bookpagedev

Religion & Spirituality

Learning to pray

Review by bookpagedev

With our troops mired in a difficult war overseas, natural disasters a seemingly more common occurrence, and violent crime an ongoing concern, many Americans are seeking an emotional respite. Joyce Meyer, who was named one of the most influential evangelical leaders in America by Time Magazine, offers a beacon of hope in her latest book The Power of Simple Prayer: How to Talk with God About Everything, coming next month. Using a straightforward teaching style, Meyer clearly depicts the ease with which a consistent, daily prayer life can bring comfort to our lives. Steering clear of vague generalizations and obscurities, Meyer details numerous characteristics of prayer, including what constitutes prayer (it’s easier than you think!), Biblical examples of simple prayer, different types of prayer and hindrances to effective prayer. Meyer even address the physical aspects of prayer, encouraging readers not to feel they must conform to the accepted prayer posture kneeling, head bowed, hands clasped but instead to find their personal prayer comfort zone. Testimonials about answered prayer from Meyer as well as others infuse this prayer instruction book with a personal and inspirational feel.

With our troops mired in a difficult war overseas, natural disasters a seemingly more common occurrence, and violent crime an ongoing concern, many Americans are seeking an emotional respite. Joyce Meyer, who was named one of the most influential evangelical leaders in America by Time…
Religion & Spirituality

Finding her religion

Review by bookpagedev

In her poignant memoir The Water Will Hold You: A Skeptic Learns to Pray, Lindsey Crittenden explores the evolution of her prayer life as a relationship with God. Depicting a lifetime of love, discovery and pain, Crittenden writes in an organic stream of vignettes in which the details are far less important than the sentiment associated with the events described. Crittenden’s language aches with an authenticity that is beautiful and raw as she paints a portrait of her journey with God from infatuation, to passion, to commitment, to crisis, to comfortable. Though Crittenden’s views about the nature of prayer are powerful, it is her sentiment so genuine and real that the reader feels like a voyeur peeking into a window of her soul that makes this book such a treasure. The Water Will Hold You is not necessarily for those who already understand the importance and power of prayer, but instead perhaps for the world’s cynics those who are not sure if they want to believe and those who do not yet know what they believe.

In her poignant memoir The Water Will Hold You: A Skeptic Learns to Pray, Lindsey Crittenden explores the evolution of her prayer life as a relationship with God. Depicting a lifetime of love, discovery and pain, Crittenden writes in an organic stream of vignettes…
Religion & Spirituality

Conversational journey

Review by bookpagedev

Krista Tippett is the creator and host of NPR’s Speaking of Faith, a weekly program devoted to discussions about religion, ethics, meaning and ideas. Tippett’s program strives to offer perspective on a national religious conversation dominated by the likes of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Tippett now shares with readers some of the most poignant, provocative and thoughtful revelations derived from her conversational journey in Speaking of Faith.

Loosely organized, much like a conversation itself, the book immerses readers in Tippett’s musings regarding the state of modern religion, with compelling insights from philosophers, theologians, activists and scientists ranging from Karen Armstrong to Thich Nhat Hanh. In an effort to transform the way in which people talk about religion and thereby the way they think about religion Tippett encourages readers to reevaluate religious truths and explore the many facets of spirituality and essential human questions.

Krista Tippett is the creator and host of NPR's Speaking of Faith, a weekly program devoted to discussions about religion, ethics, meaning and ideas. Tippett's program strives to offer perspective on a national religious conversation dominated by the likes of Pat Robertson and Jerry…
Religion & Spirituality

A doctrine of social justice

Review by bookpagedev

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend came of age during an incredible era of social change one that saw the birth of the civil rights movement and the untimely deaths of three of the cause’s most prominent leaders. Now Townsend, a two-time Maryland lieutenant governor, offers readers a combination of touching memoir and powerful commentary about the state of American politics and religion in her new book, Failing America’s Faithful: How Today’s Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way. A staunch Democrat and member of one of the country’s most prominent Catholic families, Townsend admonishes the Catholic Church for losing sight of its commitment to social justice for our nation’s children and its poor. Townsend contends that the Catholic and evangelical leadership have chosen instead to focus their efforts and their preaching on highly divisive issues such as abortion and gay marriage. She asserts that fault for the deterioration of America’s religious landscape also lies with governmental leaders who espouse those same topics as the basis for their political platforms, while neglecting the primary needs of their constituents and their communities.

Townsend’s stirring call to action is juxtaposed with recollections of her experiences as a young girl, witnessing the work of such figures as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as her father, Robert Kennedy, and her uncle John F. Kennedy. Though she takes a tough stance on many issues, Townsend’s unwavering love for her country and for her church permeates every page of this book, as she encourages readers to thoroughly examine where our nation has been and consider carefully where we are headed.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend came of age during an incredible era of social change one that saw the birth of the civil rights movement and the untimely deaths of three of the cause's most prominent leaders. Now Townsend, a two-time Maryland lieutenant governor, offers readers…
NonfictionHumor

YE OLDE CURIOSITY SHOPPE*

Review by bookpagedev

The airlines are getting chintzier all the time, but for the moment there’s still at least 15 minutes of diversion provided by the well-worn in-flight magazine and SkyMall catalog found in the seat pocket in front of you. For most of us, the collection of high-priced bizarre and luxury items in the latter is just last-resort reading material on long flights, but for the members of the Kasper Hauser Comedy Group, SkyMall provided pure inspiration. Dan Klein, James Reichmuth, John Reichmuth and Rob Baedeker must have spent a good hour-long flight coming up with the spoofs in SkyMaul: Happy Crap You Can Buy From a Plane.

The team has dreamed up items like the Reality-Canceling Headphones ( You can still hear things such as the microwave going off but not babies or the doorbell or dogs ), the Whore-ganizer ( Keep your sex contacts separate from your friend, family, and business numbers and sort by city ), Medical Test Results Fortune Cookies, the Hybrid Magnet ( will convert’ your gas guzzler into a fuel-efficient vehicle ) and the Mistresses of the White House Doll Collection. Purveyors include The Image Sharpener, Probletunity Knocks, J. Crewcifix, Mouth Full O’ Shitake and Heavy Petter. Now, for some real fun, slip a copy of SkyMaul to one of your fellow passengers and see if they notice. *An occasional look at some of the stranger books we receive.

The airlines are getting chintzier all the time, but for the moment there's still at least 15 minutes of diversion provided by the well-worn in-flight magazine and SkyMall catalog found in the seat pocket in front of you. For most of us, the collection of…
Memoir

Falling Through the Earth

Review by bookpagedev

Named one of the 10 best books of 2006 by the New York Times, this powerful memoir marks the debut of a promising new author. Trussoni was raised in Wisconsin by her overbearing, emotional, occasionally violent father, Dan. A Vietnam veteran who served as a tunnel rat during the war, Dan is haunted by his experiences and a bit too fond of the bottle as a result. A patron of Roscoe’s, a local beer joint, he brings Danielle along to the bar most evenings. She soon begins cutting class and stealing. Meanwhile, her siblings a brother, Matt, and a sister, Kelly are being raised by her mom. Trussoni recounts her eventful adolescence years marked by family brawls, drug use and Dan’s dark moods with unflinching honesty and humor. She eventually travels to Vietnam in an attempt to share in her father’s experience there, and the passages about her journey are moving and profound. Trussoni’s gradual acceptance of her flawed father will resonate with readers. The difficulties Dan goes through as he tries to come to grips with his years in Vietnam make for heart-wrenching, all too timely reading. This is one hell of a coming-of-age tale, told by a gifted writer who isn’t afraid of self-exploration and who is brave enough to lay bare her own imperfections as she tries to achieve closure with her troubled family.

Named one of the 10 best books of 2006 by the New York Times, this powerful memoir marks the debut of a promising new author. Trussoni was raised in Wisconsin by her overbearing, emotional, occasionally violent father, Dan. A Vietnam veteran who served as a…
Memoir

A quarter-century of gingerbread White Houses and other feats

Review by bookpagedev

Reading master pastry chef Roland Mesnier’s All the Presidents’ Pastries: Twenty-Five Years in the White House, you can’t help but wonder how the last five presidents still managed to fit into the Oval Office by the end of their terms. Surprisingly, Mesnier’s life before he got to the White House was at least as interesting as the years he spent satisfying the dessert palates of the world’s leaders.

Following in his brother’s footsteps, Mesnier left his small village at age 14 to enter the traditional French apprenticeship system. With an incredible drive to master new skills, he moved on to some of the world’s finest hotels and pastry shops. He cooked in the legendary kitchen of London’s Savoy, discovered how to create sugar sculptures despite the intense humidity in Bermuda, introduced an entirely new set of pastries at one of the oldest hotels in the U.S. without the staff even realizing that they’d been retrained and began winning award after award for his work.

From this illustrious beginning, Mesnier moves on to describe the events, the desserts and the people he encounters throughout his White House tenure. Aside from a couple of near-misses (one with a marzipan figure of a sleepy Mexican), Mesnier successfully created extravagant desserts reflecting national cultures, cuisines or historical events, from a chocolate military aircraft carrier for George W. Bush’s birthday to five white doves made from lemon sorbet placed on a nest of fresh fruit, each with a sugar olive branch in its beak served to Yitzhak Rabin to signify the Oslo accords. Packing 25 years of desserts into one book can occasionally begin to read like a laundry list, and it’s slightly odd to hear someone wonder if a planned barbeque will be cancelled when discussing the early hours of 9/11. But being executive pastry chef at the White House is no ordinary job and Mesnier follows his own golden rule to a tee: Never forget where and for whom you are working. Megan Brenn-White graduated from the chef’s training program at the Natural Gourmet School of Cookery and is the author of Bake Me a Cake (HarperCollins).

Reading master pastry chef Roland Mesnier's All the Presidents' Pastries: Twenty-Five Years in the White House, you can't help but wonder how the last five presidents still managed to fit into the Oval Office by the end of their terms. Surprisingly, Mesnier's life before…

Religion & Spirituality

Creating the perfect Seder

Review by bookpagedev

Passover wins the prize for the Jewish holiday most likely to be celebrated. I suspect this is true because, at the bare minimum, celebrating can be accomplished by merely showing up for dinner. For those of us who actually provide the dinner the ritual Seder meal the maximum is usually required: weeks of planning, preparation, shopping, cleaning, cooking. Despite these efforts, however, just attending a Seder can be hard work, especially if no one understands what is going on, and the goal is simply to get at the food. Guidance is the answer and how-to books on Passover abound, but they usually read like reference books, giving dry entries on the history of the Seder. Marge Piercy’s new book, however, is a pleasure to read. Pesach for the Rest of Us: Making the Passover Seder Your Own is an extraordinary examination of what should be an extraordinary ritual event.

Just who is the rest of us? Piercy answers this right away: folks who are not Orthodox, and who are searching for mindful ways to connect with Passover. The book is organized into chapters that focus on key steps or elements of the Seder, such as the four questions, the four children, matzoh, wine and maror (bitter herbs). These are peppered with personal memories and musings, choice recipes, historical reference points and blessings. Readers can dip into this feast for quick, practical information, or savor it cover to cover to enjoy the poetic flow of Piercy’s prose. Either way, Seders everywhere will benefit. Piercy’s suggestions, insights and queries will motivate readers to create a Seder that is much more than a race to the meal. This unexpected treat from an acclaimed poet and novelist belongs on the table of everyone or, at least, the rest of us interested in making a Seder meaningful.

Joanna Brichetto tries to conduct mindful Seders every year.

Passover wins the prize for the Jewish holiday most likely to be celebrated. I suspect this is true because, at the bare minimum, celebrating can be accomplished by merely showing up for dinner. For those of us who actually provide the dinner the ritual Seder…
ParentingFamily & Relationships

Celebrate mothers

Review by bookpagedev

Women who are mothers writing about motherhood what better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than to read or share a book like that? One excellent example is Mother-Daughter Wisdom: Creating a Legacy of Physical and Emotional Health by best-selling author Dr. Christiane Northrup (Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom). Northrup points out a simple but profound truth: every woman is a daughter. She believes the mother-daughter bond, “in all its beauty, pain and complexity, forms the very foundation of a woman’s state of health.” Northrup likens the stages of a woman’s life to moving through a house, starting at the foundation and going upward. If a woman moves confidently from one room to the next, she builds a legacy of emotional and physical health, a guidepost for her daughter to follow. Failing to do so, however, getting stuck in one room or skipping one, often results in emotional or health-related problems. But she also maintains that despite the connectedness between mothers and daughters, each woman is on her own separate journey, responsible for “her own life, her own choices, her own happiness.” Mother-Daughter Wisdom offers a wealth of advice on health eating, exercise, self-esteem, moral decisions, money matters, sexuality and it’s a must-have on every woman’s shelf.

Linda Stankard is a mother and a daughter.

Women who are mothers writing about motherhood what better way to celebrate Mother's Day than to read or share a book like that? One excellent example is Mother-Daughter Wisdom: Creating a Legacy of Physical and Emotional Health by best-selling author Dr. Christiane Northrup (Women's Bodies,…
Biography

An unsung hero for social reform

Review by bookpagedev

There are a handful of names associated with the abolitionist movement that most everyone knows Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass. But history seems to have nearly forgotten one name William Wilberforce. Author Eric Metaxas chronicles the intriguing life and towering accomplishments of Wilberforce in his biography Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery.

Despite his slight physical stature, Wilberforce made a Herculean contribution to society, as he nearly single-handedly ended the British Empire’s slave trade in 1807, thereby paving the way for emancipation in 1833. Living in an era when slavery was ensconced as a social norm, Wilberforce found himself in the midst of a spiritual awakening a personal transformation that he referred to as his Great Change. Though he was one of the most talented and well connected men of his time, Wilberforce’s success is most firmly connected to his deep-seated belief in the equality of all men in the eyes of God. The Cambridge-educated Wilberforce secured a position in the House of Commons by the age of 21, and soon heard God’s calling for his life and became the foremost political leader and public figure of the abolitionist movement in England. He persistently led the fight for 20 long years, despite violent opposition from pro-slavery groups who felt that the slave trade was an integral part of Britain’s economy. Never yielding to the hostility he faced, as his adversaries targeted him with public ridicule, personal attacks and even a challenge to a duel, Wilberforce forged ahead, becoming the moral conscience of his country. This year marks the bicentennial of Wilberforce’s accomplishment, and Amazing Grace serves as the companion book to a recently released feature film by the same name. Metaxas tells Wilberforce’s story with a charm and energy reminiscent of a favorite history professor, painting a captivating picture of this era of social reform that revolutionized the world.

There are a handful of names associated with the abolitionist movement that most everyone knows Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass. But history seems to have nearly forgotten one name William Wilberforce. Author Eric Metaxas chronicles the intriguing life and towering accomplishments of Wilberforce…

Inside the Manhattan Project

Review by bookpagedev

It is fitting that an excellent study of Robert Oppenheimer, “the father of the atomic bomb,” would emerge at a time when American politicians are butting heads with scientists over such subjects as global warming, stem-cell research and that golden oldie of discord, evolution. Although government officials were alarmed by Oppenheimer’s left-leaning politics even as he assembled the team that would produce the dreadful bomb at Los Alamos, New Mexico, they still treated him with deference, knowing that, to a considerable degree, America’s war efforts were in his hands. Jennet Conant’s 109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos takes its title from the Santa Fe address of the office that administered the super-secret A-bomb operations in Los Alamos. This book presents a generally approving picture of the tormented scholar/scientist, and both books conclude that he was more than a little responsible for his own miseries.

Jennet Conant, the granddaughter of James B. Conant, president of Harvard and head of the “Manhattan Project” that developed the bomb, creates a cinematic view of the remote but bustling Los Alamos outpost with the charismatic Oppenheimer at its center. While she also delves into his politics, she is more concerned with the drama that transformed him from a relatively obscure university professor into a world-shaking colossus. Conant draws heavily on the written and spoken reminiscences of Dorothy McKibben, who ran the East Palace office with discreet but spectacular competence. Those who can’t get enough of Oppenheimer may also wish to read his fictional portrayal in Joseph Kanon’s 1997 thriller, Los Alamos.

It is fitting that an excellent study of Robert Oppenheimer, "the father of the atomic bomb," would emerge at a time when American politicians are butting heads with scientists over such subjects as global warming, stem-cell research and that golden oldie of discord, evolution. Although…
FilmArts & Culture

Investigating the mystery genre

Review by bookpagedev

Patrick Anderson’s The Triumph of the Thriller carries the subtitle How Cops, Crooks, and Cannibals Captured Popular Fiction. It was not always thus; in the 1950s and ’60s, the fiction bestseller lists were dominated by sweeping, dramatic (not to mention thick) novels: Michener’s Hawaii, Uris’ Exodus, Gann’s The High and the Mighty. By comparison, of the top 16 books on the New York Times bestseller list the week this review was written, an incredible 14 fall into the mystery/thriller genre. Anderson, the thriller reviewer for the Washington Post, draws upon his years of covering this oft-maligned genre to explain what accounts for this phenomenon.

He starts at the beginning, critiquing the suspense works of Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. From there, he explores the beginnings of modern detective fiction: Hammett, Chandler, Cain. World War II ushered in the era of the tough guy; descriptions of sex and/or violence only hinted at by Chandler or Cain were spelled out in graphic detail by the likes of Mickey Spillane, Ross Macdonald and Ed McBain. Anderson devotes a chapter apiece to George Pelecanos, Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane and Thomas Harris, four of his favorites (and mine). Additionally, he offers up a list of his recommendations for the fledgling thriller reader.

More importantly, he gives us a list of stuff to avoid at all costs: For the most part, I try to find the best books I can, both because I don’t want to spend my time reading bad books and because I want to alert readers to good ones. As a result, I write a good many favorable reviews, which might give readers the impression that I’m a nice guy. I’m not a nice guy. I grow surly and vindictive when obliged to read a book that bores me or insults my intelligence. What’s more, it makes me crazy when people surrender $25 for some piece of crap. Amen, brother! BookPage Whodunit? columnist Bruce Tierney grew up reading the Hardy Boys.

Patrick Anderson's The Triumph of the Thriller carries the subtitle How Cops, Crooks, and Cannibals Captured Popular Fiction. It was not always thus; in the 1950s and '60s, the fiction bestseller lists were dominated by sweeping, dramatic (not to mention thick) novels: Michener's Hawaii, Uris'…
Religion & Spirituality

Come on, get happy

Review by bookpagedev

Buddhist teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche believes that human happiness is an inside job, an achievable state reached through intimacy with the mind’s inner workings. Dubbed the happiest man on earth (a moniker he received after his brain activity was scientifically measured during meditation), he reveals the powerful effects of, and science behind, meditation in The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret &andamp; Science of Happiness. Nepal-born Mingyur Rinpoche belongs to a modern generation of young monks who have trained outside of Tibet and have cultivated a broader world perspective. His curiosity about Western advances in neuroscience and physics and their contributions to unraveling the mysteries of nature and the mind is likely traceable to his boyhood history of severe panic attacks. Through sustained meditation, Rinpoche overcame this anxiety and wanted to understand the outcome so he could help others achieve the same results. He has traveled widely in the West, pursuing his interest in neurology, cognitive study and physics and learning more about how Buddhist meditation can lead to a more joyful life.

Why are we unhappy? Rinpoche relates the Buddha’s basic teaching that everyday life includes suffering. Luckily, he also reiterates the Buddha’s antidote: to meet, know and clearly see the antics of mind and behavior through sitting quietly and observing. The Joy of Living wittily blends scientific knowledge and Buddhist insight to explain what the mind actually is, how it functions and the effects of meditation on the human brain. If we meditate diligently, we can change how our brain cells communicate and alter negative behavior patterns. Although not an exhaustive text, The Joy of Living skillfully connects science and the spiritual, and offers non-intimidating meditation instruction.

Those familiar with the accessible wisdom of renowned Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh will enjoy Mingyur Rinpoche’s refreshing approach to meditation. For those of us who haven’t meditated, here is inspiration to simply sit down and for a change not think!

Buddhist teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche believes that human happiness is an inside job, an achievable state reached through intimacy with the mind's inner workings. Dubbed the happiest man on earth (a moniker he received after his brain activity was scientifically measured during meditation), he…

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