Fostering a new renaissance through creativity, authenticity, spirituality, and art
I really liked this book and have gotten good ideas from it. I give it five stars as it is more helpful than a lot of similar books. Mostly it outlines the twelve classic design motifs which I’d like to discuss soon on a separate post. (You may have already seen the beginning of my … Read more
This website and daily blog have been going for a year! Thank you so much for your continued readership. It is fun journeying with you and I appreciate all your ongoing comments. Keep them coming! It seems appropriate to review some of the best posts from my blog of 2009, as we look forward to … Read more
I really enjoyed this book. I give it five stars even though it is neither important nor profound – just nice – because sometimes well written “nice” is just what you want. There is a separate chapter on each person in the cooking class which reveals their backstory as well as the growth and progress … Read more
Wow. This is quite a book. I find myself wanting to discuss it with someone, so I think it would be a good book club selection. Contrasting words like collaboration or resistance, vindictive or innocent, sweet and sharp, beautiful and ugly all come to mind regarding this extraordinary novel. Written by the author of Chocolat, … Read more
I’m in the middle of reading long winded but helpful how-to books, some deeply dense, thought provoking spiritual stuff, and a slow moving classically epic tome of a novel. I needed a light escape and this memoir provided a delightfully wholesome one. I only give it four stars because it isn’t important enough somehow to … Read more
This is a little gem of a book. It is a quick read set in the post war 1940’s in London and on the Guernsey Islands, written entirely in letters. It is good to listen to in audio as all the characters who write the letters are done in different voices making it especially fun … Read more
I really enjoyed these two sets of CD’s of a favorite NPR radio program, and give them 5 stars. These two CD sets showcase the 3 minute credos of famous people and everyday people alike. There are housewives, truckers, doctors, astronauts, gang members, mothers, teachers, young people, old people, believing in everything imaginable. There is … Read more
The parents were given the homework of reading Plato’s Apology, which is his account of Socrates’ defense at his trial. (Apologia in Greek means defense, not to say you are sorry…) The parents then, on Saturday morning of Parent’s Weekend had our own seminar on this reading to experience what it is like for our … Read more
It has been our role today to rejoice in our oldest child thriving in a rigorous college setting. She is happy, stimulated, challenged and exhausted. We are proud of her hard work and ongoing diligence to a demanding program. We sat in on her class today – a baffling discussion where no right answers were … Read more
On the drive to and from the wedding we listened to this classic book by Mark Twain, which I had never read. I really enjoyed it and found it uproariously funny. I was glad I was listening to it rather than reading it since the accents are so much more fun and easy to deal … Read more
I resonated with this book for a lot of reasons. Like the author, I’m a mother with teenage kids going through the process of leaving home, who not only wants the best for them, but sees her own role starkly changing as well. Like the author, I’m striving to mindfully embrace that, while loving the … Read more
Vincent van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime. No one painted like him; he was generally misunderstood. His paintings were used as scrap; Starry Starry Night was tacked up on a kitchen ceiling to stop a leak! He saw paintings wherever he went, but only started to paint at the age of 27, … Read more
My 12 year old daughter had read this book last spring and loved it so much that she bought the CD with her own money so she could hear it frequently. She and I listened to it while driving during our trip to Maine. Five stars seems like a paltry offering for this remarkably wonderful … Read more
I enjoyed this encouraging book of lessons from centenarians, and give it five stars. Written by Neenah Ellis about her interviews for her NPR series, it is more than the sum of its parts, as she examines her own life and responses in the process. I found her digression about “limbic response” fascinating, for example, … Read more
This novel raises controversial issues about sex education and about the separation of church and state in suburban America. It raises questions about whether we should inflict our opinions on others, and if we do, whether or not it helps them. This book contrasts not only conservatives and liberals, atheists and fundamentalists, promiscuity and abstinence, … Read more
I checked this book out so many times from the library, I finally bought it with one of my amazon credit card coupons. I’m so glad I did! I find this book very inspirational. Claire Harrigan’s paintings I think are stellar but her advise is just as good. You can see in the sneak preview … Read more
When I bought this book in 2001, I read the preface describing his “spiritual healing” during medical intervention, and I put the book down. Now, years later, I picked it up and persevered past language about “energy” that was not phrased as I would say it, to embrace the true universal meaning the author was … Read more