on January 3? I'm pretty sure my deadline for A Good and Perfect Gift was December 30th, 2010, and then I went and agreed to submit Small Talk today. The bad news is I got really stressed out about ...
I've heard lately that it's hard to get a high-quality copy of A Good and Perfect Gift. And I'm sorry about that! Apparently Amazon is printing its own copies, which means that if you order one there (for the low-low price of $6.98, which should have been a clue), instead of a beautiful matte-finished ...
A few articles from this week that you might enjoy:
A modern image of the typical#AmericanFamily far from Norman Rockwell's#Thanksgiving portrait http://ow.ly/rdxEB #Diversity @angier58
"Should Able-Bodied People Ever Use a#Handicapped Bathroom Stall?" @EllenPDollarhttp://ow.ly/rdyZO#Disability#Accessibility ...
Books lists are coming out. The New York Times has announced their editors' favorites. President Obama has been shopping for books. I'm on my way to the bookstore later this afternoon, with a list that includes The Boxcar Children, Pippi Longstocking, and the first in the Ivy and Bean series. So if ...
I appreciated Bob Fu's story, as recounted in God's Double Agent: The True Story of a Chinese Christian's Fight for Freedom, for a number of reasons, including the glimpse at recent Chinese history and the story of an unlikely conversion to Christianity. But I was most struck by his account of the grievous ...
Every year, Peter and I pull out our very favorite Advent book: God With Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas. (Here's what I wrote last year, when I recommended it.) If you'd like the opportunity to prepare your heart to celebrate the incarnation, this book is for you.
And if you ...
I mentioned a few weeks back that I had the opportunity to contribute an essay about male and female roles within marriage for the new book Talking Taboo: American Christian Women Get Frank About Faith (see my post Should Men Be the Head of the Household? for the beginning of my essay). I've now had ...
Today I'm excited to be attending the Q Women Conference in NYC, with speakers such as Kate Harris, Katelyn Beaty, Rachel Held Evans, Lauren Winner, Kathy Keller, and Rebekah Lyons (plus a cameo by my husband but that's another story). Next week, I'll share an interview with the editors of Talking Taboo, ...
I am honored to be a contributor to a new collection of essays called Talking Taboo: American Christian Women Get Frank About Faith. I wrote my essay about the question of male "headship" in marriage. Also in the collection, you'll find reflections on motherhood by Micha Boyett, on women as pastors ...
"The beggarly question of parentage – what is it, after all? What does it matter, when you come to think of it, whether a child is yours by blood or not? All the little ones of our time are collectively the children of us adults of the time, and entitled to our general care." –Thomas Hardy (from Jude ...
If you read one thing this week, check out Ellen Painter Dollar's cover story for the Christian Century: Messy Stories: Disability and the Choices Parents Make. To whet your appetite:
In the illness narrative, disabilities are seen as problems in need of solving, abnormalities that will surely bring ...
