Remember last month when I gave Everett Bouge’s The Art of Being Minimalist a kind of lackluster review in this post on *8Things to Minimize?

I changed my mind. (You knew I’d come around, didn’t you Everett?)

It’s sticking with me, this little book, and the ideas presented in it are turning ’round and ’round in my mind. Since reading it Paul and I are seriously considering:

• living without a car when we return stateside.
• extending the lease on our six bedroom house in Seattle in order to experiment with  living in small, downtown condo. 
• selling 90% of our 1,000 volume library. (150 is our new golden number)
• getting rid of most of our DVD’s.

Anything that makes you re-think that much stuff is worth the $9.95. (Soon to go up to $19.95.) Plus, it’s an ebook – no physical clutter required. And it has a beautiful minimalist design, which I, the migrainuer, appreciates. (No visual clutter!)

Now look, I know a lot of you are doing too much.  So don’t buy this if it’s just going to be one more thing sitting on your desk waiting to be read. But if you have 90 minutes to read it this weekend, it might change your life.

Click here to buy The Art of Being Minimalist.

P.s. If you buy the book by clicking on a link in this post, you’ll be buying me a cuppa. For my full disclosure statement about how I love you and only tell you good things, click here.

When I got sick with debilitating chronic pain, everything had to change. My once busy calendar had to be cleared. The defacto commune had to move out of my house. I had to Do Less. A lot less.

Thankfully, due in no small part to the book The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential by Zen Habitswriter Leo Babatua, I learned that doing less made me more powerful. The once spread-thin me became a master of what I call “concentrated living” where doing less, means accomplishing more.

In the middle of learning this Do Less lifestyle, I moved out of a 6 bedroom house and into a 3 bedroom apartment. This meant drastically scaling back everything we owned. Two years later I’m happy to announce that I love my modernist apartment and my scaled-back stuff. So much so that I’ve already begun worrying about how we will be tempted to spill back into all 6 rooms (plus basement storage!) in our old house once we return to the States.

In an effort to study-up, glean ideas, and set some intentions for the move home, I recently read Everett Bogue’s new ebook The Art of Being Minimalist.  I’m not an affiliate for this book, because I’m not sure there’s enough “meat” in it for me to recommend the purchase. Plus, I have a hard time taking minimalist living advice from someone who is under 30 with no kids. But the book is beautifully laid out and can be read in about 90 minutes, which I like. Check it out and if you think it suites you, give it ago. After all, $9.95 is not a huge price and maybe it will inspire you to a whole new way of living.

In the Art of Being Minimalist Bogue points out that he only owns 100 things. If he doesn’t use something in 1 month, he gets rid of it. It made me think about all the things I haven’t used in a month’s time, or even in 6 months time. And it inspired me to clear out some of those things.

So, for today’s *8Things, I suggest we make a list of stuff of which we could have less. Here is my list of *8Things to Minimize. (Thanks Everett. That was totally worth $9.95.)

1. Books: We regularly give away books, but our shelves are still over full to over flowing. The fact is, there are few of these we will ever re-read. If I can strong-arm my husband into it, I’m going to try to get us down to one shelf of books. (We have bookshelf in every room. Even the kitchen.) We live 6 blocks from the library. We’ll be fine.

2. DVDs:When we moved to Denmark we loaded up on DVDs. I have to stay, in these long dark Winters they have been a lifesaver. But when we are back in the land of Hulu and Netflix, we won’t need them. I’m hoping to leave most of them behind.

3. Dishes: I’m kind of torn on this one. On the one hand, we like to entertain. It’s a huge part of our ethos. On the other hand, how many teacups does one really need when one is no longer hosting a group of 12-20 for dinner every week, or living with extra adults? And do I really need an additional plastic set for outdoor eating now that the children are older? Methinks not.

4. Twitter Follows:Immediately after reading “Minimalist” I cut my list down to 249. (From 1,300) Everyone has to be on a sub-list (personal, artists, or coaches.) Much more manageable, and hopefully more productive work-wise.

5. Songs:I love Zune because you can download all the music you want for about $15 a month. But do I really need the definitive collection of every musician I like? I’m thinning this out on the weekend.

6. Cookbooks. I have this neat organization system for my recipes and I really only use this, my GF baking cookbook, and online resources. As long as I leave Paul his Joy of Cooking, I can get rid of the rest.

7. RSS Feeds: Also right after reading the book I narrowed my list down to 7 feeds — just the people I want to read but can never find easily on Google. I used to worry all the time that I was “behind” on reading my feeds. Not any more.

8. Cleaning Products: I mean seriously, we all know I rarely clean. Why do I have stuff under every sink plus a bucketful of potions in the hall closet? As soon as I can figure out how to dispose of these “greenly” in CPH, they are out of here!

What is your list of *8Things to Minimize? Share in the comments below grab a button and play along. If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalink in the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi!  Maybe you will inspire someone to live with less stress and more space today. Thanks for being here.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to introduce you all to the goodness that is the community over at Flock: a nesting place for restless souls. Joining an online community when it is just starting is a rare opportunity.  Getting in on the ground floor means you have time to get to know each other, and you don’t get lost in the crowd.

I long to show you more of the good things that are going on in the Flock, but I’m trying to balance privacy with my boundless compulsion to sing Flock’s good praises. (It really is very cool over there.) For instance, just today Karen Mori Bonner, one of our liscensed therapists, came by to help us understand the symbols in our recurring dreams. It was just fascinating! Oh, I wish you would join us there!

Flock needs to be a place of safety and security, so I can’t go about pell-mell letting the whole internet in on the discussions that go on there. People need a little privacy to tell their stories. But suffice it to say, what’s going down in the Flock  is good stuff!

I am trying to think of ways to let you in sideways a little, and you can learn a lot from people by what they read. So today I am sharing with you some of the intriguing books that Flock members have on their bedside table. There are A LOT of good ones, so I’ll start with just three novels today. May you find a book to companion you on your journey — and may you join us in the Flockso we can be your withmates as well.

Much Warmth,

-Rachelle

Sing Them Home: A Novel
This is a new novel from Stephanie Kallos, author of Broken for You, which was a formative novel for me in my process of deconstructing/reconstructing faith. (See this postfrom 2005 to see what I started breaking.) Now Kallos is back and Publisher Weekly says: “This novel will find a welcome audience in anyone who has experienced grief, struggled with family ties or, most importantly, appreciates blossoming talent.”

The Help
by Kathryn Stockett. This debut novel is about a white woman gathering stories from the black women that served in their upper crust households in the early 1960′s. Again from Publisher Weekly: “What perfect timing for this optimistic, uplifting debut novel…set during the nascent civil rights movement in Jackson, Miss., where black women were trusted to raise white children but not to polish the household silver… Assured and layered, full of heart and history, this one has bestseller written all over it.” (This one was raved about by more than one Flock reader!)

Her Fearful Symmetry: A Novel 
Oh, thank God Audrey Niffengger is writing again! I adored The Time Traveler’s Wife. It remains one of my all time favorite novels. And her incredible The Three Incestuous Sisters: An Illustrated Novel is a favorite art piece of mine. (It was ten years in the making!) Now Niffenger is back with another haunting tale, as described by Amazon reviews:  “The novel opens with the death of Elspeth Noblin, who bequeaths her London flat and its contents to the twin daughters of her estranged twin sister back in Chicago. These 20-year-old dilettantes, Julie and Valentina, move to London, eager to try on a new experience like one of their obsessively matched outfits. I am SO buying this the next time I am in an English booksellers!

Stay tuned for more recommendations from the Flock bedside table. Sign up on my mailing list, or follow me on Twitter and you won’t miss a single post. Thanks for being here!

Since reading Style Statement: Live by your own design, I’ve begun following author Danielle LaPorte’s kick-butt blog White Hot Truth. For the start of the new year Danielle had a couple of great posts in which she asked “What are you going to STOP doing in 2010?”

 Being a big proponent of the Do Less Revolution, I thought Danielle’s idea was fan-damn-tastic. So for this week’s *8Things let’s list *8Things To STOP Doing in 2010. I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours….

STOP:

1. Talking Myself Out of Exercise. It’s not longer a conversation. It happens every day. Period.
2. Trying to Get to Know Danes/New Expats. We’re used to big circle, but our tiny circle is lovely.
3. Reducing My Prices/Waiving My Fees. I charge a fair fee. Full stop.
4. Taking Sleep Meds. They don’t work. Why do I keep trying?
5. Feeling Guilty. Chronic pain is chronic pain. Sometimes you have to lie down.
6. Watching Hulu:I just found out I can access it again from abroad. Yipes! Lalalala. I can’t hear you Hulu.
7. Leaving Facebook Open: Time to just check it once and shut it down.
8. Deflecting Compliments. Send ‘em my way — this year I’ll accept them graciously. Try me!

What are are your *8Things to Stop Doing in 2010? Grab a button and play along, or put your list in the comments below.  If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalinkin the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi! Thanks for being here.

To hang out a little more with Danielle LaPorte’s way of thinking, join us in the Flock in February when we’ll be doing Style Statement: Live by your own design as our first ever Read-a-Long.

Returning To My Mother’s House: Taking Back the Wisdom of the Feminine

by Gail Straub

Of all the things I struggle with in my overly reflective life, one of the most prominent is my somewhat spotty ability to stand in my own power and to connect with my innate internal authority. So much of what has informed my life-decisions has come from sources external to myself—forces dominated by the patriarchal structures of church and culture. As I approach my forties, I have made it a priority to stop listening to those external opinions, and to focus more intently upon the intuitive, instinctive wisdom that lies within my own self. This is what Gail Straub addresses in her book, Returning To My Mother’s House: Taking Back the Wisdom of the Feminine. This not the story of a literal return to the place of her childhood, but a metaphysical return to the birthplace of classically feminine traits which Straub describes as “the rich realm of feelings and moods, intuition and creativity, stillness and contemplation.”

Straub tells the story of herself, her mother and the disconnect that occurred between them as she moved into adulthood. In her own younger years, Straub’s own mother left behind adventure and creativity to acquiesce to the cultural norm of home and family. In contrast, Straub chose to travel the world, to embrace art and lovers, and to delve into experimentation and intrigue. But in spite of her bohemian lifestyle, Straub eventually felt a deep disconnect from her feminine wisdom—a disconnection which was tied to her mother’s unexpected death in Straub’s early twenties. This book is the story of how Straub recovers from that loss and reacquaints herself with feminine ways of knowing and being.

I think now that taking back my feminine was like a holy excavation, a layer-by-gradual-layer digging to reclaim the hidden artifacts of untamed imagination, kinship with the mystery, quiet contemplation, feelings and moods, and the fluid spaciousness that embraces paradox, mending the opposites of life into a whole.
(p. 100)

Returning to My Mothers’ House is an intriguing story of a varied and thoughtful life. Straub has a concise but reflective writing style that allows the reader to move rapidly through the story. She is effectively selective regarding which stories she chooses to tell, and makes clear observations about key events in her life and the revelations which followed. While she does not make a distinctive summary of these life-lessons in the book, the reading group questions and other materials on her website help the readers draw out the specifics and enhance the “take away” value of the text. For instance, the accompanying material includes a summary of five ways women lose their innate feminine wisdom which includes, among others: fleeing from one’s emotions, losing connection with one’s physical self, and becoming addicted to ‘doing’ – all things to which many of us can relate. Straub’s website also includes suggested practices for taking back the wisdom of the feminine. These practices are embedded within the stories told in the book, but are separated out and stated more succinctly here. The combination of the book along with the discussion material provided on her site, create a powerful transformational tool for women who are seeking to reconnect to the wisdom they know lies within. I highly recommend it, especially as reading material for a book group, or perhaps as the launching point for a Soultribe.

Come, come dear reader, return to the house of the Great Mother. Up, up, take the elegant grand staircase of relationships made up of collaboration, cooperation, communication and caring….where the rooms of intuition provide safe haven for the imagination, for dreams and symbols, for creativity, and the arts. … I know how you feel up here in this sacred space; this is what has been missing from your life, this is what you have been so hungry for.
(from the prologue)

If you are mourning some loss in your life — a loved one, your own youth, your health, a dream unfullfilled–these books could give you some companionship for the journey. And as always, please add your own good resources in the comments. Shalom.

I am coming to the realization that I have two functional weeks a month. Otherwise the pain level is too severe. I can’t write well when I’m this foggy.

For awhile there, for a beautiful hopeful season, I was in better remission and I had most of the month free and clear. But now, it’s back to just two weeks. If it gets worse, if it gets to be more than this, I’ll have to fly home and see my super special Dr. Woo-Woo and get back on top of this. You all have to hold me accountable to this okay? If I’m out of it more than two weeks a month you have to say, “Rachelle, it’s worth the money. Fly home. Spend a week or two on Dr. Lewis’ treatment table.”

Chronic pain is such a complex creature. It is a large part of your life, but it is not your life. It is a big part of you, but it is not who you are. Living within those paradoxical realities is challenging, perhaps as challenging as figuring out the physical bits and pieces of it–the medicines and the food allergies and the exercise and sleep needs and all the more attainable nuts and bolt-ness of it all.

I’ve wanted to write something about this for while. Something like Nicholas Wolterstorff’s Lament of a Son which not a self-help book, but the author’s story about the death of his son. The telling itself though, is helpful. The telling itself is the companionship for the journey.

In the beautiful children’s book Frida, the author says “she turned her pain into something beautiful.” I’d like to do that. I’d like to tell true things – stories that are also helpful.

I don’t know why I always leap to the idea of a book, when clearly articles and essays are my most natural length. (I just get so distracted by sparkly things, and without a real deadline I skip from project to project. This is not a boon to my agent.) At any rate, maybe an article would be more reasonable here….maybe something for The Sun. I have a couple little bits that might turn into something. This one for instance, or this artsy bit here, or here. Or maybe these more practical stories. And then there is what I wrote this morning, based on an image that came to me while I was doing Shavasana on the living room floor:

I offer this pain to you on a gilt platter.
No, held aloft in a silver bowl.
I give it to you coiled, or swirling and boiling.
A dark depth. An oily surface.

I give it to you as an offering because it is a part of me.
Because some days, it is all of me.
I give it to you as a gift, you who the wise ones says want all of me. (Though perhaps they are not so wise.)
I give it to you as a gift to see what you will make of it.

Will you touch it with a long-nailed finger and turn its surface to silver? Sprinkle it with some earthy magic? Feed it drops of Lucy’s cordial? Will you blow on it and part the waters; wave a hand and vanish it all; speak and make it to run clear; drink it down within yourself?

What will you do then,
with this pain that drains from the trinity of my eyes and the bridge of my nose?
What will you make of this dark offering?

Play us out Sister Alanis.

If you’re feeling ready to make/write/create/do something, one of these will give you new ideas and encourage you on. If you don’t have time for your regular work of writing/painting/carving monuments out of marble, then these books will let you slip things in around the edges. Several of them work well across age groups and can be used for collaborative art with the young ones. Happy creating, and thanks for supporting Magpie Girl! (More reviews here, if you’re curious…)

But even better than a fun read, is a fun read that’s also well crafted. Those, dear friends, are hard to find. So here’s a little list for you all — a brand new carousel full of great reads for road trips, backyard hammocks, and days at the lake. I hope you find something you love amongst these treasures I love. And remember, anything you purchased by clicking on a link helps support this blog. Tak, and good reading!

When it comes to museum gift shops, I am an undeniable sucker. I usually manage to resist buying the paint-your-own-Van-Gogh tee shirt set for the kids. But beyond that my will power fades.

Last month at the National Gallery in London I discovered a new and marvelous new gift shop offering – novels with art-and-artists tie ins! I am so in love!

The culprit this visit was Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale. This moody, complicated novel drew and me in and kept me captivated from beginning to end. It’s one of those books you just devour.

Rachel Kelly is an abstract artist with fabulous execution and ground breaking ideas. She’s also schizophrenic, bipolar, and fond of hiding her meds. For some reason having four kids seemed like a good idea, and her longsuffering family is shaped by her difficult personal world—inheriting both her brilliance and her madness.

When Rachel dies suddenly in her locked studio, her family begins to peer tentatively into their past and face into their mental and emotional present. As each character unwinds his or her story, we see how Rachel’s dominate presence has influenced each of them– for good and for ill. Author Patrick Gale also shows us how each character’s individual personality, talents, and perspectives forms their own story and shapes their family’s history.

You know how I love clever, and Gale uses a very clever technique, beginning each chapter with an exhibition card from Rachel’s posthumous final show. But where many authors stop at clever hooks, Gale manages to go on to craft a very fine story. With the exception of the youngest child Petroc, each character is well developed, showing us both their flaws and the things which makes them endearing. And while the book moves back and forth through time, at times telling us the same piece of family history from a different viewer’s perspective, Gale manages to avoid that annoying re-hashing phenomenon that most authors fall prey to when employing this timeline technique. Finally, Gale manages to weave together meaty themes without preaching at the reader or bogging down the narrative.
With finely developed characters and topics as diverse as faith, family, art, passion, illness, death, and creation, Notes from an Exhibition feels as enriching as it is intriguing. Today’s Flavor: Complex and satisfying.

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Recently I requested all of my medical records to lug with me to Denmark in my continued quest to stay out of status migranosis. There were two manila envelopes full of them — and that was just from one neurologist. The beginning of every office visit summary starts out like this:

“The patient is a pleasant middle aged woman….”

Excuse me? But how did that happen?

Perhaps the reality that at 38 I am, apparently both ‘pleasant’ and ‘middle aged’, is what led me to enjoy The Monk Downstairs so much. The New York Times Book Review describes it as such:

“A tender, witty novel in which a former monk, after twenty years in his order, rents an apartment from a 38 year old single mother; the ensuing relationship grows cautiously, taking account the prudence required of struggling people who aren’t going to get that many more chances.”

See anything that might appeal to moi? Monks, motherhood, spiritual crisis, being 38…

Even if you have less in common with this characters than I do, you will still find this to be a well executed novel with real, flawed, loveable characters and everyday life experiences that just might help you feel companioned for a journey. I’m especially fond of Mike’s struggle to rebuild his spiritual practices after a crisis of religion. (Gee Rachelle, really?) And I was equally touched by Rebecca’s final acceptance that she must experience grief over the crisis moments in her life (ex husbands, bad dates, aging parents.) Author Tim Farrington writes of Rebecca:

She had never allowed herself to grieve wholly before, she realized now. … some pragmatic, self-protective sense had told her that grief was bottomless. Skirting this sea, she had dipped her toes in; she’d wondered what would happen if she crossed the line, but it had always seemed that it could only be a kind of defeat, a drowning, a death. And so it was. But maybe it was not the end, to be defeated by life. Maybe that is even part of what it meant to be a human being; to recognize ways in which death had come, to stop looking away from the failures of love, and to grieve.

Then there is also this great bit from Mike, in which he spots a little bit of wisdom at his first-time-out-of-the-cloister job and records it in a letter to a former brother monk:

..or as my colleagues at McDonald’s put it, “My bad.” I’m sorry I dissed you….The ritual response to a penitential “My bad,” incidentally, is a benevolent, “It’s all good.” The drama of Christ’s forgiveness is reenacted a dozen times a day over the deep fryer and the grill, by teenagers, with refreshing succinctness.

Lest you think this novel is all heaviness, be not afraid! Mike is funny, Rebecca is droll, her daughter is sweet and hilarious, and the sex…we’ll the NY Times Book review is a bit off there because it is neither cautious nor prudent, but pretty damn hot. (Not for the prudish of heart.)

Special kudos to Tim Farrington for writing the character of Rebecca so well. About half way through the novel I thought “Wow. This female character is really spot-on. Who wrote this?” When I turned the book cover over I was surprised to see it was written by a man–so convinced was I that a sister must have created Rebecca’s reality. Props, Tim!

Today’s Flavor: Bittersweet, romantic, and real.

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When I bought the kids second-hand American Girl dolls, the Dad of the teen who sold me the dolls said, “I warn you, this doll is a gateway drug.” He couldn’t have been more right, and by Christmas I was drowning in a stack of AG catalogs.

While the girls haven’t become AG users, they are big fans of American Girl’s line of books. In addition to the decently written historical novels, AG also offers a line of great growing-up advice books. This week what with all the flap about Miley Cyrus’ portrait by Annie Lebowitz for Vanity Fair, combined with the great discussion going in the comments on my post Why I’m not teaching Abstinence to my Kids, I thought I’d review a book about growing-up bodies.

American Girl’s The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls is an excellent reference guide for a growing girl. Written in a simple, friendly style The Care & Keeping of You gives kids the details they long for in a way that communicates “it’s not gross, it’s your really cool body!” Author Valerie Scharfer covers the obvious concerns—zits, period, and bras (or the lack thereof)—as well as broader concepts about size, mind/body connection, and the way physical changes can effect emotions. Even things a grown up might think of as insignificant, like how to get gum out of your hair, get straight forward solutions,

The publisher says this book is for ages 9-12, and some of the information may be more than younger children want to know. For instance, there’s a pretty detailed cartoon/line-drawing illustration of a girl using a tampon, and girls in the drawings are pictured nude and anatomically correct. My oldest daughter needs a lot of reconnaissance before she moves into a new area, so we got her this book when she was 8 years old and started asking questions about ‘becoming a teenager.’ She had it for about an hour before she came bounding down the stair saying things like, “Mom, did you know you get you period about two years after your breast buds appear?” (No, actually, I did not. That would have been really helpful to know back in the day.) So far, she’s feeling really confident about the changes ahead, and proud of her growing body.

Other good books in this line include The Feelings Book: The Care & Keeping of Your Emotions, which pretty much saved our lives though the drama that was third grade; A Smart Girl’s Guide to Starting Middle School; and A Smart Girl’s Guide to Money. Today’s Flavor: Knowledge is Power.

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My daughter Cate has always been a pray-er. When she was a toddler she saw “Jesus giving the butterflies food.” She’s never turned back.

We have a family ritual at dinner time of lighting the candles and saying a prayer. This year, for Christmas, Cate got 100 Graces: Mealtime Blessings in her stocking. Now, with the allure of so many choice in such a tiny book, even her sister who is less sold on the whole idea wrangles for a chance to say the dinner time prayer.

100 Graces: Mealtime Blessingsis a simple book:one page, one prayer. It’s ecclectic, multifaith and offers a little something for everyone. Cate’s current favorite:

“Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.” -Abraham Joshu Heschel

and my current preference:

“O God, bless this food we are about to recieve. Give bread to those who hunger; and hunger for justice to us who have bread.” -a prayer from Nicaragua

Today’s Flavor: An easy ‘Amen.’

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Last Fall we went on the Goodbye Cousin’s Tour of Ought-Eight. While we were at my sister’s visiting this adorable nephew (and all the other cute bébés) Cate ordained herself ‘official reader to anyone under six.” Even though she has long outgrown board books, Cate was totally charmed by this pretty one and read it over and over to her two year old cousin. Then, she unabashedly pled with her Auntie Becky to get it for her for Christmas, and low and behold, Give Me Grace arrived via the UPS man. (Who, according to my kids, “is better than Santa!”)

Author-illustrator Cynthia Rylant has beautifully illustrated this sweet book in a style that is not child-ish, but certainly child friendly. When I read it with Cate during morning cuddle time, I enjoy the artwork as much as much as she does. We often flip though the pages find our favorite colorful pages. Cate reads Give Me Grace every night and every morning, though truthfully she no longer needs to book as she memorized the whole thing within a week. There’s a lilting prayer for each day and I can get behind the sentiment in each one – which is rare for me to experience in religious books, especially those written for children! My favorite prayer is for Wednesday:

Wednesday make me full of light
Guide my heart both day and night
Give me gladness, give me grace,
Shine your love upon my face.

Who wouldn’t embrace that as an intentional for the day? Thanks, Cynthia. Today’s Flavor: Colorful and Hopeful.

P.s. another one of my kid’s favorite books by Rylant is the sweet, reminiscent When I Was Young in the Mountains

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I’ve been caught up in historical fiction lately and find myself reading novel after novel of life in another era. It started with the life of Mary Todd Lincoln (reviewed here), segued into the guilty-pleasure of The Other Boleyn Girl, and recently landed in Indian Territory with One Thousand White Women.

Set in the late 1800’s One Thousand White Women is told in the voice of Mary Dodd, a woman from the Chicago business class who is unjustly committed to an insane asylum for living in a common law marriage with a working-class man. To escape the torturous life of the asylum, she agrees to be married to an Indian chief as part of a massive wedding-cum-peace treaty between the American government and the Cheyenne nation. The bulk of the book follows her experience living with the tribe in the final year of Cheyenne independence.

Although author Jim Fergus insists quite clearly in the prologue that this is almost entirely a work of fiction, his characters are so finely realized that readers continue to believe that Mary Dodd’s story is historically true. From the first pages of Mary’s journal, you are swept up into the story of a woman you’d like to know, and a life you can hardly imagine. Politically clever, spiritually astute, and carefully told, One Thousand White Women is an adventurous and inspiring tale of marginalized people working hard to find a place of freedom. Today’s Flavor: A history lesson from a creative mind.

Every book purchased by clicking on an image or title above supports this site. Find more great reads, music and other lovely loot at Magpie Reviews. Tak! Thanks!

The lovely Elaine Eppler and I have developed quite an online crush. We surf back and forth to each other’s blogs, looking for a something delightful to brighten our day, or to find out what the other was up to the previous weekend.

Elaine has three blogs: Closely Observed always moves me towards gratitude; The Edible Balcony Garden inspires me to get creative about green living in an urban setting; and Berries and Greens gives us all a sneak peek into the health-full world of professional nutritionists.

It’s National Nutrition Month (who knew!) and Elaine is hosting a series of interviews about food attitudes over at B&G. We had fun doing an interview together via email, and she has it posted now. Hop over there and give it a look-see.

To celebrate our blogaffair (and of course National Nutrition Month) I’ve reviewed my favorite cook books for Wednesday Review.

Happy (and Healthy) Eating!

The New Moosewood Cookbook
The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest
Mollie Katzen

When I was 18 I moved out of state to attend college, and suddenly realized that my cooking repertoire didn’t go much past chocolate chip cookies and grilled cheese. True, I had helped my family cook dinners, but always as prep chef, never in a primary role. We were required to purchase a meal program at the school, but the food was so bad that the only thing you could eat was the quesadillas and the salad bar. This crisis of bad taste, plus the political fever most college students seem to catch, quickly converted me to vegetarianism and Mollie’s cookbooks became my guides.

From the The Moosewood Cookbook came a bevy of soup recipes, especially the veggie-rich Gypsy Soup and her never fail Minestrone. My books are on a slow ship from Seattle right now, but I’m pretty sure this is the cookbook with Montana Mama’s ricotta cheese cake with a lush, baked sour cream topping. It defines ‘decadent.’ And her chocolate brownies (with or without espresso) are also delish. There are handy tips for the beginner chef, including how to slice and dice various kinds of fruits and veggies. Without Molly, I still wouldn’t know how to section an orange.

The Enchanted Broccoli Forest offers the same kind of hearty, healthy goodness (all of Katzen’s recipes feed a good-sized crew.) In graduate school ours favorite thing to do was to host dinner parties and I often made the Indian Lentils with coconut and green apples. My former housemate Heidi swore by the broccoli casserole.

These aren’t the cookbooks to turn to when you’re in a rush. But if you’ve got time to dice awhile, either one of these charming, hand lettered cookbooks will keep you inspired with year round veggie goodness. Today’s Flavor: Hearty and Healthy.

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I am not one of those people.

When my daughter final arrived, after a string of pregnancy disasters and difficulties, I found myself to be completely out of my depth. In infancy, I couldn’t tell whether a cry was for hunger or for tiredness. The hormones stew of pregnancy, delivery, and nursing left be adrift in depression. And when my next daughter unexpectedly arrived, leaving me home with two children aged two-and-under, I realized I disliked nearly all of the everyday tasks of parent (cooking, cleaning, dealing with toddler temper tantrums, endless hours of make believe…) In short, I felt like a TOTAL LOSER.

Thank God for these authors, who gave me companionship, laughter, and not a small amount of good advice for the journey. Give this collection as shower gifts, and your friends will love you forever. Or, stock your own shelves if you’re preparing for the onslaught of parenthood.

The Three-Martini Playdate: A practical guide to happy parenting
Christie Mellior

Already, you love the title, yes? Mellior’s basic premise that you were here first, and children should be seen only if they can be ever-so-helpful as to help Mommy pass out the cocktail napkins and crudities. Here’s an excerpt from the opening chapter:

Gone are the days when a small person of tender age would do as he or she was asked, good naturedly and obediently, and the rest of the time would sit quietly reading or practicing a simple cross stitch…One wasn’t required to transport the little children hither and tither, here to T-ball practice, there to a “playdate,” may the chipper mommy who coined that particular term forever rot in a hell of eternally colicky babies….
Let us be perfectly frank. You were here first. You are sharing your house with them, your food, your time, your books. Somewhere, in fairly recent memory, we have lost sight of that fact.

Oh, I hope you are ever so much in love! No one helped me take my parenting gig less seriously–something I was in deep need of after too many months of reading up on what to expect. So click here, and in a few days you could be sipping your favorite thing-made-with-gin with my soulsister and me. Cheers! Today’s Flavor: Pass the vodka.

The Girlfriends’ Guide to Surviving The First Year of Motherhood
Vicki Iovine

I like taking advice from former playboy models who have four children in six years (no, none of them are twins.) For instance, in regards to the many children, Iovine suggests not mixing red wine and your husband’s birthday. (Good point!)

Anyone with a sense of humor will enjoy this no-nonsense, practical, “we’ve been there” advice – including how to detect being postpartumish, a terrific term to help your friend identify when you need help with the post-delivery hormone stew. All of Iovine’s parenting books are helpful, but the first two: Pregnancy and First Year are are top notch. Today’s Flavor: Helps you out without stressing you out.

Operating Instructions
Anne Lamott

If you are a regularly reader of Magpie Girl, you already know that Anne is my priestess. My dear friend Wendy–mother of the adorable Rees, who we fully plan on marrying off to Eden–gave me this book shortly after the birth of my second child. More poetic than my other recommendations, but still deeply funny, Lamott’s story of adjusting to being the single mother to a baby boy is told with refreshing, and sometimes shockingly honesty. Once again, consumate story teller Lamott becomes an essential traveling companion, this time for those of us on the parenting road. Today’s Flavor: Real, with a touch of funny.

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Shortly after being ordained as an evangelical minister, I became almost entirely disenchanted with the world of church. The church wanted me to debate people into conversion; I want to dialogue with people about life. The church wanted me to de-bunk all other religions; I wanted to learn from their holy stories. The church wanted me to entertain people on Sunday morning; I wanted to host a banqueting table heavy on the bread, wine, and storytelling. The church wanted a water-tight system of belief; I wanted a way of living that recognized everyday moments as holy.

I spent a lot of time at staff meetings blathering on about these things while my co-workers looked at me with concern. Then I read these books, held the hand of their authors, and gleefully jumped off the diving board and into the deep end of generous faith.

A New Kind of Christian

The Story We Find Ourselves In

The Last Word (and the Word after That)

Brian McLaren

If you are a traditional church-goer who has felt kind of squirmy at Sunday morning services lately, I strongly suggest dipping into this trilogy. McLaren presents emerging/post-modern theology in the form of a fictional conversation between two friends—a pastor and a science teacher/philosopher. McLaren doesn’t claim to be an accomplished fiction writer, but his technique here makes these books easier to read than most religious texts.

were the unofficial required reading for the spiritual growth community I used to host. They’ve been a life line to the many ‘recovering evangelicals’ who have walked through our door. A New Kind of Christian breaks things open. The Story We Find Ourselves In ourselves In re-defines the Bible as a descriptive family story (as opposed to a prescriptive rule book). The Last Word (and the Word after That) tackles the concept of hell.

I would consider McLaren’s approach to be gently progressive; fundamentalists will hate it, but it’s great for the Jesus-y person who is deconstructing their faith in the hope of finding something at the center that’s worth holding on to. Read bravely. Today’s Flavor: Scratches where it itches.

The Spiral Staircase
Karen Armstrong

From her life as a young nun to her current role as an interfaith expert, academic Karen Armstrong The Spiral Staircase tells her story of journeying through faith and reason. Her tale spirals through faith, disillusionment, enlightenment, and back again, with each turn bringing her new understanding and depth. Most known for the popular texts A History of God and The Battle for God, in Spiral Staircase Armstrong uses a different voice to tell her own complex and very personal story. I’ve already marked up one copy, given it away, and started re-reading another. A well written memoir from one of today’s top scholars. Today’s Flavor: Find yourself on every tread.

The Power of Myth
Joseph Campbell

Okay, so it’s not a book, but he has written plenty of them. The Power of Myth DVD series, Joseph Campbell’s theories on comparative religious studies are broken into bite sized bits for those of us who aren’t pursuing an advanced degree. I’ve only begun watching this amazing collection of lectures, quotes, and images – but already I know it will be a pivotal item in my transformational tool kit. The late Joseph Campbell was one of the most respected scholars in his field, and his work is amplifying this voice in my head that’s telling me “All truth is God’s Truth”—no matter what package it comes wrapped in. Today’s Flavor: Expand you mind without over straining your brain.

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Then, in my late twenties and early thirties, I started raising children – girl children. At the same time I became an ordained minister in a denomination that did not widely welcome my presence. Throw in a few bumps in the road on both of those adventures, add a few fortuitous few books, and viola! A feminist awakening to beat the band!

Does your feminist-self need a shot in the arm? You could adopt a couple of girls, try your hand at being a pastor in an evangelical church….or you could just click on one of the titles below. (I highly recommend the latter option!)

Yours in the Journey,

Rachelle
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The Red Tent
Anita Diamant

Ten years ago, Anita Diamant cracked open the story of Jacob; uncovered his only surviving daughter Dinah; dusted her off and brought her back to life. I could go on, but Gail Hudson says it best in her endorsement:

“Like any sisters who live together and share a husband, my mother and aunties spun a sticky web of loyalties and grudges,” Anita Diamant writes in the voice of Dinah. “They traded secrets like bracelets, and these were handed down to me the only surviving girl. They told me things I was too young to hear. They held my face between their hands and made me swear to remember.” Remembering women’s earthy stories and passionate history is indeed the theme of this magnificent book. In fact, it’s been said that The Red Tent is what the Bible might have been had it been written by God’s daughters, instead of her sons. –Gail Hudson

The idea of my spiritual ancestors preserving the stories women told, giving account to the happenings of their world through a woman’s eyes , has changed my understanding of my God, my vocation and my holy text. I wrote some about it here, and there’s a peek at my reaction here. If something in you is hungry for your great mother’s tales, spend some time in the The Red Tent. Today’s Flavor: exotic and holy.

The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine

The Secret Life of Bees
Sue Monk Kidd

Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Beescracked open my imagination with its story of three sisters who craft their own ceremony to honor a sacred image of the feminine divine. (Here’s just one ritual that came out of that wonderful story.) But it was her autobiographical text, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, which gave me the companionship I needed to find my own way to the feminine heart of God.

The wife of a Southern Baptists preacher, Kidd risked marriage, career, and her place in her community in order to follow her own inner authority into a broader, more inclusive reality of faith, personhood, and deity. While her journey took her to a place different than my own, I was much comforted and emboldened by her story. She was a wonderful traveling companion, and I found myself underlining something on nearly every page. This has now become one of those books that is forever being loaned out to a seeking friend, and I will always be grateful for Kidd’s brave journey of discovery. Today’s Flavor:A great dancing partner.

What book(s) helped you move along the road to a feminist awakening?

Maybe one of these books will help you find a feel better place in 2008. Here’s to the hopeful!

-Rachelle

P.s. Remember, any purchase made by clicking on a title below helps support this blog. Find more great book, music, and misc. reccomendations over at Magpie Reviews. Thank you!

Intuitive Eating
Evelyn Trioble and Elyse Resch

How many diet books have you read in your life time? I think my list starts with my mother’s copy of More of Jesus, Less of Me –which I copped from my Mom when I was in 8th grade — and continues through The WeighDown Workshop, 8 Minutes in the Morning, You, on a Diet, The Maker’s Diet, and The Fat Flush Diet — some of which have only recently left the shelves of my personal library.

Last year after a failed attempt at Weight Watchers, I hit my 38th birthday and decided that I’d spent enough of my life obsessing about my weight/body/what I ate. At the ripe old age of 38, I gave up dieting for good and decided to start loving my body.(I’m a slow learner.) The catalyst? Intuitive Eating.

This is book that must be consumed slowly, so you can unlearn old habits and adopt intutivley helpful ways of thinking about food and nutrition. The assingnments take time, but are well worth the resulting mental and emotional reprogramming. For the first time I am eating when I’m hungry, stopping when I’m full, and balancing out at a size my body is comfortable with. Within weeks of begining Intuitive Eating, I stopped feeling guilty about food ,and now I can eat anything guilt free. For the first time this year, I didn’t even THINK of making a resolution that involved losing weight! It’s a small miracle.

P.s. If you are stocking your bookshelves on the topic, Women I Respect have also recommended Eating Mindfully and Slow Food Revolution: A New Culture for Eating and Living. Check ‘em out!

Heal Your Headache: The 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Pain
Dr. David Buchholz

When my husband handed me this book in our local shop, I pretty much rolled my eyes and sighed in defeat. After years of tyring everything under the sun to get rid of my migraines, I had pretty much resolved to live with pain for the rest of my life. I thought I knew everything there was to know about migraines and migraine meds — but after just a few pages of Heal Your Headache I’d discovered things none of my dozen-odd medical practioners had ever told me. Intially I was terrified of step one, getting off pain medications and most other meds. But within six weeks I was no longer dependent on pain meds or meds like immitrex, and I had discovered hidden trigger foods that no one had mentioned to me before. My migraines dropped from everyday, to 2-7 per month. After getting them down to this more manageable level, a good atlas chiropractor (we like to call him “Dr. Woo Woo”) got rid of the rest of my headache pain and desensitized me from most of my trigger foods. Now I only have the occasional break through headache — and this after five solid years of headache pain! Believe me, this book is worth taking a chance on!

What books help you Feel Better?

Next Week: books for the Budding Feminist.