New Prayers

I've been reading New Prayers by Michel Quoist since the beginning of this year.  I just never really got into it, which was sad.  Years ago I had read Prayers by the same author and loved it.  I wasn't able to find a copy of it, so I ordered this one. The prayers are mostly quite long, sometimes several pages long, which I didn't like.  The content was good, just too much of it! I did persevere and finally finished it. Do I recommend it? Not really.  I would like to be able to re-read Prayers and see if it is as good as I remembered it to be!

I've Been Thinking...

I heard Maria Shriver on the Today Show talking about her new book, I've
Been Thinking, earlier this year and when I had finished my last book on spirituality, I decided to get this book to read.  I'm so glad that I did.  I have really taken my time with this book, reading only one chapter at a time.  Ms. Shriver's words have touched me each day. It is a book of "Reflections, Prayers and Meditations for a Meaningful Life".



There were only a very few chapters that were not full of highlighting as I read them.  One of my very favorite lines was the following:

"Have faith that your best days are ahead of you, that your next frontier will be the most fulfilling time of your life, and that you deserve to be seen as good enough just the way you are-including by yourself."

Great book!

Promise Me, Dad

Joe Biden, former Vice President, wrote Promise Me, Dad about the year leading up to his son Beau's death.  I was expecting more about the actual family's dealing with all that was involved with Beau, but the book was, as advertised, about the last year before Beau died.  So I felt like most of the book was about Joe Biden's travels, meetings, etc. related to his work. I wanted it to be a book about the family, and that was, of course, included, but I just wasn't interested in all of the other stuff.



The parts about the family dealing with Beau were heart-breaking and, if possible, made me love Joe Biden even more. 

Little Fires Everywhere

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng was chosen by one of my book groups to read for our September gathering.  It was a book that I have toyed with picking up and reading, so I was pleased to have it chosen.  The story didn't disappoint.  It was easy to read, but was chock-full of family dynamics.  It was a great choice for book group discussion.



The story is primarily of two very different families, whose lives seemingly collide at the end of the book.  The book opens with the Richardson family watching their home burn to the ground, assuming that the missing daughter had set fire to the home.  The home was in Shaker Heights, an upper-scale community where the Richardson family, consisting of the parents and their four children, lived.  One summer, an artist and free-spirit Mia and her fifteen year old daughter Pearl, came to town and rented the Richardson's rental home.  As time progressed, Mia and Pearl became intimately involved with the Richardson family.

The story touches upon adoption, secrets, loss and most especially, motherhood.  It's a good story and I recommend it for any book group!