WWRW: September 24th

Linking up with Jessica of Housewifespice sharing what I've been reading recently

My Sisters The Saints

is a wonderful memoir in which the author Colleen Campell shares her life story starting in college and continuing through her mid-thirties and the pivotal saints that acted a 'big sisters' and guiding stars to her as she reverts back to a more active practice of her faith, builds a career, gets married and seeks a better understanding of how to keep all of those things in balance and live a life of committed faith.  The author also touches on life issues, namely how we treat infertility and how we care for the aged and how the Churches teachings challenged and guided her as she and her family faced these issues.

The book follows a wonderful format very reminisent of James Martin's My Life with the Saints; as Campell tells her story and the important role each saint played in her life at different times she shares much of that saint's biography. In all, six saints lives are shared ranging from Saint Theresa of Avila, to Saint Faustina to Saint Theresa of Calcutta.  While the focus of the book is clearly on the author's faith journey, I also learned a lot about each saint, and most importantly how seeking their intercession can be of help at times of struggle and not. 

I would recommend this book to anyone, but think it would be of particular interest to women discerning for themselves how to balance work and home life, and make peace with the pain and disorientation of watching ones parents age and perhaps even becoming a caregiver for them.  Over the fifteen years or so that this book covers the author must have encountered the writings or images of many, many saints; this book tells the interesting story of how six took hold in a meaningful way.

The Ballad

by Ashley Pullo a love story told backwards starting around their tenth anniversary and over the course of the book telling their story, ending at their first meeting. I found the format far more interesting than confusing and the characters charming with wonderful dialogue.  The story largely told from Chloe's perspective of her life from 25 to 35 includes all the life events of having kids, losing parents, career choices: all of these Pullo handles well with humor and just a bit of rough language.  Would recommend and will be checking out the sequel The Refrain.



   I wrote this review of http://www.aquinasandmore.com/title/My-Sisters-the-Saints/SKU/94656">My Sisters the Saints

for the http://tiberriver.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/home.signupType">free Catholic Book review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods.



                                                Aquinas and More is the largest on-line http://www.aquinasandmore.com/catholic-books-gifts/catholic-books/category/2">Catholic bookstore.