Book Review: The Unlikely Lavender Queen

I've been mildly obsessed with lavender for a few years. I'm not sure how it started, but my shampoo, conditioner, laundry and dishwasher soap are all lavender scented. I have a sachet of dried lavender by my best. And I'm bummed that I can't find my favorite lavender body spray at Whole Foods anymore. It's so calming and sweet. I also like the idea of all my scents coordinating.

So when I saw The Unlikely Lavender Queen: A Memoir of Unexpected Blossoming by Jeannie Ralston, I snatched it up. The cover image only pretty much sold me on the book, but I dutifully flipped it over to check. And, yes indeed, this was a book that I would like to read.

The Unlike Lavender Queen is Ralston's memoir of how she moved with her new husband for her beloved New York City to Austin, TX. Once she finally adjusted to that, her husband had another idea. He wanted to move to a small town deep in the Texas Hill Country on a large piece of land. Ralston, the city girl, resisted, but eventually, they got there. Then on a vacation to Provence, her husband (a National Geographic photographer) decided he wanted to grow lavender on their land.

The book follows the growth of their lavender business, and tells the story of Ralston's transformation from a glamorous New York City writer to something she never thought she'd be.

I was thrilled with all the references to Central Texas, Austin, and other places I've been to, but I think the book has broad appeal. Ralston is a talented writer who honestly describes both the joyful and excruciating parts of her life as a wife, mother, sister, daughter, writer, reluctant farmer, and business woman.

And then there's all the lavender. Oh, the lavender...

Book Review: Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith

I started hearing about this book during my first year of seminary. Everyone was talking about Barbara Brown Taylor's new memoir, Leaving Church. I bought it that first year, but like so many other books, it collected dust on a shelf until a few months ago.

I'm not sure why I picked it up. Perhaps I was feeling nostalgic for my seminary days. Although they are just over a year behind me, I sometimes feel like it's been ages since I've "mastered" the divine (as if that is ever possible). I missed thinking and talking about faith and the church like I used to, and so I was drawn to Taylor's book.

First of all, she is a gifted wordsmith. Well-known for expertly crafted sermons, Taylor's skill as a writer is profound. I experienced her gift with words from the first moment I opened the book. These words swept me up and surrounded me throughout the journey of Taylor's life. She creates such vivid images that I was transported beside her as I read her story. Taylor takes you along to the places she visits in a way that few writers can accomplish.

In addition to the elegant writing, Leaving Faith content is compelling as well. Taylor starts with a narrative explaining the many twists and turns she encountered as a child and young adult in search of an authentic faith. After much searching (and trial and error), she finds a home in the Episcopal Church and eventually becomes an ordained priest. After serving as an associate in thriving church, Taylor longs to serve a tiny church nestled in the North Georgia mountains. Only that church already has a beloved priest, and Taylor believes her dream to be impossible. But eventually her dream comes true, and she is called to that very church and begins to serve in what she believes to be her dream job.

A few years pass, and Taylor is miserable and must face the reality that she is mentally, physically, and spiritually depleted. She makes the difficult and courageous decision to leave both her beloved church, and church ministry all together. Stepping away from her dream is beyond challenging, but she ends up finding a new calling that continues to inspire and fulfill her.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who is interested in faith journeys, or is perhaps exploring religion, spirituality, and faith. Taylor's journey is compelling, and helped me to think about my own faith in new ways.

This book also has a lot to say, even to those of you who are not religious or spiritual. It is a phenomenal exploration of what it takes to walk away from something that you thought you wanted. I learned so much from the process that she describes and she makes such a difficult decision.

I loved this book, and am looking forward to reading some more of her memoirs. I have two others, and there is a new one that looks fantastic!!

Image from the author's website.

Audio Book Review: My Life in France by Julia Child

I loved loved loved this book. It was sweet and charming and delicious! I already knew a lot of the basic storyline because it is woven into the movie, Julie and Julia, starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. When I first sat down to read Julie Powell's memoir of the same name, I was expecting to learn more about Julia Child than I did. The movie was more of a balance between Powell and Child, and I found both stories to be delightful. I kept meaning to go back and read My Life in France, as it is the basis for Julia's portion of the movie. For some reason (probably the ridiculously precarious stacks of books already taking over my apartment), I never got around to it.

However, I saw the audiobook version at the library and snatched it up! And it was delightful! The story of her life was absolutely fascinating. I was utterly inspired by the way Julia transformed her life and blossomed into the person that we all know of. She didn't begin cooking until she was in her mid to late 30s. And it wasn't all smooth sailing. But she persevered.

I also adored the relationship between Julia and her husband Paul. Their marriage was so sweet and kind. He was so much a part of her story, and so much a part of her success. I was so inspired by their relationship, their encouragement and support for one another, and their steadfastness. I must admit that since becoming so disillusioned with Julie Powell and her marriage, I think I was doubly grateful to see Julia's marriage and husband so cherished.

I did listen to an audio version, and the only trouble I had with it was the fact that I already knew what Julia Child's voice sounds like. And the reader, to her credit, did not try to imitate that. It threw me off at first, but in no time, I was swept away by the story and the writing and Julia's "voice" shone through.

Has anyone read it? What did you think? What about reading it along with Julia and Julie (either the book or the movie)? How do these three works and two lives inform one another?

Review: Sixpence House

I'm still playing catch up to write about all of the books I've read over the past few months. So, here's another one for you.

I finished this book a month or so ago. It's a memoir by Paul Collins called Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books. I picked it up years ago because it a) it's about books and b) it primarily takes place in Wales. My mother's mother grew up in Wales and my grandparents met and married, but I didn't know much about it when I bought the book. My grandmother died when my mom was young, and we didn't have much contact with her family there. I started the book right away, but never got past a few chapters. Since then, I actually visited my grandmother's hometown of Tenby, Wales and stayed with my mom's first cousin and met a few members of her family. It was fantastic! But I did not get to visit the setting of this book. But I so want to go back and see it.

Hay-on-Wye. Sixpence House takes place in Hay-on-Wye, Wales and it sounds like a magical place. According to the author, there are 40 bookstores in Hay, but only 1,500 residents. Most of the bookstores are used and rare books. His family decide to move there and the book tells the tale of their journey and adventures along to way. Collins introduces his readers to a variety of interesting characters (residents) from Hay along the way. We also meet quite a few houses that the family thinks of buying. And finally, Collins introduces us to many near-forgotten authors and books.

To be honest, at times the book was a little slow, but overall, I did enjoy it. It makes for an interesting partial history of the book industry, and painted a lovely picture of a beautiful Welsh town. My favorite aspect of the whole book was the chapter titles. I didn't notice them until the fourth or fifth chapter, but they are very clever. You'll have to check out the book to see what I mean.

This volume is just one in my rather large collection of books about books. Do you have any favorites in that category?

Three Cups of Tea

Here comes another installment of my favorite books (as listed on facebook):

I read Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortensen, a year and a half ago for my Kappa alumnae book group. Reviews were mixed among the members of the group, but I enjoyed it.

It is the story of how Mortensen turned a failed mountain climb into a life-changing project, building schools for (primarily) girls in Pakistan. After failing to reach the summit of K2, Mortensen is lost and quite ill. He stumbles upon a small village where he is kindly taken in by the locals. During his few days there, he notices that the children do not have a school building, but learned out in the open. He promises to come back and build them a school.

He returns to the U.S. to raise the funds, thinking it will be a one-time project. However, this one promise turns into a non-profit organization that produced many schools for children who desperately wanted to learn.

Mortensen puts himself in harm's way on more than one occasion, almost to the point where it becomes exasperating for the reader. The man is intensely focused on his mission, often to the extreme neglect on the other aspects of his life. His work is inspiring, but he's often a frustrating person to follow on a journey, even through the pages of a book.

Overall, I loved the book, even though the reading process was challenging at times.

He also wrote a children's book about the story, Listen to the Wind.

There is also a new book by Mortensen out called Stones into Schools. I haven't read it yet, but I love the subtitle: "Promoting peace through books, not bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan." One of the points Mortensen made several times in the first book was that the dearth of schools in Pakistan was causing parents to send their children to the radical Islamic madrassas. The schools Mortensen helped build were secular, which was controversial at times, but they were usually taught by local teachers, and did not push any Western agenda.

If you haven't read Mortensen's work yet, I highly recommend it. It's not light or easy, but so inspiring. It also helped me to change my perspective regarding much of what is going on in Pakistan and Afghanistan right now.

Has anyone else read Three Cups of Tea or Stones into Schools? I'm curious. What did you think?

Here's a brief discussion with Mortensen about his book. Check out youtube for countless additional interviews.

Tales of a Female Nomad

To continue my series of posts on my favorite books as listed on Facebook, today I want to share with you Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman.

I read this book back in college, but it has stuck with me. In many ways, it is similar to Eat, Pray, Love, which has been on my mind lately. Perhaps that is why I thought of this book today. (Also, Gelman is coming out with a second memoir this summer--EVERYONE seems to be doing that these days!)

After a divorce (sound familiar?), Gelman decides to embark on a cross-cultural and cross-continental journey (again, familiar?). However, the similarities do seem to fade a bit after the premise.

Gelman goes on a journey around the globe and shares the stories of her adventures. This book is unique because this is not just a trip for the author. This is her new way of life. A visit to her website shares that she is still traveling-and she's at least 60 years old.

Has anyone read Tales of a Female Nomad? Have you ever thought of making traveling your permanent way of life?

Image from amazon.com.

Committed

I loved Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray Love and was excited to read that she was coming out with another memoir.

I had a giftcard to Border's from Christmas and found Committed, and bought it excitedly. I read it pretty quickly and thoroughly enjoyed it.

This second memoir basically picks up where Eat, Pray, Love leaves off. Elizabeth is with her Brazilian man and plans to spend the rest of her life with him-without being married to him. They have a lovely system worked out until he overstays his welcome in the U.S. and they are forced to marry in order to be together. In the months that follow, Elizabeth wrestles with her fears and misgivings surrounding a marriage being thrust upon her. She reflects on what was missing in her first marriage, and turns to everyone from marital scholars and academics, personal friends and family, Laotian tour-guides, and Hmong grandmothers in her quest to discover what makes a lasting and satisfying marriage. It's as much a story of marriage in general as it the story of Elizabeth's relationship. The book is also a revealing look at the journey that women have taken through the history of marriage and relationships. Regardless of your relationship status or plans, this book is worth reading for it's examination of a central institution in our society.

Although I am neither engaged nor married, I found the book riveting and deeply relevant to my life. As a child of divorce--and someone who hopes to get married sometime in the not too distant future--I am very concerned with what makes marriages happy and long-lasting. I'm pretty afraid of divorce, actually, and related to Elizabeth's concerns as she faced her impending nuptials. In a strange way, some of her findings were deeply comforting to me and gave me a great deal of hope--as they seemed to give the author as well.

Here are a couple of additional, more in depth reviews. One from Aidan of Ivy League Insecurities, and another from Elizabeth at Life in Pencil.

Finally, although it was quite different from her previous book, Eat, Pray, Love, I loved this one every bit as much. I had high expectations going in, and this one happened to live up to them. It got me thinking about second memoirs, though. Look for an upcoming post on second memoirs. I think it's a topic worth exploring.

Have you read Committed? Do you plan to? Is your decision swayed either way because of your impressions or experiences with Eat, Pray Love?

Julie and Julia

So I only purchased this book on Wednesday, but I'm already finished with it. I finished Renaissance Souls on Wednesday night and started Julie and Julia by Julie Powell (I've reluctantly linked to the version with the movie cover, because the copy I have is the one that is evidently not published anymore and therefore $40 at least!) on Thursday. And actually, although I'm just writing about it now, I finished in Sunday night. Needless to say, it was AWESOME!

I don't know why I didn't pick this book up years ago. I've seen it in book stores for a long time, but I've never been that interested. Sadly, it took the movie previews to get me excited. I'm still looking forward to seeing the movie, but wanted to read the book first. I am so glad that I did! The book is funny, heart-felt, and full of both delicious and disgusting sounding recipes.

I was somewhat surprised that there wasn't more about Julia Child. I suppose I was expecting more biographical information (there is definitely some, but not quite as much as I expected). Since Meryl Streep is playing Julia Child in the movie, I wonder if she won't have a more prominent role in that version. I thought it was coming out in a few weeks, but just figured out that it doesn't open until August 7th. Boo! Oh well. I guess it's good that I read the book then!!