Nancy: I had heard about this book, but never read it when it came out. When someone in our MAMs Book Club Springfield chose it, I was glad I finally would get around to reading it, because I identify with the Mennonites. In my 20s I met several Mennonites while working with the United Methodist […]
Read more...Abigail: I am taken with Rhoda’s great love. Although she fights the trappings of her ethnic Mennonite upbringing, I believe her compassion for her husband and others springs from the deep well of her tradition; from the heart of God.
Read more...Jane: Now here is a woman with resolve. She obviously has quite a gift in the literary area, and kudos to her for getting her PhD, and then writing her way out of a difficult time caused by a bad accident and her husband’s defection to the other gender. I appreciate people who make […]
Read more...Katharine: I laughed so much when I read this book. I think she has a future as the Garrison Keilor of the Mennonites. It reminded me of some of the idiosyncracies of the Lutherans in Minnesota where I come from. Laughing at your self and your roots can be very healing, as she discovered […]
Read more...Molly: I love this creative nonfiction genre of memoir. It’s becoming more popular. I tried my hand at it a few years ago, and I want to do more. Story is what each of us have to share with the world. Janzen does it very well. She inspires me to try again. Maybe […]
Read more...Priscilla: I loved the way she included recipes in this book. I want to try them out! I’ve never had borscht before, or persimmon cookies! But, I don’t approve of some of the content of this book and the lifestyles. Seems she’s strayed quite a way from her Christian upbringing.
Read more...Sallie: Well, being an “ethnic Church of the Brethren” body, I get this book. I found it hilarious, too. An inside look is often different than a gaze from the outside. She breaks the rules, and I find myself enjoying her immensely. When you grow up in a closed system, you either smother yourself or […]
Read more...Nancy: I chose this book for the MAMs Book Club because I believe it is a prophetic treatise for our time. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee brings together modern prophets who explain our future depends on our ability to listen and honor the sacred nature of life. The book calls for movement toward sustainable earth, a call which […]
Read more...Wendell Berry is my hero! An academic who went back to farming, and yes, a prophet. He slams the stock market, war, modern inventions, even human genius wanting instead to be a true human being, focusing on “the intelligence of the heart that we gather from the world, from the creatures, from the angels of […]
Read more...KATHARINE: Thank you, Nancy, for choosing this book. I hadn’t seen it yet. I’m going to have my students read it in our Spiritual Ecology seminar next semester. A great collection of spiritual teachers, who all teach spiritual reverence for the earth. Unfortunately, the Christian church has not been a leader in this area. I’m […]
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