Recent Reading

My friend Sarah (you can find a link to her blog on the right side of my blog page) regular posts what she has been reading. I thought I'd follow in her footsteps and share with you what I've been reading the past few months.

Any Friend of God's is a Friend of Mine by Patrick Madrid - Although the book is quite brief it took me forever to read because I found it boring. I would regularly dig around the Adoration counter at church to find something else to read to put off reading this book. Madrid's book was meant to explain Catholic doctrine with regard to the Communion of Saints. I like Madrid but didn't get into this book.

Tapestry of Life Book 2 - Devotions for the Unique Woman by Nancy Corbett Cole - I really enjoyed this book which was a Christmas gift from my father-in-law and his girlfriend. It provided an insightful and inspirational way to look at everyday life, especially the bumps in the road.

Parenting with Grace - Catholic Parent's Guide to Raising almost Perfect Kids by Gregory and Lisa Popcak - I really enjoyed the book which broke down parenting advice by stages of life starting with infancy going through teen age years. Unfortunately, I do not feel I have done a good job of putting the advice to practice.

A Civilization of Love - What Every Catholic Can Do to Transform the World by Carl Anderson - Okay, so I bought this book because I'm very familiar with Carl Anderson who is the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus. I feel like I personally got to know Carl Anderson by reading this book and was amazed at how important he really is (how many people had the honor of dining with the late Pope John Paul). Anderson ended each chapter with thoughts of how we could help make the world a more loving culture. Most of his thoughts were things that you and I should be doing already and left me saying "Duh, why aren't I doing that?".

Through Prayers of Poetry Spiritual Reflections by Jim Severance - This is one of those books I flipped through at the Adoration counter while avoiding the book by Patrick Madrid that I did not enjoy. Severance is a parishoner at St.Joe's so I had all the more reason to buy the book. My friend Pat and I are going to explore the book together by focusing on one poem per week and reflecting up on it during our weekly meeting.

Spontaneous Healing by Andrew Weil, MD - A great book about how people afflicted with illness and injury put mind over matter to overcome afflictions where doctors had told them there was no hope. Aside from the stories, Weil explained how we can make changes in our lives to help prevent diseases, cancers, etc. This book inspired me to make changes in my life that have not always been easy such as eating veggie burgers and veggie sausage patties instead of the real meat versions. The most dramatic change for me has been switching from coffee to green tea as the beverage I used to start my day. I will occasionally enjoy a cup of coffee which is a huge change from the 8 cups a day I used to ingest. I have started walking again. Part of what fueled me to pick up this book at the library and check it out is I feel like I'm watching my parents die and I want do everything I can to live as long as possible and have a good quality of life.

Natural Health, Natural Medicine by Andrew Weil, MD - I am currently reading this book that I checked out from the library last week. This is what Weil calls "the complete guide to wellness and self-care for optimum health". It is going into more depth than the previous book I read by Weil. I'm learning more about supplements and I'm trying to gradually work in the use of St. John's Wort which is a natural anti-depressant so that I can eliminate the need for my Citalopram prescription. I started this past week with taking St. John's Wort on Friday and Saturday nights instead of my Citalopram. My husband has his doubts and thinks I will fail. I did have a blow up this morning after church but I think that is more related to the fact that I have not been able to get a full night's sleep for the past week. It's been a bad on-call period for my husband with his cell phone and the house phone ringing at all hours. I am enjoying this book so much that I have trouble putting it down!

That's it; that's what I've been reading. I also have a large print daily Bible that I've been trying to reach since I got it in March. This has been coming along slowly. I've started using the library for books because my book shelves are full and I am the kind of person who reads a book only once. I may try to sell some of the books I read to help pay for gas!

Have a blessed week!